How to shutdown other PC using IP address

Another method to remotely shutdown a computer is through remote access. By enabling Remote Desktop that comes in certain versions of Windows or alternatively install free remote access tool such as LogMeIn, you can log in to your computer like as though you’re sitting in front of it, and shut it down. Although it’s easy and straight forward but it lacks of automation because you need to manually connect to the computer, wait for it to load up and perform a few clicks.

Method #3: Using Twitter

There is a freeware called TweetMyPC where you can run a bunch of commands including shutdown, restart, logoff, standby and etc on the remote computer by tweeting the supported commands on your Twitter account.

This method is also very useful because there are free Twitter apps for every devices which means you can shutdown a computer by logging in to your Twitter account and tweet the command. Moreover, you don’t need to know the IP address or Dynamic DNS. The only configuration that you need to go through is install TweetMyPC program and sign in with your Twitter account. You should create a new Twitter account for this purpose or else your followers would be wondering what is going on when you tweet a “shutdown” word.

Download TweetMyPC

Method #4: Built-in Shutdown.exe Tool

Windows comes with a built-in shutdown.exe command line tool that can be used to shutdown a local or remote computer. The good thing about using shutdown.exe is you can run it in a batch file for automation. This method is considered to be the most troublesome because it does not work right out of the box and requires a few configurations. Once all of the requirements to use networking tools on remote Windows computers are met, then you can proceed with the commands below to shutdown a remote computer.

You will first need to authenticate yourself on the remote computer but unfortunately the shutdown.exe tool does not support user authentication. What you can do is use the “net use” command to map the system drive and specify the username and password, then followed by using the /m switch to shutdown the remote computer.

net use x: \\computername\c$ /user:yourusername yourpassword
shutdown /s /f /m \\computername
net use x: /delete

The above commands can be saved to a batch file and running it will automatically map the C: drive of the remote computer as X: drive, followed by sending a forced shutdown command and finally unmap the X: drive. You can also us PsExec or PsShutdown by Windows Sysinternals that comes with user authentication support to shutdown a remote computer.

psshutdown.exe -r -f -u yourusername -p yourpassword \\computername

psexec.exe \\computername -u yourusername -p yourpassword shutdown /s /f

Download PsTools

Method #5: Network Scanner

If you are an administrator of a network and wants to make sure that all computers on the network are turned off before you go home, network scanners will be a great help. It is able to scan a range of IP addresses and then shows you the computer that are online. You can then select all of the online computers and shut it down through the right click context menu. Please take note that the requirements to connect to a remote computer must also be met for this function to work.

One of our favorite free network scanning tool is Advanced IP Scanner because it is able to automatically detect the internal IP address and let you easily scan the whole subnet by clicking the Scan button. To shut down the computer, right click on it and select “Shut down…”.

An option window will now appear allowing you to use windows authentication by providing the username and password of the remote machines. You can also specify the timeout and shut down message. The last two options are to force shut down in case there are running programs that can possibly prevent the shutdown and to reboot instead of powering off.

The current version 2.2 requires installation but the next upcoming version 2.3 promises an ability of running the program without installation right from the installer.

Windows' built-in Remote Shutdown function allows you to restart, shut down or log out of a networked computer, using either that computer's network name or IP address to identify the machine. You must enable the Remote Registry function and open certain firewall ports on the receiving machine before you can use Remote Shutdown. In addition, you can only perform a remote restart on a machine that you have administrative user rights on. This acts as a security measure, helping to ensure that the function will not be used for malicious purposes.

Step 1

Type “services” (without quotes) on the Start screen of the computer you want to restart remotely. The Search menu appears automatically; click the “Settings” tab, and then select “View Local Services” to open the Services window.

Step 2

Right-click “Remote Registry” and select “Properties” from the context menu.

Step 3

Click the “Startup Type” drop-down menu and select “Automatic.” This configures your computer to run Remote Registry at startup. Click the “Start” button to start the Remote Registry service, and then click “OK” to save your changes and close the window.

Step 4

Type “firewall” on the Start screen, click on the Search menu's “Settings” tab, and then select “Windows Firewall.”

Step 5

Click “Allow an App or Feature Through Windows Firewall,” and then click “Change Settings.” Check the box next to “Windows Management Instrumentation” to allow Windows management traffic through your computer's firewall. Click “OK” to save your changes and close the window.

Step 6

Go to a different computer, type “cmd” on its Start screen, and then click “Command Prompt” to open a command prompt window.

Step 7

Type “shutdown -m \ [IP Address] -r -f” (without quotes) at the command prompt, where "[IP Address]" is the IP of the computer you want to restart. For example, if the computer you want to restart is located at 192.168.0.34, type “shutdown -m \ 192.168.0.34 -r -f”. The “-r” and “-f” flags tell the remote computer to restart and safely close all open programs, respectively. Press “Enter” to confirm the command and restart the remote machine.

References

• HowToGeek: How to Remotely Shut Down or Restart Windows PCs
• Online Tech Tips: How to Use the Remote Shutdown Command in Windows
• Batcmd.com: Windows 8 Services
• Microsoft Windows: What Are the Risks of Allowing Apps Through a Firewall?

Tips

• You can use the “-t” flag to set up a restart timer on the target computer: add “-t [Time]” to the end of your restart command, where "[Time]" is the length of time you want the timer to run for in seconds. For example, adding “-t 60” causes a delay of one minute between receipt of the command and the target machine shutting down.

Warnings

• Information in this article applies to computers running Windows 8. It may vary slightly or significantly with other versions or products.

Writer Bio

Andy Walton has been a technology writer since 2009, specializing in networking and mobile communications. He was previously an IT technician and product manager. Walton is based in Leicester, England, and holds a bachelor's degree in information systems from the University of Leeds.

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