Shutdown command didn't shut down the machine

[Bert Hyman]

Windows XP Pro SP3

I'm using Acronis TrueImage Home 2009 to perform nightly backups of my
system and the backup task config allows for commands, either a program or
batch file, to be run before and after the backup is performed.

I've included a "shutdown -s" command to be run after the backup.

The backup task is started and managed by the Acronis scheduler service,
which runs under the "local system account" (as set up by the application's
installer).

Up 'til now, I've closed all interactive applications, left myself logged
in to the system, and simply walked away from the machine in the evening.
The backups usually ran OK and the machine did shut down after the backups
completed.

However, for some reason, the service could never get the backup task
started if at any time since the last boot a "switch user" function had
been performed, and I'd have to run the backup manually the next morning.

To avoid this problem, I decided to just reboot the machine at the end of
the day, leaving no one logged on, so that problem could be avoided.

In this state, the backup ran just fine, but the "shutdown -s" command
didn't actually shut the machine downe, even though it appears to have been
run successfully.

I have the Security event log configured to log all program starts and
exits, and I can see the backup task run and finish and then see the
shutdown command run and exit, apparently normally (Event ID 593), but the
machine didn't shut down.

Any known reason why the shutdown command would fail to be effective? Are
there any other logfiles hidden somewhere which might contain more detail?

 

[Leonard Grey]

Anything running in the background that might stop the shutdown from
proceeding? (Like how the second baseman waves off the center-fielder.)

 

[Bert Hyman]

In Leonard Grey

Anything running in the background that might stop the shutdown from
proceeding? (Like how the second baseman waves off the
center-fielder.)

No. There was actually less running than in the cases where the shutdown
worked as expected.

As I said, in this case, nobody was logged on.

 

[Richard]

Hi Bert,

Antivirus activity?

Can the backup be scheduled with the Computer on, but no one logged on?

You might try:
shutdown -s -f
to force any open programs to close

HTH. --Richard

- - -

In Leonard Grey


No. There was actually less running than in the cases where the shutdown
worked as expected.

As I said, in this case, nobody was logged on.

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