Manually enter "sleep mode" (WXP)

[Churchill]

Hi all.

Is there a way to enter sleep mode either from the keyboard via a hotkey combination (without having to rely on a MS Natural Keyboard, for example) or by using a desktop/start menu shortcut (a la Windows shutdown.exe with appropriate flags)?

Thanks.

-- Church

[DanK]

I think your best bet would be to purchase a keyboard with a hibernate button


<font color=green>Dan</font color=green> /images/forums/icons/smile.gif
WinGuides Expert Assistance</font color=blue> (http://www.winguides.com/experts/><font)

[Nana]

Churchill,

Are you sure that your computer supports hibernation? I use WinMe, whcih also includes it as an option. There is a hibernation choice in the Shut Down Windows applet along with Standby, Restart and Shutdown. But, the info does say that your computer has to support this feature for it to appear.

Nana /images/forums/icons/smile.gif

[Churchill]

Hi, Nana.

I'm certain there's hibernation support only because I use a Microsoft Natural keyboard for my computer to enter sleep mode. I have twenty-something other computers set up on a small network that are exactly like mine with the exception of the keyboard. While I'm not necessarily on a tight budget, I am trying to be cheap -- hear that, Dan? :)

The computers are used as part of an after-school program I've set up for kids and it runs in two different sessions, 1-hour apart. My hope is that during the lull, I can send a command across the network to put everything to sleep while we're out eating ice cream or something.

It'd be great if I could. If not, I guess I'm heeding Dan's advice and opening up the wallet.

Thanks.

-- Church

[Andy-S]

Church,

Check out this article. The utility (not the Windows XP shutdown.exe) allows the system to be put into sleep mode or hibernation. Make sure you thoroughly test it before rolling it out as I have never tried it.

<a target="_blank" href=http://www.budja.com/shutdown/>http://www.budja.com/shutdown/</a>


Cheers
Andy

[Nana]

Church,

It's good to know the computers will support the feature. Knowing that, at least you can get them to do your bidding - one way or another!

Looks like Andy's found something that may solve your problem so you can all have ice cream in peace!

Nana /images/forums/icons/smile.gif

[Churchill]

Thanks, all. Finally found something that worked.

Andy got me pointed back in the correct direction. I'd actually tried this version of "shutdown.exe" months back for something different entirely and forgot all about it and its ilk.

For those wondering, the "shutdown.exe" program Andy linked to works well on a local machine. According to the author's comments on the user forums, however, he (I'm assuming here) disabled the ability to use the program over a network due to bugs. Searching around for alternative shutdown utilities (I was hoping to find something as tiny as shutdown.exe) led me to PowerOff. It's larger than shutdown.exe, though still tiny and much more powerful. Looks like it'll do everything I'll need it to do plus other features I've needed (ie WOL) that I'll likely be using going forward. Great looking little utility, though I'm still testing it out.

You can read about the features and download the file here:

http://users.pandora.be/jbosman/applications.html

Thanks again.

--Church

[Andy-S]

Glad you got something that works for you.

Cheers
Andy