I've been using Remote Desktop Connection to get into a workstation. But in this environment, I cannot use the power options in Start Menu. I need an alternative way to shutdown or restart.
How do I control my computer's power state through the command line?
The most common ways to use the shutdown command are:
shutdown -s — Shuts down.shutdown -r — Restarts.shutdown -l — Logs off.shutdown -h — Hibernates.
Note: There is a common pitfall wherein users think -h means "help" (which it does for every other command-line program... except shutdown.exe, where it means "hibernate"). They then run shutdown -h and accidentally turn off their computers. Watch out for that.
shutdown -i — "Interactive mode". Instead of performing an action, it displays a GUI dialog.
shutdown -a — Aborts a previous shutdown command.The commands above can be combined with these additional options:
-f — Forces programs to exit. Prevents the shutdown process from getting stuck.-t <seconds> — Sets the time until shutdown. Use -t 0 to shutdown immediately.-c <message> — Adds a shutdown message. The message will end up in the Event Log.-y — Forces a "yes" answer to all shutdown queries.
Note: This option is not documented in any official documentation. It was discovered by these StackOverflow users.
I want to make sure some other really good answers are also mentioned along with this one. Here they are in no particular order.
-f option from JosephStyonsrundll32 from VonC