Introduction:

Recently we have experienced a problem with Windows Server 2003 Terminal Services not rebooting when TSSHUTDN.EXE is invoked from a WMI Script.   And the problem is intermittent.

Symtoms:

We schedule reboots centrally for our Citrix Servers using a WMI Script that uses tsshutdn.exe. When the problem occurs, the ICA and RDP listeners will not respond, and users get a message "server not accepting connections", according to Microsoft Support the server sessions have been disabled in the registry. But the Citrix Farm does not detect the server sessions have been disabled.

The Server can be managed remotely and restarted using "Manage Computer", the console shows a blank screen.

Possible Causes:

Microsoft Support suggested a process is preventing the tsshutdn from completing it's mission to reboot, but would not troubleshoot the issue, saying the cause is most likely an application process refusing to close.

Fixes and Workarounds:

Microsoft Support strongly suggested we use shutdown.exe instead of tsshutdn.exe, using the force switch to force the shutdown.

Microsoft Support indicated this is a known issue, and will be fixed in the next Operating System release of LongHorn. Saying the the decision has already been made to not provide a hoxfix or service pack that includes a fix.

Summary:

So far the workaround has worked for us. The main reason we used tsshutdn.exe was for notifying users of the impending reboot, giving them time to log-off gracefully. The 2003 version of shutdown.exe will notify users of the reboot, but only for sessions logged into Windows 2003 Server Terminal Services. Notification does not work in Windows 2000 Server Terminal services using the shutdown.exe command.