Suppressing the "reason" for shutdown on Windows Server

Question

How can I suppress giving a reason for shutdown on a Windows Server host?

Specifically, on 2008 R2, but all versions back to 2003 and up to 2012 would be appreciated.

Answer 1

You will need to modify the group policy that is applied to the servers. Open up the Group Policy Management Console and navigate to Computer Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> System and select "Display Shutdown Event Tracker." Disable that option.

Answer 2

If you do not want to change via Polices you can always issue the shutdown command to avoid the question.

shutdown /s /t 0

/s = shutdown /t = time till shutdown 0 = immediely

Answer 3

Running the following as an elevated admin:

reg.exe add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Reliability" /v ShutDownReasonOn /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

and then logging off and on again should to the trick.

This is quicker than using group policies which you should use when you are in a domain and want to apply this change to many servers.

Answer 4

I'm sure the OP has found the other answers useful but future readers may be interested in a powershell version. Works out of the box in 2008 or up, and maybe in 2003 if powershell is installed.

    if ( -Not (Test-Path 'registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Reliability'))
    {
    New-Item -Path 'registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT' -Name Reliability -Force
    }
    Set-ItemProperty -Path 'registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Reliability' -Name ShutdownReasonOn -Value 0
#

or a .reg file version. Install with "regedit /s Disable_Shutdown_Event_Tracker.reg"

Disable_Shutdown_Event_Tracker.reg

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Reliability]
"ShutdownReasonOn"=dword:00000000