In the Reader to Reader article "Flawless Automatic Shutdown of Client Computers"
(November 2006, InstantDoc ID 93262), Milos Puchta described a problem he was
having with a batch file that was supposed to shut down Windows XP Professional
machines running ALWIL Software's Avast! antivirus software. This software prevents
users from logging off when there's a disk (e.g., CD-ROMs, USB flash disks)
in one of the computer's removable disk drives. Milos discovered that sometimes
users left for the day, leaving disks in those drives. As a result, the shutdown
process failed and the computers were left on all night.
Milos solved the problem by using the Shutdown command in a batch file. Another
solution is to use PsShutdown, a free command-line utility (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/psshutdown.mspx).
You can configure each PC with the PsShutdown utility (copied locally through
a logon script if needed) and use a scheduled job with the appropriate command-line
switches. You can create a job file on one PC, then copy it to the other PCs.
If you don't need to shut down a particular PC, you can delete the job file
by using a logon script. PsShutdown doesn't require the computer's name (it
assumes the local PC), so using this utility would save Milos time because he
wouldn't have to configure batch files.
For remote machines, you can copy PsShutdown and the job file by using commands
such as
Copy shutdown.job
\\labpc01\c$\windows\tasks
Copy psshutdown.exe
\\labpc01\c$\windows\
To run these commands, you need administrative rights on the lab PC and there can't be
any local firewalls.
Alternatively, Milos can schedule a job or use a Group Policy shutdown script
to shut down the Avast! service prior to shutting down the XP Pro computers.
(This is assuming you can't configure Avast! to ignore CD-ROMs or USB flash
disks on shutdown.) Once again, this can be done remotely if needed. By shutting
down the right service, it should stop the problem of machines not shutting
down because CD-ROMs or USB flash disks were left in PCs.
—Edward Braiter