This article explains how to remotely shutdown computers on network using Windows shutdown command, PsShutdown tool and third-party network shutdown software.
Having an ability to shutdown computers remotely is helpful not only for network administrators who need to turn off workstations at night to save electric power, for example, but also for home users who have more than one PC in the network and like to manage them remotely. There are a number of ways how you can execute network shutdown command, but all of them have some preconditions.
It's important to remember that you can initiate remote shutdown operation, described in this article, only for Windows PCs available in the local network. To check a list of PCs available in the local network you can open Network (or Network Neighborhood is early Windows) in the Windows Explorer. Also to execute network remote shutdown you should have an administrative access to remote PC. This security limitation prevents unauthorized shutdown of remote computers.
- After the system verifies your permissions, it runs the destroy command. This command deletes all file references, shelvesets, and pending changes. The actual destruction of files, which is a permanent deletion, happens the next time that the content that is no longer referenced by Team Foundation Server is cleaned up.
- Reboot your computer. Close the Registry Editor and restart your computer in order for the changes to take effect. Force a Blue Screen. You can do this by holding down the furthest most right 'Control' key then pressing the 'Scroll Lock' key twice. Once this is completed, a blue screen should pop up.
Method One: Using Standard Windows Shutdown Command
Starting from Windows Server 2003 (for server platforms) and Windows XP (for desktop platforms) Windows includes shutdown.exe utility in the standard distribution. This utility can be used to shutdown a local or network PCs. You can use it in a command-line mode by typing shutdown.exe in the Windows command prompt (known as CMD). A set of command-line parameters for shutdown command is described in MSDN article, but at a time of writing this article doesn't describe all parameters available for shutdown.exe that comes with Windows 7. So it makes sense to get a list of command-line parameters for your system by running a following command:
In order to shutdown a remote PC you can run such command:
This video is made for beginners, it will help you to make any computer bug using command line.it is a very easy tutorial, and soon i will try my best to add. How to destroy a computer batch first open notepad and type in: @echo off. Then save it as NAME.bat. Repeat pressing y then enter. After some timE u destroyed his pc.
Lets break it down:
- /s - instructs to make a shutdown
- /m ComputerName - specifies the name of remote PC to shutdown it remotely
Important: As it was mentioned above, shutdown.exe can have different parameters on different Windows versions. But parameters syntax also can be different. For example on XP you have to use '-s' instead of '/s'.
Shutdown command has additional parameters that help to control behavior of shutdown operation. For example, a command below makes remote shutdown of specified PC with 60 seconds timeout during which a message will be displayed on remote PC and then all running applications are forced to close:
Method Two: Using Windows Shutdown Utility in UI Mode
If you prefer to use visual interface instead of specifying command-line parameters, you can make network remote shutdown from the visual interface by starting shutdown.exe in a dialog mode. Remote Shutdown Dialog offers less options than available from the command-line, but you can execute all main operations such as remote shutdown and reboot. In order to run shutdown.exe as a dialog, you have to execute following command in the Windows command prompt (Windows Start > click Run > type CMD > enter the command below).
Method Three: Using External Network Shutdown Tools
If you plan to use shutdown.exe you need to remember that different Windows versions include different implementations of this utility with different features and parameters. While all Windows versions, starting from Windows 2000, allow to remotely shutdown computer on network, they have different set of other features. For example, early implementations of shutdown.exe don't allow to reboot or hibernate PCs. If you need to use advanced shutdown features on different Windows versions, you can use free PsShutdown command-line utility (psshutdown.exe) from SysInternals. It is one of the most feature-reach freeware tools for network shutdown available now.
PsShutdown is a command-line tool that works on local and remote systems. It should be installed on the PC where you will run remote commands. And you don't need to install software on any remote systems against which you want to run the tool. Command-line parameters used by psshutdown.exe is similar to shutdown.exe parameters, but PsShutdown has few important advantages over a standard shutdown utility, listed below.
- You can use the same set of features on all Windows versions (starting from Windows 2000).
- You can lock local or remote PC and logoff the current user. Network remote shutdown operation can be aborted by the interactive user.
- You can specify a list of remote PCs in the file instead of typing them in the command-line.
For example, using the command below you can execute network shutdown tasks on computers, which names are specified in computers.txt file, with 60 seconds timeout during which a message will be displayed on remote PC and user can abort operation.
