[eatingrich]

Hey folks,

Trying to get staff to turn off their computers when they go home is a nightmare, so we had the idea to switch all computer settings to hibernate (as the PCs are mains connected at all times) but we can't change the administration settings without paying our IT company who manage it loads of money.

We can set PCs to standby though, however, the issue is staff log out of their computer instead of turning them off.

I can't figure out if your computer will still go into standby, or hibernate, if the computer is logged out and at the log in screen.

I tried to test it on my own PC, when i turned the monitor on it stayed black, and I had to move the mouse to get it to come back on - does that mean its worked? Sorry I know it sounds absolutely daft not to know anyway!

Cheers for the help (in advance)

[Tipstaff]

Off the top of my head I don't remember if it will or won't, so I'll leave that question to someone else.

However, I would look into a piece of software, such as "PC Auto Shutdown", or similar software that forces the computer to shutdown/reboot/hibernate/suspend. In particular look for something that runs as a service since whether you are logged in or not all services get run regardless. In the case of "PC Auto Shutdown" (not free, btw) you can set a timer/schedule for the program to do whatever you want, such as shutdown, go into hibernate/standby, reboot, and so fourth. From what I remember this particular program does it's thing even if you are not logged into the computer.

This is just one example. You can also setup scripts in Task Scheduler to do the same thing. There's a couple that I have saved at work, and when I get back there I'll post them up here for you. There's one I have that will force the computer into hibernate/standby that I got off of Engery Stars website a long time ago (edit: found it HERE) that is built around, and uses Microsofts PsShutdown.exe utility. You use this script along with PsShutdown.exe, and tie that into a scheduled task that only runs between a certain time (say 8pm to 6am).

[charm_quark]

well if they are on network you can use the "shutdown" command from dos, note you can do this form any 1 host with administrative privileges on a local system, and it will shutdown any/all system/s within 1 network (on the same subnet only )
but not exactly sure if your not logged in!!!!!!

shutdown -s -f -m \\192.168.1.2 -t 00

i use it to monopolize on bandwidth

[Chaos]

does that work in Peer to Peer environments that use a Workgroup or only in a Domain

[temeteus82]

it should work in both... in workgroup you should use the user and password parameters.

[eatingrich]

Thanks for the replies, I haven't ignored it! I'll look into it, we've got someone else looking into it now as well. Can't find anything online about it though.

[eatingrich]

Thanks for the replies, right.

So - Potentially, you can write a VBScript and run it in conjunction with PsShutdown, to set all computers to shut down/hibernate/sleep or whatever, at a set time. The issue with this is that some computers are left on automatically to run. Would manually including a standby or hibernate option to these computers mean that if someone left them on overnight the computers would still go into hibernation? Or would an active hard drive mean that it would recognise this and stay on?

Essentially to put hibernation settings on everyones PC we're told that it would involve admin rights and the like, so there would be a cost involved. I'm guessing that by using the Scheduler and so on we'd be bypassing this?

[Lelisevis]

WTF, make turning the PC off a disciplinary issue with the threat of dismissal. The energy savings alone would be worth making an example of someone. Put your foot down, they should be grateful they have a job.

[eatingrich]

Lmao. Yeah well sometimes I do think like that. Well sometimes a PC will need to be left on to run tests, so we wouldn't want to jeopardise that.

The thing is sometimes people come in when they've left their computers on and claim it must have been an IT update overnight, when you know full well it wasn't because you check their computers about half an hour after they leave!

[Tipstaff]

There is another program that might be of interest, and it went right by me because of the name, Vista Start Menu. It's not exactly a replacement, but rather an redesign/overlay, so nothing is being actually replaced (turn it off, and the original menu comes back). Thing is, it works for XP too.

Why this one? Built into the program is a timer feature. The Timer will give you options as to what you want to set the timer for, and all of the startup/shutdown/sleep/hibernate/logoff options are there. The only problem is that this is voluntary, which means you can't use this program to schedule the timer to do this every day. The user has to choose this.