Windows – Shutdown all computers on the network (in a Windows domain)

domainwindows

How can I shutdown/restart all the computers in the domain? When I'm on the domain controller logged in as the admin.

The Clients are Windows 7 and the Server is a Windows Server 2008 machine. I have tried

 shutdown.exe /i

and then selecting the computer but it just comes back with:

PCNAME: The entered computer name is not valid or remote shutdown is not suppor ted on the target computer. Check the name and then try again or contact your system administrator.(53)

Best Answer

To refresh group policy changes on a computer, there's no need to reboot. Use

GPUPDATE

If you wish to force teh re-application of all group policies (rather than just the changes), you can use

GPUPDATE /force

If you wish to target only per-user or per-machine policies, specify that with

GPUPDATE /Target:Computer
GPUPDATE /Target:User

If you wish to force the next update to be performed synchronously, you can use

GPUPDATE /sync

If you need to apply an policy changes that require a user logoff (eg. folder redirection, application deployment) then you can force a logoff with

GPUPDATE /Logoff

Similarly, for policies such as computer-targeted software installation that are only processed at boot-up, you can cause a reboot with

GPUPDATE /Boot