Vista Tutorial - Shutdown Shortcut behavior when executed

I created a desktop (shutdown) shortcut on both my desktop and laptop PC's both running Vista Home Premium.

On my desktop I click the shortcut and get a shutdown will occur in "X" minutes message (I'm paraphrasing) and everyting is shut down in an orderly manner.

On my laptop using a wireless keyboard and mouse (the reason I really wanted the shortcut) I click on the shortcut and get a "open file- security warning" - Do you want to open this file?

I've been checking security settings on both PC's but have been unable to get rid of this Security warning dialog box on my laptop.

Any ideas? Thanks.

Tony

Hi Tony,

Right click on the shortcut and click on Properties. Under the General tab, if you have a Unblock button, click on it to unblock the shortcut to allow it run normally.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Thanks Shawn for the quick reply, but I have no "unblock" button on my General tab in Properties.

Tony

Ok,

As a test, see how this shutdown shortcut works for you.

Shutdown shortcut

Thanks again for the rapid reply Brink. I created the (desktop) Shutdown shortcut as you instructed and I did see an "unblock" button under the General tab in it's properties. I clicked on it to unblock it and closed/saved the shortcut.

I clicked on the shortcut and got the same "open file- security warning" - Do you want to open this file?" message as before.

I think I may do a "repair" Vista install on my laptop and try this again.

On my desktop this shutdown shortcut does appear to work without the unblock command button in the properties (which probably has nothing to do with the problem on my laptop). I used the Vista shortcut wizard to create both with the command "shutdown.exe -s -t 01".

Tony

Strange. You would get that message if the shortcut had the Unblock still, but you should not have it after you extracted the Shutdown shortcut from the ZIP file, or when you have created the shortcut manually. Do you have UAC turned on in your laptop?

Did you create the shortcut on your desktop and copy it to your laptop?

In trying to get this (simple) Shutdown shortcut to work I've went through a number of permutations. I've created the laptop shortcut by copying/pasting from the desktop to the laptop (via wireless network). Also I created the shortcut (on the laptop) via the shortcut wizard (with the same results).

I installed the tutorial version of shutdown seperately on both PC's (turned off unblock command button). Worked fine on desktop but not on laptop (still got "open file- security warning).

I've tried with UAC On and Off (no difference except the "continue message).

I appreciate the help thus far. I have my laptop hooked up to my Sony HD TV - I watch movies (Amazon and Netflix) and on ocassion turn off (shutdown ) the laptop from a distance (with the TV screen on something else). I know it's the height of laziness <g>. I can still do this although I have to answer the "open file- security warning dialog box.

Thanks again.

Tony

Since you've not printed a copy of your shortcut on this forum, I'm not sure if we're talking about the same thing.

I install shortcuts to many programs to the desktops of PC's I work on,
from install batch files on my Utilities CD. So typing them on each individual PC is not required.

The shortcut for XP does not work right on Vista.
So, I constructed this one specifically for Vista. It works on both Vista 32 and Vista 64.

%windir%\System32\shutdown.exe -s -t 00 -f

The spaces, which I've tried to denote here are critical to the operation of the command.
This shutdown shortcut has worked flawlessly on every Vista PC that I've worked on so far, both desktop and laptop.
Give it a try.

Copy and paste the above shortcut into a NEW Shortcut on your desktop.

Good Luck,
The Shadow

Sorry I didn't reply quicker. I setup and tried your shortcut but had the same problem (see attach). Previously I reinstalled Vista Home Premium with no change.

Thanks.

Tony