[There's a reason that Yoda is the unofficial mascot of SBS. Size indeed matters not.] Computers on or off? - THE OFFICIAL BLOG OF THE SBS DIVA
Mon, Nov 28 2005 12:01 bradley

Computers on or off?

Quick question?

Yes?  [btw ever notice how quick questions usually end up not being quick questions?]

Is there a way to stop a user from shutting down a machine?

Yes...but....are they a local administrator on that box?

Yes.

Ah, well then if they are admins, then no.  In order to do this you need to take back the rights on this machine.  Then if you do that you can do such fun things like removing the start button in group policy so they can't shut down.  But you need to realize that your stupid line of business applications more often than not will not run as a regular user and you'll end up hacking up the registry hives.

Can it be done?  Yes.  The issue was a person who used the computer shut it off and then another remote worker wanted to use the computer on the weekend.  Unless you want to spend the time and energy into making a technology solution....make a policy solution.

Stick a yellow sticky note to remind people to leave the computers on so that people can remote in, you can to maintenance.  Honestly I don't shut off my workstation these days at all and only reboot for patches.

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# re: Computers on or off?

Monday, November 28, 2005 1:15 PM by bradley

It’s fairly easy to remove the Shutdown option, even if the user is an administrator. You can use Group Policy or change the registry key (Google it) to do that. No rights need to be revoked for that. Of course if they're smart enough, they can override that, but they could also just use the physical power button.