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WinXPTutor's XP Resources

Windows XP Tips, Illustrations and registry edits

Using Task Scheduler to schedule the computer to shut down and restart at a specific time

  • Click Start, Run and type control schedtasks
  • Double-click Add Scheduled Task. The Scheduled Task Wizard starts.
  • Click Next.
     
  • Under Click the program you want Windows to run, click Browse.
     
  • In the Select Program to Schedule dialog box, locate the %SystemRoot%\System32 folder, locate and click the Shutdown.exe file, and then click Open.
  • Under Perform this task, specify a name for the task and how frequently you want this task to run, and then click Next.
  • Under Select the time and day you want this task to start, specify a start time and date for the task, and then click Next.
  • Type the user name and password to run this task under, and then click Next.
  • Click to select the Open advanced properties for this task when I click Finish check box, and then click Finish.
  • Click the Task tab. In the Run box, specify any additional parameters that you want to use with Shutdown.exe. Click OK.

Important: In the 10th step, you need to add the parameters for the Shutdown.exe command. To immediately shutdown the system (0 second timeout), the command-line would be:

shutdown.exe -s -t 00

To reboot the system immediately, this command:

shutdown.exe -r -t 00

For additional help, type Shutdown /? at the Command Prompt. Scheduling the Shutdown.exe without any parameters will not help. It will just execute with a exit code 0 (success)