Rebooting the Windows System With Remote Desktop Connection

• 1). Click the Windows "Start" button and select the "Remote Desktop Connection" program link on the remote computer. Enter the IP address or domain name for the host Windows system configured to allow RDC connections.
  
  
• 2). Enter the user ID and password to access the host machine when prompted. The remote connection is established, and the host's desktop appears in a window on the remote computer.
  
  
• 3). Click the Windows "Start" button in the host desktop window.
  
  
• 4). Select "Shut Down," then choose the "Reboot" option from the context menu on the host machine. A dialog box warns the user that the connection will be lost if the operation continues.
  
  
• 5). Click "OK" to proceed. The host window closes and disappears from the remote computer desktop. The host machine shuts down and reboot itself.
  
  
• 6). Wait a few minutes, and then reconnect to the host machine with a new RDC connection.
  
  
• 7). Test the reboot by logging back in to the host machine. If remote user is able to log back in, the server has rebooted itself and successfully come back up.
  
  

Using Task Scheduler to Schedule a Computer Shut Down and Restart at a Specific Time

• 1). Click the Windows "Start" button and type "control schedtasks" (without quotes) into the Run input box. Press "Enter." The Microsoft Management Console application launches on the desktop.
  
  
• 2). Click "Create Task" from the right navigation pane. The Add Task wizard opens.
  
  
• 3). Click the "Actions" tab, and then click the "New" button.
  
  
• 4). Select "Start a Program" from the drop-down list of possible actions.
  
  
• 5). Click the "Browse" button and navigate to the "Shutdown.exe" file in the System Root Windows/System32 directory.
  
  
• 6). Click the file to load into the MMC interface.
  
  
• 7). Enter "-r -t 00" (without quotes) into the "Add Arguments" textbox. This entry is the code, or "switch," that configures the Shutdown command to reboot the computer immediately after shutdown.
  
  
• 8). Click the "Trigger" tab and select the "New" button.
  
  
• 9). Select the Start Time and Date for the new shutdown task.
  
  
• 10
  
  Click the "OK" button twice to save the task and close the Task Scheduler.
  
  
• 11
  
  Test the task by waiting until after the specified time and then using an RDC connection to view the Event Log on the server. If the log shows a reboot event took place at the scheduled time, the task was successful.