I have a Windows XP SP2 virtual machine which can be accessed via VNC. It's also running Deep Freeze so there should be no problem in forcing it to reboot. I am looking for a way to force the operating system to reboot instead of shutting down or completely remove the ability to shut down the machine using software applications (such as the usual way from the start menu, the shutdown program or other custom programs).
Thank you,
Tom
Try this:
shutdown /r /t 1 /f
Alex
To remove the ability to shut down then your best bet is to create a group policy for the user/user group and specify that they can only restart the system. I have done this in the past to ensure that only the administrator account can shut down a computer. it has prevented me from mistakenly shutting down a remote pc at 2am in the morning when i meant to re-start it.
In XP there is a DOS command called shutdown. If you type shutdown /? from a command prompt you will see the options available. Using this you can create a Batch file.
Try DShutdown.exe. It's flexible and can do all these things.
Related
My structure looks like this:
I have one Windows PC which is running 24/7 in my cellar and I have one Windows PC in my office (at home). Both are in the same network and I have admin privileges on both.
How can I set up a batch-file on my office PC which can send a command to the other PC through the command line? I should be able to turn off and reconnect my office PC without running every time in my cellar.
The SHUTDOWN command can remotely turn off other computers on your network but I am not sure what you mean by reconnect.
Have you taken a look at the tools described here ? If you are not on the latest version (or rather server version) of Windows, then you might have to download the tools mentioned here.
http://network-shutdown.com/remotely-shutdown-computers-on-network
I am currently writing a batch file that, among other things, performs an unattended install of .net, IIS, MSSQL, MSSQL SP2, flash, installs some proprietary software, and lastly makes a ton of environment changes on a Windows server 2008 or 2012 platform. All of this is done in one shot.
The script works awesome except in one situation: if Windows is in a partially updated state, perhaps needing a reboot, .net or IIS will force me to reboot regardless of whether I have the /norestart switch to DISM or not.
Is there a way to, within the batch file, disable any need for a reboot to the point that DISM and/or SQL install will not ask or require it? Or, less favorable, the means to determine from a batch file if a reboot is needed? I don't like it but I could do a check and force a shutdown -r if needed.
Thanks for your help.
Different programs detect the necessity to restart OS differently, one of the most popular methods is checking HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager -> PendingFileRenameOperations value.
reg query "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager" /v PendingFileRenameOperations >nul
if errorlevel 1 (
echo OK
....proceed with stuff
) else (
echo Restart is required
pause
exit
)
Although you can temporarily delete this value after dumping its contents to a reg file and later reimporting but this is very likely to break your system unless you combine the old contents with the freshly added one in historic sequence (the old, the new, maintaining versions and stuff), which would require a vbs or powershell code or some utility.
I'm working on a project where the goal is to be able to update a windows computer 100%. That means a program or a script that updates windows automatically with no user interaction at all. Ideally a standalone script that can be run from another script.
The reason: I need to update a lot of computers in my line of work. They can be at any patch level and everything from Windows XP to Windows 8. My goal is to start a script, wait/do something else and then find a fully patched computer.
I've solved a lot by finding ZTIWindowsUpdate.wsf in the MDT Task Sequence.
This can be used like this from an admin cmd:
cssript.exe ZTIWindowsUpdate.wsf
My problem so far is that the computer requires a reboot between some of the updates. Probably because of dependencies. ZTIWindowsUpdate.wsf needs to be run as administrator and i can't seem to find a solution to start it as administrator at reboot. Additionally if I get the script to run on startup, how do I stop it, and how do I know when its time to stop it?
Can someone help med with a foolproof solution to this problem?
Thanks!
Don't need to FULL update a Windows OS, most of the updates are not needed, most updates are not relationated with security and we can survive without they, you need to read the description of each update to understand what changes made. FULLY updating a Windows can be negative point of performance in several scenarios.
All that you need is to download your desired updates, then store it in a folder with this batch script:
#Echo off
For %%# in (*.msu) Do (
Echo: Installing update: %%#
Wusa "%%#" /quiet /norestart
)
Echo Windows Update finished.
