vSphere – Virtual Machine Will Not ‘Power Off’ (Hangs at 95%)
KB ID 0000911 Problem I had a virtual machine crash on me, while I was doing some work on it As I was unable to shut it down gracefully, I attempted to ‘Power Off’. It progressed to 95% and stopped there. Expecting it to ‘time out’, I carried on with some other work and kept an eye on it. 30 minutes later there was still no progress. Solution 1. Enable SSH access on the ESX host that is hosting the problem VM....
RDS Server – Remove the Shutdown Command
KB ID 0000499 Problem I’m surprised that when you make a server a Terminal Services Server / Remote Desktop Services Server, that this does not get applied from an administrative template anyway, but it does not. Why would you want to do this? Well users are used to hitting Start > Shutdown, when they are finished working, which is fine, unless they are in a terminal session with 500 other users and they’ve just issued...
Change the default Shutdown / Log Off Option via GPO
KB ID 0000465 Problem Out of the box, the default power option presented to your users is shutdown. People with multiple users on their machines, may prefer the log off option to be the default. Note: You can also set the default option to: Shutdown Sleep Log off Lock Restart Switch User (Unless blocked by other policy then it will revert to shutdown). Hibernate Solution 1. On your domain controller , Start > Administrative...
Windows 8 – Add Shutdown to the Start/Metro Menu
KB ID 0000744 Problem I wrote an article ages ago about ‘How to shut down Windows 8’ but what if you simply want a shortcut to save you the hassle, and have that on your start menu? Solution 1. Press Windows Key+R > In the run box type the following; %appdata%MicrosoftWindowsStart MenuPrograms 2. In the window that opens > Right click > New > Shortcut. 3. Enter the following shutdown /t 00 /s 4. Call the...
Windows 8 – Putting Shutdown / Log Off / Restart on the Start Menu
KB ID 0000902 Problem I’ve written before about How to shutdown Windows 8 (or 8.1). But if you actually want those options on your Start screen this is how to do it. Note: If you are feeling especially lazy, you can download the shortcuts and skip straight to the pinning shortcuts to the start screen section. Solution 1. On a free area of your desktop > Right click > New > Shortcut. 2. You will need to create a...