Resolved Auto shutdown winxp.

Hi, I am running winxp pro service pack 3. I am trying to setup an auto shutdown and have followed the instructions using the task manager. The problem is when I get to the system32 folder and scroll to the shutdown.exe it only shows shutdown with no .exe.

When I chose the shutdown and continue on I get an error message- access is denied - and am stopped in my tracks at that point. I did create a password when instructed.

Why is there a "shutdown" but no "shutdown.exe" in my system32?

I have searched every site on how to set up an auto shutdown but they all start off withinstructing me to go to "shutdown.exe" which I do not have.

What am I missing?

Thank you - Troof

 

Thanks Pete. Did as you said and now the shutdown.exe is there. Started over with the - Add Scheduled Task - and got the same result. When I set the shutdown time and pressed apply I get to the password box and enter a password and then press ok. I then get the error message that - I do not have permission to perform the requested operation.

Could it have something to do with the password operation? Is this a password that I have already created sometime in the past? I just created a password and confirmed it and then pressed ok and got the error message. What next? Thank you

 

And, if you auto logon, then go into Scheduled tasks
Right click your task and select Properties
Under the "Task" pane, put a tick next to "Run only if logged on "
Apply and OK out of there

 

Sorry I am taking so long to reply. Anyhow thank you very much for getting me headed in the right direction. And women say men don't ask for directions, indeed!

Anyhow finally got it to work like it should. Thanks to Pete for directing me to the "Hide extensions for known file types" and uncheck it which made shutdown.exe apear in my system32 folder. Then thanks to indmusic on how to avoid the request for a password by checking "Run only if logged on "

At that point I was still unable to auto shutdown my computer so I did a bit more digging and found this:

Add the following command line parameters as seen below and here "“ C:\Windows\system32\shutdown.exe -s -t 60 -c "Daily Shutdown" -f. The -s stands for "Shutdown the computerâ€. The -t 60 stands for "Set timeout for shudown to xx seconds. Feel free to adjust that. You never know when you’re going to be working at 3:00am, so it’s nice to have 60 seconds to prepare for the shutdown. The -c stands "Shutdown comment" which shows up on the screen when the PC is shutting down. And finally the -f stands for "Forces running applications to close without warningâ€.

This line needed to be in the run window in the task tab, the same tab where I checked the "Run only if logged on ". C:\WINDOWS\system32\shutdown.exe -s -t 60 -c "SHUTING DOWN" "“f

Hope this can help others with a similar problem.

Thanks, Troof