How to add a shutdown script (not by using gpedit.msc or active directory)?

Question

I have created a script I want to deploy on my XP workstations as a shutdown script. I know I can add my script as a shutdown script with the UI (gpedit.msc), but I want to automate the deployment of my script. My workstations are not part of a Windows domain. I will deploy with OCS Inventory.

I tried to add entries to the Windows registry, but this doesn't work. I don't see what I added when I run gpedit.msc. If I add something with gpedit.msc, this seem to overwrite what I added manually into the registry.

Solution 1

I got it working.

I added the script with gpedit.msc on one computer. I exported registry keys from HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System\Scripts and HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy\State\Machine. I also zipped the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\GroupPolicy directory.

On a different computer, I patched the registry with my 2 .reg files I exported earler on my first computer. I also unzipped my zip file to the same location on the second PC.

The script is running on shutdown and I see it in gpedit.msc. Everything seem to be good!

Solution 2

To anyone struggling to get this working, my sympathy. I spent many hours trying to figure out exactly which of the hundreds of changes gpedit makes are actually important. My tests were conducted on Windows Server 2016. These turned out to be relevant:

1. The values under:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy\State\Machine\Scripts\[Startup|Shutdown]\0
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy\State\Machine\Scripts\[Startup|Shutdown]\0\0
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy\State\Machine\Scripts\[Startup|Shutdown]\0
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy\State\Machine\Scripts\[Startup|Shutdown]\0\0
   

2. The directories:

   \Windows\system32\GroupPolicy\Machine\Scripts\Startup
   \Windows\system32\GroupPolicy\Machine\Scripts\Shutdown
   

Windows uses those directories as the working directory for the scripts. Even if you don't keep your startup/shutdown scripts there, those directories need to exist.

Nothing else gpedit does seemed to matter. This includes many registry entries and the .ini files referenced in other answers. It's possible that some of the keys above are superfluous as well but I ran out of testing patience.

Solution 3

We'll pretend our startup script is located at C:\MyStartupScript.bat

You need a REG_SZ registry entry called Script with its value set to C:\MyStartupScript.bat located at both of the following two locations:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy\State\Machine\Scripts\Startup\0\0

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System\Scripts\Startup\0\0

You also need the following entry in C:\WINDOWS\system32\GroupPolicy\Machine\Scripts\Scripts.ini

[Startup]
0CmdLine=C:\MyStartupScript.bat
0Parameters=

For a shutdown script, follow the same instructions but replace every instance of the word Startup with the word Shutdown

edit:

Looks like you may need to create two other registry entries as well if they don't already exist.

You'll need to create them in both of the registry locations mentioned above.

The first entry is a REG_SZ entry called Parameters and its value can be left empty.

The second entry is a REG_QWORD entry called ExecTime and its value is set to 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

In Windows XP, the REG command can't add a REG_QWORD entry to the registry.

To get around this limitation, I, for example, use a batch file that adds these lines

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy\State\Machine\Scripts\Startup\0\0]
"ExecTime"=hex(b):00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00

to a file called addQword.reg then executes the file using using this command:

regedit /s addQword.reg

Solution 4

Small update to Francis answer.

For Windows Server 2016 HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System\Scripts was moved to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy\Scripts

So I got it working by exporting following registry keys:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy\Scripts HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy\State\Machine

and as Francis suggested copying

C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\GroupPolicy

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Comments

[Francis]

This was not working. The entries seem to be duplicated in the windows registry. I also found similar keys in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Syste‌​m\Scripts\Shutdown. Should I add both entries in the registry?

[Francis]

Mmm doesn't work better. The entry is not shown on the gpedit.msc UI and if I add something there this overwrite what I added in the registry. Seem like there is some caching somewhere...

[jjxtra]

Is there a way to do this without manually unzipping files? I.E. unzipping from a script?

[Andrew Brennan]

Thanks for including the scripts.ini file. Mine works with just the first registry key and this file (although my script is powershell so it's called psscripts.ini)

[Andrew Brennan]

you also need the scripts.ini file from Eric Glass's answer