How to schedule computer to shut down at a certain time in the night.

Question

How can I get my system to shut down(turn off) at a certain time every night?

Answer 1

Hi Daan,

To set an automatic shutdown of your PC, please follow the steps below:

• Open Task Scheduler and Click Create Basic Task...

• Type the name of the task and description if needed.

• Set the date and time.

• Select Start a program and click Next>

• Locate the shutdown.exe or type " C:\Windows\System32\shutdown.exe ". Add arguments "  -s -t 0  "

• Before clicking Finish, tick Open the Properties dialog for this task when i click Finish.

• Under Gene r al, tick the box on Run with highest privileges.

• Under Conditions, Uncheck Start the task only if the computer is on AC power.

• Under Settings, tick Run task as soon as possible after a scheduled start is missed.

That should enable shutting down your PC automatically.

Please post back with results for further assistance.

Answer 2

/s means shutdown the computer (the shutdown.exe program can do more than that).

In a Command Prompt window, type

       shutdown /?

After you press Enter, you'll see the following, where the brackets [ ] mean something is optional and the vertical lines | mean "you can pick one of these".  For more explanation, see http://pcsupport.about.com/od/commandlinereference/a/command-syntax.htm

Usage: shutdown [/i | /l | /s | /r | /g | /a | /p | /h | /e] [/f]

    [/m \computer][/t xxx][/d [p|u:]xx:yy [/c "comment"]]

    No args    Display help. This is the same as typing /?.

    /?         Display help. This is the same as not typing any options.

    /i         Display the graphical user interface (GUI).

               This must be the first option.

    /l         Log off. This cannot be used with /m or /d options.

    /s         Shutdown the computer.

    /r         Shutdown and restart the computer.

    /g         Shutdown and restart the computer. After the system is

               rebooted, restart any registered applications.

    /a         Abort a system shutdown.

               This can only be used during the time-out period.

    /p         Turn off the local computer with no time-out or warning.

               Can be used with /d and /f options.

    /h         Hibernate the local computer.

               Can be used with the /f option.

    /e         Document the reason for an unexpected shutdown of a computer.

    /m \computer Specify the target computer.

    /t xxx     Set the time-out period before shutdown to xxx seconds.

               The valid range is 0-315360000 (10 years), with a default of 30.

               If the timeout period is greater than 0, the /f parameter is

               implied.

    /c "comment" Comment on the reason for the restart or shutdown.

               Maximum of 512 characters allowed.

    /f         Force running applications to close without forewarning users.

               The /f parameter is implied when a value greater than 0 is

               specified for the /t parameter.

    /d [p|u:]xx:yy  Provide the reason for the restart or shutdown.

               p indicates that the restart or shutdown is planned.

               u indicates that the reason is user defined.

               If neither p nor u is specified the restart or shutdown is

               unplanned.

               xx is the major reason number (positive integer less than 256).

               yy is the minor reason number (positive integer less than 65536)

Reasons on this computer:

(E = Expected U = Unexpected P = planned, C = customer defined)

Type    Major   Minor   Title

 U      0       0       Other (Unplanned)

E       0       0       Other (Unplanned)

E P     0       0       Other (Planned)

 U      0       5       Other Failure: System Unresponsive

E       1       1       Hardware: Maintenance (Unplanned)

E P     1       1       Hardware: Maintenance (Planned)

E       1       2       Hardware: Installation (Unplanned)

E P     1       2       Hardware: Installation (Planned)

E       2       2       Operating System: Recovery (Planned)

E P     2       2       Operating System: Recovery (Planned)

  P     2       3       Operating System: Upgrade (Planned)

E       2       4       Operating System: Reconfiguration (Unplanned)

E P     2       4       Operating System: Reconfiguration (Planned)

  P     2       16      Operating System: Service pack (Planned)

        2       17      Operating System: Hot fix (Unplanned)

  P     2       17      Operating System: Hot fix (Planned)

        2       18      Operating System: Security fix (Unplanned)

  P     2       18      Operating System: Security fix (Planned)

E       4       1       Application: Maintenance (Unplanned)

E P     4       1       Application: Maintenance (Planned)

E P     4       2       Application: Installation (Planned)

E       4       5       Application: Unresponsive

E       4       6       Application: Unstable

 U      5       15      System Failure: Stop error

 U      5       19      Security issue

E       5       19      Security issue

E P     5       19      Security issue

E       5       20      Loss of network connectivity (Unplanned)

 U      6       11      Power Failure: Cord Unplugged

 U      6       12      Power Failure: Environment

  P     7       0       Legacy API shutdown

Answer 3

Hi thomasreister,

What Operating System is installed in your machine?

If using Windows 7, follow these steps to schedule your PC(Personal Computer) to shut down at a certain time at night:

1. Go to Start > Control Panel > System and Security > Administrative Tools and click on the Task Scheduler.
2. From the Action menu in Task Scheduler, click "Create Basic Task..."
3. In the "Create Basic Task Wizard" windows that pops up, Type in a title and a description. Something basic like "PC Shutdown."
4. Click "Next."
5. On the "Task Trigger" screen, choose the frequency with which you want the Shutdown PC to run. For nightly shutdown, click on "daily" and click the Next" button.

6.On the "Daily" screen, enter the date and time you want your PC to shutdown. Click "Next."

7. On the "Action" screen, choose "Start a program" and click "Next."
8. On the "Start a Program" screen, type C:\Windows\System32\shutdown.exe in the "Program/script" text field.
9. In the Add arguments text field type /s.
10. Click "Next."
11. Confirm your settings on the Summary screen and click "Finish."

Now your Windows 7 computer will automatically shutdown at the same time every day/night.

Azeez Nadeem - Microsoft Support

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Answer 4

Thanks i have been looking for this for some time now and i so appreciate the step by step help! Thanks a million :}

Answer 5

Thanks alot, i got the answer before from microsoft but by this one because it is step by step i understood easily and done what i wanted. Thanks.