Method Four: Using Advanced Network Shutdown Software
In large networks using specialized network shutdown software, such as EMCO Remote Shutdown, for example, is the most effective way to perform shutdown operations of multiple PCs. Such commercial software is designed to manage multiple PCs in complex networks, where shutdown.exe and psshutdown.exe can't be used successfully because of performance and configuration limitations. Specialized network shutdown software is optimized to execute multiple remote operations in parallel to reduce an overall operation execution time. It provides visual interface that simplifies remote tasks management. It allows to execute remote shutdown, wake up and other operations manually and automatically on schedule and analyze execution results. These and other features are demonstrated in the video.
Which Network Shutdown Method is Right for Me?
For managing one or few remote PCs using standard shutdown.exe is the best choice. If you need to manage large number of PCs or use advanced shutdown options, you can benefit from features provided by psshutdown.exe. As the amount of computers increased, the specialized software with the graphical interface won out, especially if you need to automate shutdown and wake up tasks.
PsShutdown is a command-line utility similar to the Windows shutdown utility, but with the ability to do much more.
Remote Shutdown is a professional PC power management solution that allows to completely automate PCs shutdown and wake up across organization.
- Energy Star is a government-backed program helping businesses and individuals protect the environment through superior energy efficiency.
- Climate Savers Computing brings together industry, consumers and conservation organizations to significantly increase the energy efficiency of computers and servers.
Azure Repos | Azure DevOps Server 2020 | Azure DevOps Server 2019 | TFS 2018 | TFS 2017 | TFS 2015 | VS 2017 | VS 2015 | VS 2013
Use the tf destroy command to destroy, or permanently delete, version-controlled files from Team Foundation version control. Wapsite game.
The destroy action cannot be reversed. You must not destroy files that are still needed. Sometimes you have to clean up version control systems. For example, if some files are infected with a computer virus, you have to remove them permanently from version control.
Before you run tf destroy without the /keephistory option, we recommend that you first delete the files you want to destroy. For more information, see Delete Files and Folders from Version Control.
After you delete the files you can synchronize the Team Foundation warehouse. Otherwise, the warehouse will not be synchronized with the destroyed items.
Required Permissions
To use the destroy command, you must belong to the Team Foundation Administrators security group. For more information, see Permissions and groups reference.
Parameters
Argument
Description
Specifies the server path of the file or folder to be destroyed. Use multiple itemspec values to delete multiple items. For example, tf destroy $/TeamProject1 $/teamProject2 $/TeamProject3.
Local paths are not supported.
Provides a version such as C58 for the /keephistory or /stopat options. The allowed values are date, tip, or a specific changeset. For more information about how Team Foundation parses a version specification to determine which items are within its scope, see Command-Line Syntax (Version Control).
Provides a value to the /login option. You can specify a username value as either DOMAIN UserName or UserName.
The URL of the project collection that contains files that you want to destroy (for example, http://myserver:8080/tfs/DefaultCollection).
Option
Description
Optional. Specifies that the history of a file is preserved even as its contents are destroyed. This cannot be specified with the /preview option.
Citibank 1099 int. Optional. Can be used only if /keephistory is specified also.
Specifies the file version for the file, and the files that follow thereafter, for which the history is preserved.
The default version for /stopat is tip (T) for the latest checked-in version of an item.
You cannot use label or workspace versionspec values to specify an item for /stopat option.
Displays in the Command Prompt window the files that would be destroyed. When tf destroy runs in the preview mode, the files are not actually destroyed.
Note
Method One: Using Standard Windows Shutdown Command
Starting from Windows Server 2003 (for server platforms) and Windows XP (for desktop platforms) Windows includes shutdown.exe utility in the standard distribution. This utility can be used to shutdown a local or network PCs. You can use it in a command-line mode by typing shutdown.exe in the Windows command prompt (known as CMD). A set of command-line parameters for shutdown command is described in MSDN article, but at a time of writing this article doesn't describe all parameters available for shutdown.exe that comes with Windows 7. So it makes sense to get a list of command-line parameters for your system by running a following command:
In order to shutdown a remote PC you can run such command:
This video is made for beginners, it will help you to make any computer bug using command line.it is a very easy tutorial, and soon i will try my best to add. How to destroy a computer batch first open notepad and type in: @echo off. Then save it as NAME.bat. Repeat pressing y then enter. After some timE u destroyed his pc.
Lets break it down:
- /s - instructs to make a shutdown
- /m ComputerName - specifies the name of remote PC to shutdown it remotely
Important: As it was mentioned above, shutdown.exe can have different parameters on different Windows versions. But parameters syntax also can be different. For example on XP you have to use '-s' instead of '/s'.
