Alt/F6

Musical · Joined: Oct 29, 2004 Posts: 158

Hey all,
I'm wondering if anyones got a clue or suggestions as to why my Alt/F6 wont work on my Micro$ keyboard. I want to be able to be able to shut my windows XP down via KeyCOmmands alone, in case my monitor dies which seems likely... Rolling Eyes

... and which Ive posted about in the hardware forum. I know I can do Start > 2 clicks on U .... and that would power off from the desktop, but you would typically expect to have to shut down what program you were running at the time over and above the former, which I take it is what the Alt/ F6 (on my keyboard) is used for.

Any help/ suggestions appreciated.
Cheers
Musical

drwho07 · Joined: Nov 29, 2007 Posts: 1546 Location: Central FL, USA

Musical,
Here's my "help/suggestion" for a blind shutdown.

If Alt+F6 worked, it could be fraught with problems, depending on what was running at the time.

To safely speed up shutdowns, for years I've used a "Quick Shutdown" icon on my desktop, which I also install for all my customers.
In the 'Properties' of my Quick Shutdown icon, I just set a Hot Key combination of Ctrl+Alt+Q. It worked swimmingly ! Laughing

Since no-one wants to sit and wait, and wait, and wait, for a hesitant Windows to shut down, making a Quick Shutdown icon on the desktop just seems like an obvious thing to do.

Here's the command line for the Shortcut:
%windir%\System32\shutdown.exe -s -t 00 -f

Copy & Paste the above line into a desktop shortcut. If you miss one of the spaces, the command won't work, so don't try to type it....copy and paste it.

Once you've got the shortcut created on your desktop, right click it, click on 'Properties' and then in the hot key box press the keys you want to use, to create your own hot key combination to activate the shortcut.

Now you're set to do a blind shutdown, in case your monitor fails on you.
And, you've got a nice Quick Shutdown icon to speed up normal shutdowns on your PC.

Cheers!
The Doctor Cool

Musical · Joined: Oct 29, 2004 Posts: 158

drwho07, thanks for the info.

...so would that "elegantly" shut down any programs running as well? I dont really care if I dont get a "save" if its Word Im working in or something, its more as long as the system files arent damaged.

"If Alt+F6 worked, it could be fraught with problems, depending on what was running at the time. "

Mmmmmm care to elaborate on that as to why? Confused

CHeers
Musical

drwho07 · Joined: Nov 29, 2007 Posts: 1546 Location: Central FL, USA

I said, "could be" because I really have no way of checking it with the same stuff that you or anyone else may have running.

The command as I gave it, runs windows own shutdown.exe program with the option to "Force" the shutdown of any 'reluctant' programs, services, etc.

It's always worked for me, and I get a shutdown and power off in just 8 sec's from the time I click the Quick Shutdown icon.

Try it and see how it works for you. Wink

You won't know how it works till you try it. Eh?

Doc Cool

goretsky

Hello,

Perhaps it is the wrong key combination? Have you tried using Alt+F4, instead? You might have to do it repeatedly if other applications are running, and respond to an interactive prompt at some point.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

Musical · Joined: Oct 29, 2004 Posts: 158

Hi,
Goretsky, (after looking around on the net) it seems to be on some keyboards the Alt/F4 does the same job as Alt/F6 which is to close programmes I take it?. On my F6 it has "close" on it and F4 has "new", so no, F4 doesnt work on mine to do that.

Remember the object of this exercise is to CLose (elegantly, not force quit) any proggies open and then the computer, without a monitor... so any Dialogue boxes wont be seen.

The Start > 2 hits on U does it for me in very quick time FROM the desktop, so its really just the programmes part I want to get organized.

Thanks
Musical

goretsky

Hello,

Have you tried using a program like AutoHotKey to remap an unused key (or key combination) to perform a "%windir%\system32\shutdown.exe /s /t n" (or perhaps "%windir%\syswow64\shutdown.exe /s /t n" under x64bit versions of Microsoft Windows) where n is the number of seconds to wait before starting the shutdown?

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

drwho07 · Joined: Nov 29, 2007 Posts: 1546 Location: Central FL, USA

The numerical value 'n' in the previous example should actually be 'nn' since it's a two digit value. In my own example, the "00" after the /t
(and a space) tells windows NOT to wait before completing the shutdown.
The "/f" in my example says to "Force" the shutdown, against any reluctant programs or services.

If you ask Shutdown.exe to give you all its possible switches, it will give you this:

Usage: shutdown.exe [-i | -l | -s | -r | -a] [-f] [-m \\computername] [-t xx] [-c "comment"] [-d up:xx:yy]

No args Display this message (same as -?)
-i Display GUI interface, must be the first option
-l Log off (cannot be used with -m option)
-s Shutdown the computer
-r Shutdown and restart the computer
-a Abort a system shutdown
-m \\computername Remote computer to shutdown/restart/abort
-t xx Set timeout for shutdown to xx seconds
-c "comment" Shutdown comment (maximum of 127 characters)
-f Forces running applications to close without warning
-d [u][p] Mad

x:yy The reason code for the shutdown
u is the user code
p is a planned shutdown code
xx is the major reason code (positive integer less than 256)
yy is the minor reason code (positive integer less than 65536)

Like I've said before, I've been using the command that I gave in an earlier post,
%windir%\System32\shutdown.exe -s -t 00 -f
on my own PC and the PC's of all my customers for several years, with NO problems.

However, in spite of the command's ability to Force programs to close, I always encourage my customers to close all open programs before closing windows with the "Quick Shutdown" icon. Just for safety.
As habits go, "It's a Good Thing!"

