XP can't reboot (after nightly updates) w/ logon screensaver activ

[Guest]

This has been driving me crazy for years now...

We have XP clients in a 2003 domain. Automatic Updates are set to install
at 3am. XP Logon screensaver is active & kicks in after 10 minutes of
inactivity at the logon screen. (I used to have this disabled until I
learned that screen burn is still reality. We had the Windows 2000 logon
screen permanently etched into our monitors a few years back!)

Anyway, I digress... Every time there's an Automatic Update installation,
the XP computers go to reboot... but they can't! For some friggin' reason,
the logon screen's screensaver prevents XP from rebooting until you
physically walk to the machine (or log on using VNC) and move the mouse or
hit a key on the keyboard. Moving the mouse releases the screensaver & the
computer immediately says it's rebooting to finish the update installation.

So far, I've only found one other link on the Web that discusses this very
issue:
http://www.mcse.ms/message1949188.html

This means that I'm not alone, but at the same time, I would imagine many
other admins in a networked environment would have griped about this issue
enough to make it common enough to find an answer for it.

Please keep in mind that these systems have been reformatted from scratch
several times over in the past couple years & I always apply the latest
service packs & drivers each semester (I work at a college). They are all
Dell systems (several different models), but I would imagine that has no
significance since this doesn't appear to be a "power saving" feature
problem, but rather a problem with the logon screen saver not accepting a
reboot command from whereever the reboot command comes from (anybody know,
btw?).

I want to re-iterate that simply disabling the screen saver is not an option
for me. We've already been through that. I'm not really interested in a
work-around as much as I am some sort of fix. At the very least, I'd accept
an explanation on what's happening exactly & why.

THANKS!
Matt

 

[Guest]

I got a reply from someone in another forum that suggested adding the
BUILTIN\SYSTEM account to the list of accounts that have permissions to
shutdown the system in the local or group policy of the machine.

With the preliminary testing I've done so far, it appears as though this
works! I'll re-post additional comments if that winds up being incorrect or
if I find other interesting stuff to post. Otherwise, accept the above
suggestion as the solution to my own problem (for anyone else having the same
issue).

Matt