Shutdown command has additional parameters that help to control behavior of shutdown operation. For example, a command below makes remote shutdown of specified PC with 60 seconds timeout during which a message will be displayed on remote PC and then all running applications are forced to close:
Method Two: Using Windows Shutdown Utility in UI Mode
If you prefer to use visual interface instead of specifying command-line parameters, you can make network remote shutdown from the visual interface by starting shutdown.exe in a dialog mode. Remote Shutdown Dialog offers less options than available from the command-line, but you can execute all main operations such as remote shutdown and reboot. In order to run shutdown.exe as a dialog, you have to execute following command in the Windows command prompt (Windows Start > click Run > type CMD > enter the command below).
Method Three: Using External Network Shutdown Tools
If you plan to use shutdown.exe you need to remember that different Windows versions include different implementations of this utility with different features and parameters. While all Windows versions, starting from Windows 2000, allow to remotely shutdown computer on network, they have different set of other features. For example, early implementations of shutdown.exe don't allow to reboot or hibernate PCs. If you need to use advanced shutdown features on different Windows versions, you can use free PsShutdown command-line utility (psshutdown.exe) from SysInternals. It is one of the most feature-reach freeware tools for network shutdown available now.
PsShutdown is a command-line tool that works on local and remote systems. It should be installed on the PC where you will run remote commands. And you don't need to install software on any remote systems against which you want to run the tool. Command-line parameters used by psshutdown.exe is similar to shutdown.exe parameters, but PsShutdown has few important advantages over a standard shutdown utility, listed below.
- You can use the same set of features on all Windows versions (starting from Windows 2000).
- You can lock local or remote PC and logoff the current user. Network remote shutdown operation can be aborted by the interactive user.
- You can specify a list of remote PCs in the file instead of typing them in the command-line.
For example, using the command below you can execute network shutdown tasks on computers, which names are specified in computers.txt file, with 60 seconds timeout during which a message will be displayed on remote PC and user can abort operation.
Method Four: Using Advanced Network Shutdown Software
In large networks using specialized network shutdown software, such as EMCO Remote Shutdown, for example, is the most effective way to perform shutdown operations of multiple PCs. Such commercial software is designed to manage multiple PCs in complex networks, where shutdown.exe and psshutdown.exe can't be used successfully because of performance and configuration limitations. Specialized network shutdown software is optimized to execute multiple remote operations in parallel to reduce an overall operation execution time. It provides visual interface that simplifies remote tasks management. It allows to execute remote shutdown, wake up and other operations manually and automatically on schedule and analyze execution results. These and other features are demonstrated in the video.
Which Network Shutdown Method is Right for Me?
For managing one or few remote PCs using standard shutdown.exe is the best choice. If you need to manage large number of PCs or use advanced shutdown options, you can benefit from features provided by psshutdown.exe. As the amount of computers increased, the specialized software with the graphical interface won out, especially if you need to automate shutdown and wake up tasks.
PsShutdown is a command-line utility similar to the Windows shutdown utility, but with the ability to do much more.
Remote Shutdown is a professional PC power management solution that allows to completely automate PCs shutdown and wake up across organization.
- Energy Star is a government-backed program helping businesses and individuals protect the environment through superior energy efficiency.
- Climate Savers Computing brings together industry, consumers and conservation organizations to significantly increase the energy efficiency of computers and servers.
Azure Repos | Azure DevOps Server 2020 | Azure DevOps Server 2019 | TFS 2018 | TFS 2017 | TFS 2015 | VS 2017 | VS 2015 | VS 2013
Use the tf destroy command to destroy, or permanently delete, version-controlled files from Team Foundation version control. Wapsite game.
The destroy action cannot be reversed. You must not destroy files that are still needed. Sometimes you have to clean up version control systems. For example, if some files are infected with a computer virus, you have to remove them permanently from version control.
Before you run tf destroy without the /keephistory option, we recommend that you first delete the files you want to destroy. For more information, see Delete Files and Folders from Version Control.
After you delete the files you can synchronize the Team Foundation warehouse. Otherwise, the warehouse will not be synchronized with the destroyed items.
Required Permissions
To use the destroy command, you must belong to the Team Foundation Administrators security group. For more information, see Permissions and groups reference.
Parameters
Argument
Description
Specifies the server path of the file or folder to be destroyed. Use multiple itemspec values to delete multiple items. For example, tf destroy $/TeamProject1 $/teamProject2 $/TeamProject3.
Local paths are not supported.