Pause&Exit
Also you can compress the folder (the updates + the script) into a Self executable with winrar to distribute it as a standalone file.
Info:
Wusa.exe is the Windows Update commandline application.
The files are processed one by one, not all at once.
The quiet switch makes the installation silent.
The norestart switch don't restart after installing the update even if needed.
If a update is installed in the OS then is not installed again, without getting an error window or stopping the execution of the script.
PS: See Wusa /? for more switches.
I hope this helps.
UPDATE:
Another alternative is to download and install ALL the updates with WSUS utility.
http://download.wsusoffline.net/
The updates for Win7 x64 (for example) are stored here: "...\wsusoffline\client\w61-x64\glb"
PS: The "DoUpdate.cmd" batch file in the "CMD" dir of the application is what you need if need to automate the task in "background".
The simplest solution to the problem you're describing is to get your script to configure automatic logon for the built-in Administrator account, then add itself to the Startup folder. You do need to know (or reset) the Administrator account password to use this option.
There are many other possibilities, some examples are: use a startup script and psexec; use srvany to create a service that runs your script; use task scheduler to schedule your script to run automatically, either interactively or non-interactively; disable WUA, configure automatic logon for the account you're using, and add your script to the Startup folder.
Note that you'll save time and bandwidth if you can set up a WSUS server or (even simpler, and cheaper if you don't already have a Windows server) a transparent caching proxy. However this won't avoid the need to reboot during the update sequence.
You may find my script useful as an alternative starting point to ZTIWindowsUpdate.wsf, if only because it is smaller and simpler to understand.
The moast time consuming thing of a WindowsUpadate procedere is the download of the Setupfiles for the Updates. You should look into a lokaly in the network installed WUS (Window Update Server) and make sure the PC updates from the WUS. If the PCs are all in a ActiveDirectory Domain then the needed settings are very easy to manage. But if not this setting could make a simple batch-script which uses the normal windows update routine.
Another solution would be to make batch-scripts where you install the predownloaded updateFiles with the silent-switch. Allmoast every setup.exe has such a silent switch. If a update isn't needed the update stops for this upload automatically. I'm using such a batch-script wizzardy now for quiet a time now.
PS: If the Computer were from one/your compagny you should "thank" your predecessor for many hours of work to the far future.
PPS: By the way XP and Vista should be phased out. They are now realy old and for XP the already extended supporttime is axed by Microsoft next year and should only used if it is realy realy needed for one small situation where a Windows 7 isn't a solution in any way possible.
To run
cssript.exe ZTIWindowsUpdate.wsf
as Administrator after reboots, you can create a Task in the Task Scheduler with the proper permissions and to run on boot. =]
An automated way is, WuInstall. I'm using it for 1 year now and it's perfect, it actually does what it should. It's a command line tool which automatically searches, downloads and installs the updates. There are several "switches" that let you allow to customize the process. Thanks to the rebootcycle-switch for instance, updating a newly setup PC is done with ease - in one go.
Here's another way ------
Perform instructions below at your own risk:
To automate windows update these instructions may or may not work for your system however it appears to work to an extent for Windows 7 as these instructions were tested on Windows 7.
MUST READ: 1. If the step below does not work verify then you are most likely part of a domain and your security policy may not allow you to perform steps below! 2. UAC prompts were also disabled for the duration of the windows updates so the batch files can run without interruption; be careful to restore this to default when done
Caution this step will make your computer less secure, immediately remove this after your computer is completely up to date. Set a reminder for 24 hours later if need be:
1.
First you will have to make sure your computer automatically logs into a user. You can do this by clicking start menu, type "netplwiz", press enter or open the wizard, under the users tab, select your username, and un-check "require password", type your password, close this window.
2.
