Shutting down a Windows server (applies to Windows 2000 Server, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2008 R2):

You can shut down a server by using either 1) shutdown.exe or 2) PsShutdown.

  1. To locally or remotely shut down a server by using the built-in command shutdown.exe

  1. To use the System Internals tool PsShutdown to initiate a shutdown of the local or a remote computer, log off a user, lock a system, or abort an imminent shutdown (PsShutdown requires no manual installation of client software):