Windows 2000 server shutdown time query

S

skyjockey

I have recently had to look after a single Win2K server. I recently
had to down it once or twice and noticed that it took a _long_ time to
sort itself out and shutdown.

What, in your experience, is a shutdown period after which you'd start
worrying that something was wrong with a Win2K server?

What are good and bad reasons for one to take too much time? I know
what's what with Netware's downing (it keeps up a commentary while it
does it) but Windows (in)action leaves me a bit unsettled.

Any ideas, please?
 
E

Elijah Landreth [MSFT]

usually it shouldnt take more than a minute or two, but it can take a
little longer for some systems to shut down than other systems. Typically
this is because of software that is running when shut down is initiated.
You could use msconfig to modify startup and services that stat with this
utility and by disabling extra services and apps on startup you can avoid
shutting them down when it comes time to shutdown.

The hardware in your system could also play a role, in terms of both speed
of your system and what the hardware must do to power down. Certain drivers
in the past have been known to cause different versions of windows to
shutdown at slower than normal speeds, such as creative labs, nvidea, cd
burning software and drivers. The best way to ensure this isnt the case on
your system is to make sure you have the most current driver for your
hardware. Try to eliminate the use of unsigned drivers as well.

Terminal Services can add to the amount of time it takes to shutdown a
system.

Group policies can also make a difference, suppose you have the group
policy set that causes your machine to clear the pagefile on shutdown
(security option). As you can imagine, deleting a gig or more of pagefile
material can take a while
To change this click Start | run type gpedit.msc click OK and drill down to
Computer Configuration | Windows Settings | Security Settings | Local
Policies | Security Options. Next, find “Shutdown: Clear virtual memory
pagefile and make sure its turned off.

The WaitToKillServiceTimeout value name in the registry allows you to
specify a length of time that the service control manager must wait for
services to complete the shut-down request. Open Registry Editor and
navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
\SYSTEM
\CurrentControlSet
\Control
\WaitToKillServiceTimeout
Backup your registry first and then lower the value.

You could be experiencing issues unloading your user profile. The system
attempts to unload the profile 60 times at 1 second intervals. This retry
logic rarely helps so in most cases after 60 seconds of the user
waiting at the Saving Settings message box the system gives up and roaming
profiles are not reconciled. The number of retries can be changed to allow
the
user to log off faster (this can be done using the policy under Computer
Configuration, Administrative Template, System, User Profiles, Maximum
retries
to unload and update user profile)

Set the AutoEndTasks to 1 in the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER
\Control Panel
\Desktop
AutoEndTasks value determines whether user processes end automatically when
the user either logs off or shuts down Windows 2000/XP.

There are a numerous things that occur when the system shuts down and these
are but a few of the more coomon reasons for slow shutdowns. If your system
hangs or takes longer than a few minutes to shutdown it may be neccessary
to call into our support line so your system can be monitored and
problematic issues can be rooted out. Good Luck and hope tis helps.


sites referenced
http://aumha.org/win5/a/shtdwnxp.php
http://www.msexchange.org/tutorials/Accelerating_Exchange_Shut_Down.html
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/slowshutdown.htm
279134 HOW TO: Perform an Emergency Shutdown in Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=279134
296838 Windows 2000 Shutdown Process Stops and Error Message Refers to
Devldr
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=296838
305788 How To Increase Shutdown Time So That Processes Can Quit Properly in
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=305788
314834 How to Clear the Windows Paging File at Shutdown
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=314834




Elijah Landreth [MSFT]
Microsoft Server Setup Team

Search our Knowledge Base at http://support.microsoft.com/directory
Visit the Windows 2000 Homepage at
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/default.asp
See the Windows NT Homepage at http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver/

NOTE: Please reply to the newsgroup and not directly to me. This allows
others to add to and benefit from these threads and also helps to ensure a
more timely response. Thank you!

This posting is provided "AS IS" without warranty either expressed or
implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of
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The views and opinions expressed in this newsgroup posting are mine and do
not necessarily express or reflect the views and / or opinions of
Microsoft.
or opinions of Microsoft.
 

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