Create 3 batch files to start the automated process. (Open notepad paste each code into a separate notepad and perform a save as corresponding_file_name.bat)
One. Save as: any_name.bat then copy this batch file to your startup folder for the user you made auto login. (Click start > All Programs > Startup)
start "" c:\autoupdate1.bat
exit
Two. Save as: autoupdate1.bat then copy this to C:\ drive
wuauclt /detectnow
wuauclt /updatenow
reg query "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\Auto Update\RebootRequired" > nul && shutdown -r -t 0
start "" c:\autoupdate2.bat
exit
Three. Save as: autoupdate2.bat then copy this to C:\ drive
ping 127.0.0.1 -n 61 > nul
start "" c:\autoupdate1.bat
exit
Restart or open the batch file in the startup folder and watch the magic begin!
3.
When it is completely done updating just delete the batch files from the startup folder & c:\ drive
Once again follow these instructions at your own risk as it can create an endless loop if you do not know how to stop this process by removing it from the startup folder or going into windows under safe-mode to remove the batch files
Final notes: If you run into issues running the batch files chances are you may have to look up how to disable UAC prompts for your Windows version
My current project involves deploying an upgraded .exe file that runs as a Windows Service. In order to overwrite the existing .exe with the new version, I currently need to:
Stop the service
Uninstall the service
Reboot the system (so Windows releases it's hold on the file)
Deploy the new .exe
Reinstall the service
Start the upgraded service.
I'd like to avoid the reboot, so that this can be a fully scripted/automated upgrade.
Is there any way to avoid rebooting? Maybe a command-line tool that will force Windows to give up it's death grip on the old .exe?
sc delete "service name"
will delete a service. I find that the sc utility is much easier to locate than digging around for installutil. Remember to stop the service if you have not already.
I had sort of the same problem as you. I have a system service that i want to uninstall and afterwards reinstall as part of an update. On certain systems this would not work without a reboot. The problem was that a call to DeleteService() would return ok, but the following call to CreateService() would tell me the service was still there, but marked for deletion (error code 1072). The registry would reflect that, since the subkey was still there (under HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services), but "DeleteFlag" was set to 1. From that point on, only a reboot could fix the situation.
Some things that don't work:
Using "sc delete": it had the same problems as I. The call would return ok, but the service was not really gone and still in the registry with DeleteFlag = 1.
Deleting the key in the registry. The Service Manager seems to keep a database in memory and the registry is just a copy of it for the next boot.
Adding wait loops, waiting for .exe files to be ready to be overwritten, killing the process, etc.
Closing handles to the service. Which ones??
But here is what worked:
I noticed in some articles here on stackoverflow that net.exe has start/stop features as well (I only knew of sc.exe utility). And strangely enough, a "net stop svcname" plus a "sc delete svcname" worked! So net.exe must do something I don't do.
But net.exe doesn't contain an import to ControlService(), so how does it stop the service? I found out that net.exe spawns net1.exe, but net1.exe doesn't import ControlService() as well. I used the great API Monitor utility ( http://www.rohitab.com/apimonitor ) to see what net1.exe is doing, but it never called anything that looked promising.
But then I saw that it imports NetServiceControl() from NETAPI32.DLL (that had at least "Service" in its name!). MSDN says that this function is obsolete. Nevertheless, I found the prototype in LMSvc.h and some parameter description here: http://cyberkinetica.homeunix.net/os2tk45/srvfpgr/369_L2_NetServiceControlorN.html . When you load NETAPI32.DLL and use NetServiceControl(NULL, service_name, 3, 0, 0) (3 is for SERVICE_CTRL_UNINSTALL, which is used to stop) the service is stopped afterwards. And it can be deleted and reinstalled afterwards without DeleteFlag or reboot!
So it was never a problem of deleting, but of stopping the service properly. And NetServiceControl() does the trick. Sorry for the long post, but I thought it might help someone with similar problems. (Just for reference, I use Win7 SP1 x64.)
Are you not able to stop the service before the update (and restart after the update) using the commands below?
net stop <service name>
net start <service name>
Whenever I'm testing/deploying a service I'm able to upload files without reinstalling as long as the service is stopped. I'm not sure if the issue you are having is different.
If in .net ( I'm not sure if it works for all windows services)
Stop the service (THis may be why you're having a problem.)
InstallUtil -u [name of executable]
Installutil -i [name of executable]
Start the service again...
