Automatic Windows Reboot using Perl

[Anonymous Monk]

Fellow Monks:
Essentially what I would like to do is reboot Windoz once a month. I would like to do this via a Perl Script placed in the Windows Scheduler. Is there a specific Win32 module that will allow me to accomplish this?

As always, your wisdom is greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance for your help.

[BrowserUk]

You could just schedule the shutdown command

P:\test>shutdown
Usage: shutdown [-i | -l | -s | -r | -a] [-f] [-m \\computername] [-t 
+xx] [-c "comment"] [-d up:xx:yy]

        No args                 Display this message (same as -?)
        -i                      Display GUI interface, must be the fir
+st option
        -l                      Log off (cannot be used with -m option
+)
        -s                      Shutdown the computer
        -r                      Shutdown and restart the computer
        -a                      Abort a system shutdown
        -m \\computername       Remote computer to shutdown/restart/ab
+ort
        -t xx                   Set timeout for shutdown to xx seconds
        -c "comment"            Shutdown comment (maximum of 127 chara
+cters)
        -f                      Forces running applications to close w
+ithout warning
        -d [u][p]:xx:yy         The reason code for the shutdown
                                u is the user code
                                p is a planned shutdown code
                                xx is the major reason code (positive 
+integer less than 256)
                                yy is the minor reason code (positive 
+integer less than 65536)

[gellyfish]

You probably want to use ExitWindowsEx() from User32.dll via Win32::API - EWX_REBOOT has the value of 4 ...

/J\

[Anonymous Monk]

An excellent start in the right direction for me.
The WINDOZ version I am using is Windows 2000 (currentlyt testing on). This may also go on XP. ANyway what I get is exiting, not always cleanly, back to the Win2K login window. The goal is to reboot straight through no questions asked. I have posted the code below. What subtly am I missing??


#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;

use Win32::API;
Win32::API->Import(
      'User32', 'BOOL ExitWindowsEx(
  DWORD uFlags,
  DWORD dwReason
)',
  );  


ExitWindowsEx('EWX_REBOOT','4');

Your help is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[arden]

Although I agree with the other posters in that if all you want is to reboot the computer you should just use shutdown.exe, if you need a Perl solution (say for the end of a Perl script in which you desire a reboot), this is what I use:

Win32::InitiateSystemShutdown( '', "\nAction Complete.\n\nSystem will now Reboot\!", 20, 0, 1 );

- - arden.

[bunnyman]

You are passing 2 strings to a function that expects 2 numbers.

[gawatkins]

Unless you have a reason for specifically using Perl, the shutdown.exe program that is usually located in %systemroot%\system32 directory will allow you to easily perform your task. Just type shutdown.exe /? at the command prompt to display the options.

Thanks,
Greg

UPDATE: or you could just read the above post Re: Automatic Windows Reboot using Perl

[skyknight]

I dunno about Perl, but the following C code will work on any Windows OS that is based on the NT kernel...

while(1) {
    printf("\t\t\b\b\b");
}

I think it will even work if you are not Administrator. ;-)

[zentara]

I havn't used windows regularly for quite some time, but I'm amazed that you can go a full month without having to reboot. I remember lockups at least once a day.

[blueAdept]

Oh c'mon... I have windows servers all the time that are up for 6+ months. Lately though hotfixes/security fixes have been a real downer on the uptime. I assure you it is possible, though I'd also agree that its difficult due to how complex windows is.

[bunnyman]

I havn't used windows regularly for quite some time

Things have changed.