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Call me masochist, but I actually like entering the details when shutting down a server.

Windows Server 2012 R2 doesn't seem to provide a field to do that, though.

Is there any way to add "reason" for shutdown via the GUI, not via command line?

pepoluan
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3 Answers3

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Shutdown.exe still ships with the new versions of Windows.

Simply run:

shutdown /i

and the following prompt will appear, allowing you to shutdown/reboot 1 or more servers with a Reason comment:

enter image description here

Mathias R. Jessen
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  • Hmm... not ideal, for two reasons: (1) Need to "Add" the current computer, and (2) not integrated with the Start Screen's Shutdown option. But I'll mark yours as the answer anyways. – pepoluan Sep 11 '14 at 08:08
  • @pepoluan I couldn't stop thinking about it, so now I've written an extensive script to emulate your own Shutdown Event Tracker. It wouldn't be a very good SF answer, but feel free to [check it out here](http://blog.iisreset.me/2014/09/recreating-the-windows-server-shutdown-event-tracker-ui-with-powershell.html). You could edit it further to suit your exact needs – Mathias R. Jessen Sep 15 '14 at 20:48
  • @pepoluan, point (1) is a bit better than it seems because you can use a full stop to indicate "the current server". Still not ideal though. – Greenstone Walker Jan 11 '16 at 00:34
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That's a good habit, congrats.

The traditional way to enable/disable the Shutdown Event Tracker through a Group Policy setting (Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System / Display Shutdown Event Tracker) does not seem to work anymore. The GUI does not seem to offer this functionality anymore.

Your options are to use the shutdown.exe with /c parameter to specify a comment, or use the Write-EventLog PowerShell command to write your reason and then reboot.

Additionally, I would expect the Stop-Computer / Restart-Computer cmdlets to offer some way to specify a reason but they don't seem to have any parameter for that.

gtirloni
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  • Yeah... after having to lecture my team incessantly to _never ever_ forget to write a comment for each Shutdown/Restart, it's really Really REALLY exasperating to find out that Microsoft, in its infinite(ly misguided) wisdom, had decided to remove the comment field. Oh well. – pepoluan Sep 11 '14 at 08:10
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If you want your traditional shutdown dialog back, just press Alt + F4 on your desktop. Hope it helps.

Arnie97
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