Unless I'm changing the service's public interface, I often deploy upgraded versions of my services without even unistalling/reinstalling... ALl I do is stop the service, replace the files and restart the service again...
As noted by StingyJack and mcbala, and in reference to comments made by Mike L, my experience is that on a Windows 2000 machine, when uninstalling / reinstalling .Net services, "installutil /u" does require a reboot, even when the service was previously stopped. "sc /delete", on the other hand, does not require a reboot - it deletes the service right away (as long as it is stopped).
I have often wondered, actually, whether there is a good reason "installutil /u" requires a reboot... Is "sc /delete" actually doing something wrong / leaving something hanging?
Both Jonathan and Charles are right... you've got to stop the service first, then uninstall/reinstall. Combining their two answers makes the perfect batch file or PowerShell script.
I will make mention of a caution learned the hard way -- Windows 2000 Server (possibly the client OS as well) will require a reboot before the reinstall no matter what. There must be a registry key that is not fully cleared until the box is rebooted. Windows Server 2003, Windows XP and later OS versions do not suffer that pain.
(so Windows releases it's hold on the
file)
Instead, do Ctrl+Alt+Del right after the Stop of the service and kill the .exe of the service. Than, you can uninstall the service without rebooting. This happened to me in the past and it solves the part that you need to reboot.
Should it be necessary to manually remove a service:
Run Regedit or regedt32.
Find the registry key entry for your service under the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Services
Delete the Registry Key
You will have to reboot before the list gets updated in services
I am using the InstallUtil.exe packed with .NET Framework.
The usage to uninstall is: InstallUtil '\path\to\assembly\with\the\installer\classes' /u so for example: installutil MyService.HostService.exe /u
The /u switch stands for uninstall, without it the util performs normal installation of the service. The utility stops the service if it is running and I never had problems with Windows keeping lock on the service files. You can read about other options of InstallUtil on MSDN.
P.S.:if you don't have installutil in your path variable use full path like this: C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\InstallUtil.exe "C:\MyServiceFolder\MyService.HostService.exe" /u or if you need 64bit version it can be found in 'C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\' .The version number in path varies depending on .NET version.
My batch file to stop and delete service
#echo off
title Service Uninstaller
color 0A
set blank=
set service=blank
:start
echo.&echo.&echo.
SET /P service=Enter the name of the service you want to uninstall:
IF "%service%"=="" (ECHO Nothing is entered
GoTo :start)
cls
echo.&echo.&echo We will delete the service: %service%
ping -n 5 -w 1 127.0.0.1>nul
::net stop %service%
ping -n 2 -w 1 127.0.0.1>nul
sc delete %service%
pause
:end
I have an application for Windows XP. This application is deployed with the hardware. The application is the only application that ever runs on these machines. These machines are never connected to the internet. I'm interested in instant-on (or quick-on) options that bypass the Windows XP startup for these machines.
This is similar to Windows XP "hibernation", but not exactly. With hibernation, the memory state is only read from disk once - the very next time the system is turned on. I want a memory state permanently stored to disk, so the system always starts from that same spot every time, regardless of how it was shut down. How can I achieve this?
Sounds like you're looking for the Hibernate Once, Resume Many feature of Windows Embedded.
If you like "hibernation", you may use VMWare.
Install a ArchLinux and VMWare on the host machines.
Prepare your Windows XP as the guest OS.
Customize startup process of the host, let it run VMWare and restore Windows to the snapshot.
Hmmm, the short answer is "not easily!", but one way could be to try playing around with replacing the windows shell with your own application / script that launches your own custom interface / state instead of Explorer as the default. Basically it's done using this reg key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\shell
Info on this actually seems to be reasonably scarce after doing a quick Google search, but this link below provides a little more detail:
http://www.trap17.com/index.php/how-change-windows-xp-shell_t20367.html
I think if you do a Google Groups search on "Windows XP shell replacement" you might get some more informative results.
You could try installing TweakUI on them, and having them autologin. Once you do that, just add your application to the Start Up menu (or in the registry, under:
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Jeff Atwood has a post on this very thing.