Y'all have a great day now, Y'hear?
The Doctor Cool

goretsky

Hello,

You actually can use the Shutdown command (filename: SHUTDOWN.EXE with a single digit for the seconds value. So, if you wanted to wait 0-9 seconds for a shutdown it could.

Good catch on the /F, DrWho07! It is implied if you specify a /T value as an argument for the Shutdown command under Microsoft Windows Vista, but is still required under Microsoft Windows XP. I just checked this in a virtual machine with Microsoft Windows XP plus Service Pack 3 to verify the behavior.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

Musical · Joined: Oct 29, 2004 Posts: 158

Hey guys thanks for your answers. I'm having a heap of trouble posting in this particular forum with all sorts of el weirdo stuff happening Question

. I see Im able to reply now though, but I havn't seen these last two posts until I pushed the reply button on the last post...go figure... maybe Ill post about this glitchiness to the other subforum where it belongs.

Back to my post.
Guys, I will repeat....

I want to be able to be able to shut my windows XP down via KeyCOmmands alone, in case my monitor dies which seems likely...

So...if my monitor dies I WONT be able to see anything, unless of course I'm hallucinating which I wont be. Wink

...as such, I need a safe Key Command that will ELEGANTLY close all my programmes, NOT force quit. I already have the command for the computer FROM the Desktop. I can do this on my Mac and Leopard so I want to be able to do it on Windoze XP too.

Musical

drwho07 · Joined: Nov 29, 2007 Posts: 1546 Location: Central FL, USA

For the life of me, I don't see your problem! Question

Use the command I gave you! and set the Hot-Key option like I told you.

If you don't want to 'Force' reluctant programs to close, then DON'T include the /f option. It don't get much simpler than that.

But, if some program gives you a message box about not wanting to close, you'll never see it and your shutdown will hang and you won't have a clue as to why.

I've given you all the help I can.

Good Luck,
Doc Cool

Musical · Joined: Oct 29, 2004 Posts: 158

"For the life of me, I don't see your problem! "
Hey WHoooa !!! For the life of me if you would read my post PROPERLY and then answer it appropriately then there WOULDNT BE A PROBLEM Confused

"But, if some program gives you a message box about not wanting to close, you'll never see it and your shutdown will hang and you won't have a clue as to why. "

Oh yes I will because Ive already thought of dialogue boxes with the save options and where the default active button is ... Im talking about word in particular. FOr arguments sake if my monitor croaked and I had Word opened, I would simply hit ALT/ N and push enter twice to save a new document. Crtl +SH+ W to close FF... so I do have SOME clue. What you are telling me is your command closes reluctant programmes, which I take it is equivalent to force quitting them which I dont want to do. I have explained this pretty clearly!

Perhaps my question should be, does it hurt to force quit a programme? ...because that is the issue Im on about.

Musical

zlim · Joined: Mar 11, 2005 Posts: 2636

Musical · Joined: Oct 29, 2004 Posts: 158

zlim, thankyou for your response.

Yes I think I'll give end it all a miss. I CAN individually close some programmes "blindly" as it were with their own KCs but as that is a bit cumbersome I was hoping for something like end it all but free, but now the question remains.....

I would still like to know what is the ACTUAL difference between force quitting a programme and terminating it properly. If the ONLY difference is that you lose your last data coz it aint saved then its a non issue with me.

Musical

goretsky

Hello,

I think it will be helpful if you see the command in action. Although the command sounds forceful because of its description, it is actually quite elegant in use. What should happen is that applications with unsaved data in them will be closed

Why don't you create a shortcut on your Desktop to test it with, say, a thirty (30) second delay, open a few typical applications, create some test documents, save them, add some data to them (but not save it) and then perform a shutdown using the shortcut. You can then watch how the shutdown affects your system.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

drwho07 · Joined: Nov 29, 2007 Posts: 1546 Location: Central FL, USA

Musical · Joined: Oct 29, 2004 Posts: 158

Thanks again for your comments guys.
Aryeh, since you say "it is actually quite elegant in use" I will try this probably on Monday. Its the weekend and Im a bit tied up. I'll post results so long as LG doesnt disappear into cyberspace altogether on me. Im still having to be EXTREMELY persistent to find ways to be able to get here.

Musical

pasquanel · Joined: Jun 20, 2005 Posts: 506 Location: Maine

Hey Doc I had already followed your advice on the desktop shutdown shortcut and use ii all the time but the "blind shutdown" thing works great!
Thanks for sharing that I have very infrequently had my computer boot up and not connect with my monitor and my only option was a hard boot I hate doing that this is so much cleaner. Razz

drwho07 · Joined: Nov 29, 2007 Posts: 1546 Location: Central FL, USA

Something else I can do, which I don't recommend for the faint-of-heart,,,,,

If the bios and windows are both set up properly, to do this, you can just punch the power ON button and effect an immediate shutdown of windows.
At least on my own system, this will not result in windows running a scandisk or any such thing on the next boot.

On other systems, it's required to hold the Power ON button in for ten seconds to effect a shutdown.
Windows seems to shutdown in an orderly fashion.

Granted, I usually just use my "Quick Shutdown" icon on my desktop, but when I'm in a REAL hurry, I use the Power Button method. It takes only five seconds for the PC to turn itself OFF.

I've been installing the "Quick Shutdown" icon (shortcut) for all my customers since the Windows 98 days. They all love it. Wink

I always resented having to press START to QUIT. If ya know what I mean. Wink

The syntax for the Quick Shutdown shortcut for Windows 98, XP and Vista are all somewhat different. I have them all, if anyone wants them.

Cheers mates, , , Happy Computing!

The Doctor Cool