How To: Shut Down or Restart Multiple Computers at the Same Time

If you are performing some off hours maintenance or deploying group policy changes that you want to take effect as soon as possible, you may find the need to restart multiple computers at the same time. For example, you may want install a software package deployed through group policy, which happens during startup. Microsoft Windows contains a utility to allow you do this as long as you have administrative access to the computers.

Restart Computers Using the Remote Shutdown GUI

1. Log into a computer or server using domain administrator credentials
2. Click on Start and type CMD into the start search box.
3. In the command prompt window, enter the command Shutdown -i and press enter.
4. In the Remote Shutdown Dialog box, click Add…

   

5. In the Add Computers window, enter the names or IP addresses of the computers that you would like to shut down or restart. Each entry should be on a separate line. Click OK.

   
   

6. Configure the options for Restart or Shutdown and choose whether to warn users of the action. Enter the shutdown reason and add a comment, if desired. Finally, click OK to start the action.

   

You can perform some more advanced functions such as remote logoff or hibernation by using the command line interface instead of the GUI. Enter the command Shutdown /? to bring up the syntax and options in the command prompt window.

Tags: ComputersGUIRestartShutdown