PSExec shutdown list of servers

scriptingwindows-server-2012

I have a system I inherited that used a simple psexec script and a list of servers to automatically shut down the servers in the list should a temperature threshold be reached or the UPS only has a few minutes of battery remaining. This was executed by AVTech Device Manager. It is no longer working (and likely has not since I have been here). If I execute the script manually from an administrative command prompt (Windows Server 2012 r2) I get this error

The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.

The script in question looks like this

c:\avtech\psexec @c:\avtech\scripts\serverlist.txt c:\windows\system32\shutdown.exe -s -f -t 0 >"c:\avtech\log\shutdownlog.txt 2>&1

and the serverlist.txt file is currently a file with just one entry

server.domain.local

If I substitute the actual server name for the serverlist.txt file it works fine

C:\Windows\system32>C:\AVTECH\psexec \\server.domain.local c:\windows\system32\shutdown.exe -s -f -t 0 >c:\shutdownLog.txt 2>&1

So it all works just fine if I don't have psexec grab from that list of servers. And, yes, the path to the list of servers is correct.

No doubt there is a simple and obvious error here somewhere but my experience with this kind of thing is pretty weak, any ideas?

Best Answer

Instead of fiddling around with psexec for this, why not just call shutdown.exe directly with the /m switch?

shutdown.exe -m \\server.domain.local -s -f -t 0

You can even keep your list of servers in the same file by using a for command. See the for documentation if you want to use a non-default (space and tab) delimiter:

for /f %%SERVER in (c:\avtech\scripts\serverlist.txt) do (
    shutdown.exe -m %%SERVER -s -f -t 0
)

Related Solutions

Script shutdown a computer with gpo

Have a look at Sysinternal's pssshutdown, in conjuction with the Windows at command you can create a daily scheduled task to perform this. The utility allows for customized message box, default time out and presents a window prompting the user to cancel or continue the shutdown.

Create a Group Policy with a Computer Logon script something like:

REM Schedule computer shutdown task using AT.
SET SHUTDOWNTIME=22:00
SET TIMEOUT=600

IF EXIST "%PROGRAMFILES%\PStools\psshutdown.exe" (
    REM Clear at tasks
    AT.EXE /delete /yes
    REM Schedule shutdown daily, repeat in case of user cancellation.
    AT.EXE %SHUTDOWNTIME% /EVERY:m,t,w,th,f,s,su "%PROGRAMFILES%\PStools\psshutdown.exe" -accepteula -c -f -k -t %TIMEOUT% -m "Nightly shutdown in progress.  Click CANCEL if you need to continue using this computer."
)

You will need to customize the path to psshutdown to match your environment.

Windows – Get a list of who logged in to each server

If you just want the profile list, PowerShell is probably your best bet.

$Server = 'RemoteServer'
$Reg = [Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey]::OpenRemoteBaseKey('LocalMachine', $Server)

This will instantiate $reg as a holder for the remote registry object in HKLM. To get at the bit you want:

$ProfileList = $Reg.OpenSubKey('SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList')

This will populate $ProfileList with the subkeys for the profiles themselves. Then to extract the list of users:

Write-Host "`n$Server: " -nonewline
ForEach ($SID in $ProfileList.GetValueNames()) {
    $ProfileKey = $ProfileList.OpenSubKey($SID)
    # Get the ProfileImagePath key
    $ProfileKey.GetValue("ProfileImagePath")
    # Break the path up into an array, using \ as the delimiter
    $PathBits = $ProfileKey.Split("\")
    # The last element of the array is our user, find the last element
    $LastIndex = $PathBits.Count - 1
    # Dump the last element to something useful
    $User = $PathBits[$LastIndex]
    # Output the user
    write-host " $User" -nonewline
}

Or something close to that. It's off the top of my head.

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