Learn how to make Windows Vista automatically shutdown at a certain time.
Electro Geeza asked: “Right now, I am actually looking for some instructions on how to automatically shutdown the computer by using only the built-in components of Windows Vista, without any additional “shutdown computer” applications (oh boy, there are thousands or even billions of those). I am thinking about using Task scheduler in Windows to set up a computer shutdown command in some way. Any other ideas?”
I’m 100% with you Electro Geeza. I try to always use built-in functions in Windows to do a task before I use “other” software. Using little applications to perform tasks opens the door to bugs and crashes. Most of the times there are built in functions to perform most tasks. Most people just don’t know about or how to use them.
How-to Shutdown Windows Vista at a Specified Time
I’m going to use the shutdown command included in Windows Vista to shutdown the computer and the task scheduler to shut it down at a specific time.
- Open Task Scheduler by going to Start orb, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and then open Task Scheduler.
- Click Create basic task on the right side of the Task Scheduler.
- Give the task a name and then click Next.
- Select when you want to shutdown the computer and then click Next. The next screen will differ depending on when you want the computer to shutdown. In this example I want the computer to shutdown every Monday – Friday at 6pm.
- Next, choose the rest of the details about when you want to shutdown the computer and then click Next.
- Choose to Start a program and then click Next.
- Type shutdown under Program/script and type –s –f –t 0 in the Add arguments box and then click Next.
Learn more about the shutdown command.
- Click Finish on the next screen to save this scheduled task.
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Explore other guides about: All • Customization • Vista • Windows.
thanx for help but…
every time i tried to access the task scheduler windows says ”you may not have permitions to access this item !!:(
i’ll be very pleased if you help me :)
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This is very easy to overcome.
As you open
Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools
to reveal the “Task Scheduler” program link, right click it with your mouse and from the sub-menu that pops up, click “Run as administrator”.
That should fix it!
wow-o u guys r smart….i got alot to learn!!!
i tried this but at the time it is supposed to shutdown it didn’t. i tried following each step that is said but nothing happened. can somebody help me please. thank you
How do u stop it and find it?
when i open the task scheduler, a message box pops up and says “the task image is corrupt or has been tampered with.mcupdate” but it still lets me run the program. what does that mean?
Hi
I would like to schedule the same task, but only to sleep or hibernate my PC, could someone please help me with this?
Regards,
Pieter
Try –h –f –t 0 as the arguments in step 7 of this guide. It works in Windows 7.
u need to download jetaudio ,,,there is option called as alaram…set it as ur desired time and enjoy,,it works fine for me
Hi I want my computer to shut off automatically at 10:30 PM every night , but before i set this up, will this work even if my laptop has it’s lid down and is sleeping or hibernating?
If your computer is hibernating it has already shut down.
If it’s sleeping you can set the scheduled task to wake the computer and run the command by checking off that option in the Conditions tab of the shutdown task you created.
Example: After you’ve created the shutdown task, edit the task by opening Task Scheduler, find and open the shutdown task you’ve created, select the Conditions tab in the shutdown task, and then check off Wake the computer to run this task.
Just wanted to say thanks! I’ve been looking for this for a while.
How do i disable/remove this Basic Task after it has been created?
Open the task scheduler, click on Task Scheduler Library, find the task in the center column, right-click it, and choose to delete it.
Well I tried this and set up two testers to confirm it worked neither worked, so naturally during the next test I copied everything word for word not sure what’s going on O.o
Is this the ONLY way to shutdown the computer like this? Is there possibly another way to run a batch file every 5 minutes or so and perform certain actions (excluding using downloaded programs)?
welll herez da best, easiest to perform mini- method which takes you out of all this trouble of task scheduling!!! Lets say you want to shut down pc at 11 am. Just go to run and enter this command:
at 11:00 shutdown -s
similarly for shutting down at 8:54 pm, you gotta write:
at 20:54 shutdown -s
nd here you go! :)
This is a very useful tip. Thanks. I am also glad that more and more programs can be set to shut down when Defrag of a hard drive is done like in Auslogic Disk Defrag.
I wonder if I can make a visual basic program with a alarm clock function which can be made to shutdown a PC at a specific time with a timer function.
hi
thank alots
Hello, this question can only been possibly answer by Brent Trahan but off course anyone is invited to have a look and discussed, is it possible to set the computer to shut down, sleep or hibernated, with the optionto be after a program have been downloaded, it sounds complicated, I have been thinking it may need a add-on if it can be manually, I think that would be very useful………….Imagine you want to download something big that make take a night but you dont want to spend all the time cheking if it has already been download to dont waste more your battery, internet connection,so also reduce risk to be connected directely on intenet increasing posibilidades of an attack( going to extrem) but basically for the already mentioned above. THANKS A LOT
I’ve also been looking for an answer to this, and I think some big files come with an option to shut down the computer once you’ve installed/downloaded it but the majority don’t so I second your question… help?
this works just fine on my laptop. thanks :)
thanx 4 da gr8 info…
Hello there, I followed closely your steps but my comp couldn’t shutdown as scheduled (shutdown every Mon-Sat at 7.30am). Instead I got this pop-up error message: “An error has occurred for Task reminders – Owner. Error Message: The specified account name is not valid.” Please help me, thank you!
Hello there if i want to shut my pc at 8am then what code should i write…..could you help me with that
how do i do this to make my computer power back on everday at a cetain time?
let me rephrase i want to schedule the task scheduler to have my computer shut off and turn on everyday at cetain times. i have already schedlued the shut down now how do i do the start up
Hmmm, I think this is possible, but I don’t know how to get it to turn back on.