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| Automatically Shut Down the Machine at a Given Time SUMMARY: Force a Windows XP machine running large tasks, such as downloading software, to later shut down at a specific time.
Do you keep your Windows XP computer on at night running background tasks but need to shut it down at a particular time? This does not require any specialized software, as Windows XP comes built-in with a scheduler tool and shutdown application
Note that you must be logged on as an administrator account. Only administrators can start the shutdown process.
1. Click "Start".
2. Select "Control Panel".
3. Enter "Scheduled Tasks".
4. Select "Add Scheduled Task".
5. The "Scheduled Task Wizard" will appear. Click "Next".
6. Click the "Browse" button
7. When the "Select Program to Schedule" dialog box appears, enter "%SYSTEMROOT%\System32\shutdown.exe" (without the quotes) and press "Open".
8. Name the task "Shutdown" or whatever you'd like.
9. Choose when to perform the task:
* Daily
* Weekly
* Monthly
* One time only
* When my computer starts
* When I Log on
10. The next screen may ask for more information about when to schedule the task, such as the time, start date for the task, what days to schedule the task, etc.
11. When prompted, enter the username and password (if applicable) of the administrator of the machine. Then click "Next".
12. Check "Open advanced properties for this task when I click Finish" then press "Finish".
13. Next to "Run", add a space, a hyphen, and an "s", so the command looks like the following (NOTE that your Windows directory may vary!). Then click "OK" to re-save the task.
C:\WINDOWS\System32\shutdown.exe -s
14. NOTE: If you get the error message "0x8007005: Access is Denied", visit the following Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?
scid=kb;en-us;884573.
If this STILL doesn't solve your problem, especially if you are:
* Using XP Home instead of XP Pro
* Running with an administrator account with no password
Access the scheduled task properties page. (Right-click on the task from the Scheduled Tasks Control Panel). Click the "Task" tab and check "Run only if logged on" and press "OK". Now, you must be logged on your system for the task to run, but if you are the only user of the current machine, this should always be the case.
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