How To Reboot Your Computer with Task Scheduler

These instructions are for a Windows 7 computer so if you have XP / Vista / 2008 server or 2008 R2 server the location and the interface of the built-in task scheduler may be slightly different.

1. Log into your computer with an account that as administrator permissions on the computer.

2. Open a notepad. Go to Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Notepad

3. Type the following without the quoatation marks.

"shutdown.exe -f -r -t 60"

The shutdown.exe command will tell the computer to shutdown and then reboot. Before the computer shutsdown, any users who are logged in will a warning displayed for 60 seconds. They have the option to cancell the reboot if they are in the middle of something. To change the amount of time the warning is displayed simply change the “60? in the above command to any number 0-600.

4. Save the notepad as reboot_computer.bat or reboot_server.bat

Note: It is very important to save it as a .bat (windows batch file) and not a text file. You can save the file to any location, just be sure to remember where.

5. Open the Windows Task Scheduler. Go to Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools and select Task Scheduler

6. On the right hand side of the Task Scheduler, select the Create a Basic Task link under the Actions Menu.

7. The Create A Basic Task Wizard will open. Under Name and Description type in a name and description that will allow you to identify the task. For example: Name: Reboot Computer Nightly; Description: Run reboot.bat every night at 11pm. Select the Next button at the bottom of the window.

8. On the next page select how often you want to reboot your computer automatically. It can be daily, weekly or monthly. For this example select Daily. Select the next button at the bottom of the page.

9. On the next page, select the start date and time from the top. Leave the Recurr every 1 day as is. A good idea is to have the computer reboot when you know you won’t be on it or having any other important tasks (offsite backups, windows updates etc) running. Select Next.

10. On the "What Action Do You Want To Preform?" , select Start a Program. Select Next.

11. On the next page, select the Browse button. Then browse to the location you saved the reboot.bat file you previously saved. Leave the Add Arguments and Start In options empty. Select Next.

12. On the final page, review the properties of the newly created task and select Finish. You can then close out of the Task Scheduler.