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I have been searching for a complete list of requirements for remote shutdown but have not been able to find anything at all. I have been constantly running into small problems that are never really mentioned in one summarized list of requirements for remote shutdown. Different sites provide the same answers and never the ones I'm looking for, so I'm begging for some help!

I am running Windows 7 on the host system and Windows 8.1 on the target system. I do not have any servers set up as this is a very small setup, and I am not looking to expand it in the near future. I have a Python script that needs to wake the target system and shut it down not too long after, with the WOL magic packet being sent by a pre-built Python function, and the shutdown command shutdown -s -t 00 /m \\XXX.XXX.X.X Both of these systems are on a workplace domain, and I am planning on moving the script over to systems that are off the domain.

The questions that I have are as follows:

  • Are similar user credentials required for remote shutdown to work properly?

  • Do both systems need to be in the same domain/workgroup for remote shutdown to work properly?

  • Are there OS features I have to enable/disable besides remote shutdown? If so, what are they?

  • What is the most common cause of and solution to Error: Access denied.(5)?

Thank you in advance, and I'm hoping that this list would help people in the future!

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  • Are similar user credentials required for remote shutdown to work properly?

See https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc732503.aspx

Users must be assigned the Shut down the system user right to shut down a local or remotely administered computer that is using the shutdown command.

  • Do both systems need to be in the same domain/workgroup for remote shutdown to work properly?

No, as long as you can perform the shutdown with a user who has shutdown rights on the target machine (I would add the /f switch to force the shutdown)

  • Are there OS features I have to enable/disable besides remote shutdown? If so, what are they?

Not that I am aware of. Of course you have to have access to the target machine which will allow the shutdown action. You could have an application running on the target system which will prevent the shutdown event.

  • What is the most common cause of and solution to Error: Access denied.(5)?

The solution depends on what you were denied access to.

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  • Thank you! One question for clarification, though: users must be assigned the shutdown right, but you cannot add any random object name to the user rights list, so an account on the target PC is required. For example, computer 1 has account A, and computer 2 has account B. I cannot add user account B to computer 1's user rights list because it is not in the same domain/workgroup, correct? So that would mean that they would have to share a domain or workgroup
    – atf
    Mar 22, 2016 at 21:01
  • Yes. If they are in the same domain then you would have to add the domain account (except for eg Domain Administrators accounts as they have local admin rights). For workgroup users you would have to create the same username on all machines. And just crossed my mind, for trusted domains you would have to add them to a domain local group (see Group scope)
    – Zina
    Mar 22, 2016 at 21:25
  • Thank you greatly :) you definitely cleared up everything for me!
    – atf
    Mar 22, 2016 at 22:20

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