Provides a version such as C58 for the /keephistory or /stopat options. The allowed values are date, tip, or a specific changeset. For more information about how Team Foundation parses a version specification to determine which items are within its scope, see Command-Line Syntax (Version Control).
Provides a value to the /login option. You can specify a username value as either DOMAIN UserName or UserName.
The URL of the project collection that contains files that you want to destroy (for example, http://myserver:8080/tfs/DefaultCollection).
Option
Description
Optional. Specifies that the history of a file is preserved even as its contents are destroyed. This cannot be specified with the /preview option.
Citibank 1099 int. Optional. Can be used only if /keephistory is specified also.
Specifies the file version for the file, and the files that follow thereafter, for which the history is preserved.
The default version for /stopat is tip (T) for the latest checked-in version of an item.
You cannot use label or workspace versionspec values to specify an item for /stopat option.
Displays in the Command Prompt window the files that would be destroyed. When tf destroy runs in the preview mode, the files are not actually destroyed.
Note
The text in the Command Prompt window displays the word 'Destroyed' with each file that would be destroyed. However, the file is actually not destroyed when the /preview option is used.
Forces the TFVC metadata clean-up process to start immediately after the deletion finishes. If the user does not specify /startcleanup, the destroyed metadata clean-up process occurs when the database maintenance cleans up all the files that are no longer referenced by Visual Studio Team Foundation Server. By default, the clean-up is scheduled to run every 5 days. Seven days after the TFVC metadata are cleaned up the content will be deleted by another clean-up process. By default, this content clean-up process runs once each day.
Specifies that the destruction of files is non-interactive. /i is an alias for /noprompt.
Specifies that, when you destroy files or folders, the output is not written to the command prompt window.
Specifies the user name and password to authenticate the user with Team Foundation Server.
Specifies the project collection.
Remarks
When you use tf destroy to destroy version-control files, the application tier of Team Foundation Server receives the destroy request and checks to see whether you are a member of the Team Foundation Administrators security group. If you are not a member, the system displays an error-message dialog box that tells you that you do not have sufficient permissions to perform the operation.
After the system verifies your permissions, it runs the destroy command. This command deletes all file references, shelvesets, and pending changes. The actual destruction of files, which is a permanent deletion, happens the next time that the content that is no longer referenced by Team Foundation Server is cleaned up. You can also specify the /startcleanup option to clean up the files immediately after tf destroy runs.
If you run tf destroy without specifying /i and /preview, the system displays a console Yes or No prompt for each filespec value. Otherwise, you can specify Yes to all. If you do not specify /keephistory, you are prompted by an interactive text that warns of pending changes, if they exist. The interactive text points to /preview if you want more information about the changes. If you specify /keephistory, you are also prompted by Yes, No, or All text. If you select Yes or All, the destruction process starts, and the server paths to the destroyed items appear in the Command Prompt window.
If you specified the versionspec value as a tip, the server paths displayed in the Command Prompt window include deletion IDs. For example, X123 might appear in the Command Prompt window.
If you use the /preview option, the files are not destroyed, but the command-line text displays the files that would be destroyed. For example, if, at the command-line, you type tf destroy /preview $/Test1/MyProject/MyProject/Program.cs, the command window displays this text:
Destroyed: $/Test1/MyProject/MyProject/Program.cs
However, the file is actually not destroyed because you used the /preview option.
For more information about how to find the tf command-line utility, see Tf Command-Line Utility Commands.
Effects of /keephistory on Other Version Control Operations
If you specify the /keephistory option to retain the history of destroyed files, the files are treated as destroyed by the following Team Foundation version control operations:
Change content If you try to change the content of a destroyed file, for example edit or branch, the system issues an error message that states the content has been destroyed.
Branch, merge, or unshelve If you try to branch, merge, or unshelve destroyed items, the system issues an error message that states the content of the items has been destroyed.
Destroying Previously Deleted Items
If an item has already been deleted, a deletion ID is attached to it and results in a filename change.
Effects of TF DESTROY on TFVC repo Code Search
Code Search does not handle TF DESTROY notifications and so using TF DESTROY for TFVC repos will not automatically delete files in the Search index.As a result, these files appear in the code search results. To avoid these ghost files scenario, users are recommended to delete files before TF DESTROY operation.
Examples
Description
The following example permanently deletes the file a.cs.
Code
Description
The following example deletes a folder, aFolder, type at the command line:
Code
Description
To destroy the deleted item, aFolder, you must type at the command line:
Code
Where x123 is the deletion ID.
See Also
Tasks
Cmd How To Cd
Concepts
How To Destroy A Computer With Cmd Key
Other Resources
