How to force a reboot instead of shutdown (XP)

Question

I have a Windows XP SP2 virtual machine which can be accessed via VNC. It's also running Deep Freeze so there should be no problem in forcing it to reboot. I am looking for a way to force the operating system to reboot instead of shutting down or completely remove the ability to shut down the machine using software applications (such as the usual way from the start menu, the shutdown program or other custom programs).

Thank you, Tom

Answer 1

To remove the ability to shut down then your best bet is to create a group policy for the user/user group and specify that they can only restart the system. I have done this in the past to ensure that only the administrator account can shut down a computer. it has prevented me from mistakenly shutting down a remote pc at 2am in the morning when i meant to re-start it.

Answer 2

Try this:

shutdown -r -t 1 -f

Alex

Answer 3

In XP there is a DOS command called shutdown. If you type shutdown /? from a command prompt you will see the options available. Using this you can create a Batch file.

Answer 4

Try DShutdown.exe. It's flexible and can do all these things.