Here’s a tidbit of information that I had to use last night on a Windows 2003 server which got hung up on a reboot in a remote location. I’ve used this a couple times before but always double check the “help shutdown” before proceeding. The shutdown command has been available on all Windows OSes since Windows 2000 came out and can be very useful when working with a virtualized server, a headless server or a box in a remote location. Last night’s server reboot somehow got hung; probably on some application that required user interaction (I could still ping the box remotely, couldn’t RDP back into it but could still access it via RPC.) I just issued a quick:

shutdown /r /f /m \\"IP ADDRESS HERE!"

And the box finished its reboot and I was back in business. If it hadn’t been for that command at 10pm last night I would have had to wait until morning to get it back up and running!

Here’s a couple useful links w/ more info.

http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/w2k3/shutdown.htm

http://www.shutdown.cc/