Raymond.CC Blog

In Windows XP and Vista, you can use the command “shutdown.exe” in command prompt to log off, shutdown, restart, abort system shutdown, set timeout for shutdown to XX seconds, and etc. Of course we can shutdown Windows computer by going to Start > Shut Down but there are times we need to shutdown the computer automatically via batch file.

In Windows XP, we can use the -t switch to specify the amount of seconds for time-out period before the computer shuts down. You can specify any number of seconds of your choice. However in Windows Vista, the -t switch has been limited to only 0-600 seconds with a default value of 30 seconds. If you want to schedule your computer to shutdown maybe an hour later, you can use Windows Vista Task Scheduler to do it. Start Task Scheduler from Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Task Scheduler. Create a basic task, enter any name and description, select one time, enter the date and time that you want to shutdown the computer, select Start a program, browse for shutdown.exe which is usually located at C:\Windows\System32\ and add the shutdown arguments.

It is a hassle to go through all that just to schedule a one time shutdown. Here is a free and easy to use tool that can help you shutdown your computer without the 0-600 range limit.


Vista-ShutdownTimer is an easy to use sleep-timer for Windows. You can use this timer with a PC-IR Remote control. It has an OSD (On Scree Display), supports command line parameters, supports manual killing of hanging programs, classic mode, tray-menu, shortcut wizard. All in a single EXE file, no registry and no INI files needed. The program can be configured using command line parameters only.

Vista Shutdown Timer also supports command line arguments. This means that we can create a batch file to automate the tool to shutdown or restart at a scheduled time. To learn about the command line parameters, just click the Windows icon at the top right of the program. If you’re still unsure on how to do it, you can use the built-in “Shortcut wizzard” to help you create a shortcut to run Vista Shutdown Timer with commandline.

Although the name of this tool is Vista Shutdown Timer, it can also be used in Windows 2000 and XP. This tool is only 184KB in size, free and portable. No more 0-600 seconds limit in scheduling shutdown for Windows Vista…

Note: Some antivirus such as ClamAV, Sophos, QuickHeal and eSafe flag Vista Shutdown Timer as a suspicious file although the application is perfectly safe and does not pose a threat to your system. This is called a ‘false positive’. The term false positive is used when antivirus software wrongly classifies an innocuous ( inoffensive ) file as a virus. The incorrect detection may be due to heuristics or to an incorrect virus signature in a database.

[ Download Vista Shutdown Timer ]