There’s quite a bit of detail with the shutdown.exe command and here is the output when you run the shutdown.exe /? command at the command prompt in Vista. You can click on the Close button but that will just close that window and Windows itself will continue to shut down. A window pops up telling us that Windows will shut down in less than a minute. Here’s the screen when the task fires off and starts to automatically shut Vista down. Let’s take a look at our task in the Active Tasks list.ĭouble-click the Task Name if you need to work with the settings. The next screen you’ll see is the Start a Program screen. The following screen is the Action screen. The next screen you’ll see is the Start Date and Time screen. We want to shut down our Vista PC in the middle of the night, every night so we’ll pick Daily. You’ll see the following window and I’ve already filled in the Name and Description of our task.Īfter clicking Next you’ll see the Task Trigger screen.

In the Actions column on the right, click Create Basic Task… We are going to look at one task here and not all the extra stuff in Task Scheduler. It might look intimidating but it’s not too bad. The Task Scheduler is quite a bit different in Vista and there’s a lot to it, but don’t let that hold you back. This could possibly keep certain users from every using the Task Scheduler in Vista. It is more complicated looking for average users than the Task Scheduler in Windows XP. Like Windows XP you’ll find the Task Scheduler under the Start Button -> Control Panel -> System and Maintenance -> Administrative Tools -> Schedule tasks. Here’s the first screen shot after I clicked on the Start button. In this article I’ll show you how to do the same thing in Windows Vista.įor this How To, I’m using Windows Vista Home Edition. In my article How To Automatically Shut Down Your Windows XP Computer I showed how to set it up so you can use the ShutDown.exe command to schedule and automatically shutdown your Windows XP computer.

Automatic shutdown software