Shutdown.exe is included in pretty much any recent version of the Windows OS including Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, 2008 and 7. Shuftdown.exe is a great program that can be used by system administrators to shutdown local computers through a batch file or even shutdown remote machines or servers using different switches.

The shutdown command it typically stored in the c:\windows\system32\ folder as shutdown.exe

Syntax:
Shutdown.exe [logoff_option] [/m \\computername ] [option]

logoff option:

• /i
  • Display the GUI (must be the first option)
• /l
  • Log Off. This cannot be used with /m or /d option
• /s
  • Shutdown
• /r
  • Shutdown and Restart
• /a
  • Abort a system shutdown (only during the time-out period)
• /p
  • Turn off the local computer with no time-out or warning (only with /d)
• /h
  • Hibernate the local computer (only with /f)
• /e
  • Document the reason for an unexpected shutdown of a computer

Options:

• /m \\computername
  • A remote computer to shutdown
• /t:(0-600)
  • Time until system shuts down in seconds. 0-600 (default=30)
• /c “Message”
  • An optional shutdown message with a max of 127 characters
• /f
  • Force all running applications to close. This will result in lost of unsaved data
• /d u:xx:yy
  • List a USER reason code for the shutdown
• /d P:xx:yy
  • List a PLANNED reason code for the shutdown

Example:

This example will shut the server down in 60 seconds and display a message
shutdown.exe /s /t:60 /c “This computer will shutdown in 60 seconds”

This example will shut the server down in the default time, 30 seconds
shutdown.exe /s