Shutdown.exe doesn’t shut down (Windows Vista Ultra)

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For the last few years, I’ve been using the Windows supplied program Shutdown.exe from a batch file to turn off my PC each night. All was fine until about a month ago when it stopped working. It now gets as far as the “Shutting down” screen and then just sits there. I have to physically hold in the power button to turn off the PC. Can anyone suggest what settings might be preventing shutdown.exe from working?

Thanks, John Littell

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For the “last few years” you haven’t had Vista, John. You made this post in the Vista forum. Are you trying to shutdown Vista using a shutdown program from a previous OS by any chance? I will have to investigate this, but I don’t know if there IS a shutdown.exe program compatible with Vista. Just thought I’d ask.

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Are you running something like ZoneAlarm which may be stalling the shutdown?

Check out this Quick Tip: Create Shutdown / Restart / Lock Icons in Windows Vista which may be a more elegant way to achieve what you want.

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And on further reflection, I see that there IS a shutdown.exe file on my Vista drive but I know nothing about its use. Perhaps your recent failures are a result of Vista SP1.

I also see that Sysinternals bunch of utilities contains a shutdown program here: PsShutdown.

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There are a number of Windows Sidebar shutdown gadgets available here that may be of interest to you. I use one (see attachment) that will shutdown|restart|lock the computer (and also displays the time). This is a Microsoft site.

Cheers,

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Thank you all that replied. To answer in sequence…
Leif: I stopped my anti-stuff programs (Norton Internet Security and ThreatFile), but it made no difference. The shut down process got as far as the “Shutting Down” screen and froze.
Al: I tried PsShutdown.exe. Much to my surprise it did nothing. Well, a dos screen flashed on screen for one tenth of a second, and that was it.
Paul: I’m just starting to look at the 33 gadgets on that screen. Thanks.

John

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– Make sure that you are running command prompt or .bat file with elevated Administrator privileges (“Run as Administrator”)

– Add -f switch to the command (force to close all running applications) as following:

shutdown -s -f -t 0

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Thank you for your suggestions. But I still cannot get shutdown.exe to work. It worked fine for the past year, and then it stopped. (It freezes in the “Shutting down” screen.) I do specify the run switches “Shutdown.exe -s -f -f 0”. I have only one user defined so it defaults to administrator. I realize that there are administrator modes and there are administrator modes. If I have suddenly switched to administrator second class, I don’t know why. In a batch file, how can I force administrator first chass?

Another thought: It stopped working about the time I upgraded from Windows Home to Windows Ultra. (Why? Because it was there?) From the Web research I’ve done, it should’t matter. Any other suggestions would be appreciated. (In response to an earlier suggestion, I do not know how to convert gadgets to run in a batch file.)

John

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What is the FULL path of this “shutdown.exe” file?
I have NOT been able to find it on my Vista machine?
I am running SP1 on Vista, are you?

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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Dave, just in case he’s not around or doesn’t come back for awhile… The shutdown.exe file on MY Vista installation is in the C:windowssystem32 folder, but I’ve not tried to run it and don’t plan on doing so.

Edited to add: And I’m also up to SP1 level.

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OK I found it.
It works on my SP1 systems. I have NOT tried it in a “BATch” file.

Have you tried the command in a “Run Window” to determine if it is your bat file or the command that is NOT working?

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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Dave,
The copy of shutdown.exe I am using is in C:WindowsSystem32 , its size is 29 KB and the Modified date is 1/20/2008 (not that that means much). I have no recollection as to whether it came pre-loaded into Vista (which was purchased preloaded on my AlienWare PC nearly a year earlier), or whether I loaded it is from somewhere else. I can say that I did not transfer it over from my XP system as that program’s size is 19 KB with a Modefied date of 8/4/2004. And I believe I’m running SP1 because I can remember installing it; I have forgotten, however, where in Vista to look to verify this. (Finally, remember that psshutdown.exe (203 KB) that I downloaded earlier in this conversaion does not run either. After a brief flash of a DOS window, it does nothing.)

Thanks for your time with my problem. John

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Hi John,

What happens if you try running Sutdown from a desktop shortcut?

FWIW I’ve run into problems shutting down a Vista (Home Premium) PC when an attached USB device has played up and ceased to be recognised.

Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

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I have only one user defined so it defaults to administrator. I realize that there are administrator modes and there are administrator modes. If I have suddenly switched to administrator second class, I don’t know why. In a batch file, how can I force administrator first chass?

In windows Vista, your default account has restricted Administrator privileges. “True” Administrator account is hidden and unavailable unless you especially activate it. This “feature” is part of User Account Control (UAC) and designed to protect your computer from your irresponsible actions.

All shortcuts in Windows Vista have a special property that you can set that will allow the application to run as Administrator. To set this property, just right-click on any shortcut, and click the Advanced button on the Shortcut page to get to the Advanced Properties dialog. You’ll see a checkbox “Run as administrator”. Check it and click OK, Apply, OK. Now when you double-click the shortcut, you’ll be prompted by UAC to confirm your action.

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Dave and Paul,
In answer to your questions:
1. I created a shortcut to c:windowssystem32shutdown.exe. It did nothing (a DOS window flashed briefly, then nothing).
2. I typed shutdown.exe into the Run window. Same as above.
I’m beginning to have a complex.

And thanks to the unsigned personage for the Vista administrator information. It is much appreciated.

John

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Did you enter all of that is REQUIRED, as Shutdown by it self will NOT do anything?

Shutdown Computer

Shutdown.exe -s -t 00

Restart Computer

Shutdown.exe -r -t 00

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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Silly me, I forgot the switches. OK, this time I executed “shutdown.exe -s -f -t 0” the following three ways:
1. By typing it into the Run box.
2. By executing a shortcut pointing to the .exe file.
3. By executing a .bat file containing the .exe file.

The results were the same in all cases:
1. a DOS window flashed.
2. Shut down started – the gadgets, etc. were cleared.
3. The “Shutting down…” screen appeared, but after a few seconds froze; ie. the spinning wheel stopped spinning.

As I said before, this seemed to start failing about the time I upgraded from Vista Home Premium to Vista Ultra but I absolutely cannot be sure. And, Google search results on ‘Vista” and “shutdown.exe” show time and time again that the two work together.

John

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What is the “-f” for?

And it should be “00” NOT “0”

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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Check out this link Windows Vista Shutdown.exe – Maximum allowed timeout value is 600 Seconds

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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Dave, thanks for sticking with me.

The problem has gone away, but it has not been solved. First some detailed responses… (In the following shutdown.exe tests, NG stands for the shutdown.exe failure described above, ie. the “Shutting down” screen freezes up (the little circle stops spinning) after a few seconds. I then achieve actual power off by holding in the power on key.)

-f, according to my notes copied from some web site long ago, stands for “force non-closing drivers off”. Because you questioned it, I tried the command without -f, NG

I tried the command with 00 instead of just 0, NG

Following the script you sent me, I tried substituting /s /t 00 for -s -t 00, NG

Following up on dodgy USB devices mentioned above, I unplugged all USB devices, except the keyboard. Shutdown worked!

I starting putting them back one at a time to find the culpret, and while both my UPS battery backup and my external hard disk initially failed (NG), all the USB devices are now connected (USB, hard disk, DSL modem, and printer) and shutdown has worked several times. In the process of trying devices, I successfully used every USB port available, so it looks like I have one or more poor connections. I guess the solutions has to be jiggle every connection.

Thanks again for your support,

John Littell

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