Safe Way To Reboot Unattended Laptop?

[(PeteCresswell)]

Laptop running an IP camera server at a remote site.

Lid is kept open.

Camera server gets flaky every so often and we have no clue why,
but a reboot fixes it.

Seems logical to schedule something that reboots the laptop once
or twice a day.

Is there a "best" way to do this? (i.e. minimum chance of having
to ask somebody at the site to turn the thing back on...)

 

[Char Jackson]

Laptop running an IP camera server at a remote site.

Lid is kept open.

Camera server gets flaky every so often and we have no clue why,
but a reboot fixes it.

Seems logical to schedule something that reboots the laptop once
or twice a day.

Is there a "best" way to do this? (i.e. minimum chance of having
to ask somebody at the site to turn the thing back on...)

I think you'd be fairly safe by scheduling "shutdown /r" to run once
or twice a day.
Check it out at a Command Prompt by typing "shutdown /?" to see all of
the options.

 

[Paul]

Laptop running an IP camera server at a remote site.

Lid is kept open.

Camera server gets flaky every so often and we have no clue why,
but a reboot fixes it.

Seems logical to schedule something that reboots the laptop once
or twice a day.

Is there a "best" way to do this? (i.e. minimum chance of having
to ask somebody at the site to turn the thing back on...)

When you Google the name of this software, does anyone else
notice this kind of flaky behavior ?

Do you have any other OSes you could test with ?

Paul

 

[Elmo]

Laptop running an IP camera server at a remote site.

Lid is kept open.

Camera server gets flaky every so often and we have no clue why,
but a reboot fixes it.

Seems logical to schedule something that reboots the laptop once
or twice a day.

Is there a "best" way to do this? (i.e. minimum chance of having
to ask somebody at the site to turn the thing back on...)

Does the device use a USB port? If so, you might try this, just to see
if it eliminates the "flakiness": Open Device Manager, open the
properties of each USB hob, and under "Power Management", deselect the
option, "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power".

Some other devices, such as the NIC or Ethernet card, also have this option.

 

[Stan Brown]

Laptop running an IP camera server at a remote site.

Lid is kept open.

Camera server gets flaky every so often and we have no clue why,
but a reboot fixes it.

Seems logical to schedule something that reboots the laptop once
or twice a day.

Is there a "best" way to do this? (i.e. minimum chance of having
to ask somebody at the site to turn the thing back on...)

Does it require a login? I don't believe logins can be automated.

But if it doesn't require a login, then you can set up a one-line
batch file with the SHUTDOWN command and schedule it to run at a
certain time every day.

 

[Joe Morris]

Does it require a login? I don't believe logins can be automated.

Autologon capability has been around for a long time, although it
(obviously, I hope) presents significant security problems if you aren't
careful. (E.g., be sure that physical access to the system is controlled,
and that what can be done to the machine via a network connection is
limited.)

There's a Microsoft discussion of one way to do set up an autologin on
Windows 7:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...indows-7/99d4fe75-3f22-499b-85fc-c7a2c4f728af

But a much easier method is to use the free "Autologon" SysInternals tool:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963905

One point on security: you can block some of the vulnerabilities of
autologon by configuring the system to immediately lock the console after
logon. Just set up a link in the Startup folder (or a Registry entry in
{HKCU,HKLM}\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run) to invoke the
following command:

RUNDLL32 USER32.DLL,LockWorkStation

Head-up: I've shown "RUNDLL32.DLL" and "USER32.DLL" in caps to make it clear
that the "L" is not the digit 1; you can use any combination of uppercase
and lowercase in typing these strings. The "LockWorkStation" entry *IS*
case-sensitive and must be entered exactly as shown.

Also: this command does not require elevation, so it can be run by an
unprivileged user.

If you put the command into the Registry I recommend that it be in the HKCU
hive for the account used for autologon and not in HKLM; this way if you log
onto the machine with another account the screen won't immediately lock.

Joe

 

[Char Jackson]

Does it require a login? I don't believe logins can be automated.

Yes, automatic login is a supported feature of Windows 7.

But if it doesn't require a login, then you can set up a one-line
batch file with the SHUTDOWN command and schedule it to run at a
certain time every day.

I said that yesterday. ;-)

 

[Seth]

I think you'd be fairly safe by scheduling "shutdown /r" to run once
or twice a day.
Check it out at a Command Prompt by typing "shutdown /?" to see all of
the options.

I would recommend to use the /f parameter as well. This will Force stuck
operations to be closed (rather than the system waiting\prompting).