Copyright: Rebooter 1.0


Overview
Rebooter by PassMark Software - Overview

 Rebooter is a small utility program developed by PassMark Software to help automate the PC hardware testing process. It has been designed to work with PassMark BurnInTest but will also work with 3rd party application. Rebooter allows you to,

-	Shutdown, Reboot or Logout of a PC.

-	Reboot a PC from the command line

-	Set a timer so that the PC will reboot after a certain amount of time

-	Setup a reboot loop, to reboot a PC over an over again in a cycle.

-	Force a shutdown or request a shutdown.

-	Enable and disable the Windows auto-login feature. (NT/2000/XP only)

-	Include reboots into your hardware stress testing plan, (when used with BurnInTest).

For more information click on one of the following topics.

Types of reboots and restarts.

Forcing reboots

Command line options

Auto-run applications

Auto-login to Windows

Cyclic reboot looping

Frequently asked questions

What’s new in this version

Copyright and license information

System requirements

Contacting PassMark Software


Types of Reboots and Restarts.
Reboots and Restarts

There are four options available.

Power-off

This would shut down the system and turn off the power. The system must support the power-off feature.

Reboot

Shuts down the system and then restarts the system.

Shutdown

Shuts down the system to a point at which it is safe to turn off the power. All file buffers have been flushed to disk, and all running processes have stopped. If the system supports the power-off feature, the power is also turned off.

Log off

Logs the current user out of the system.

See also

Overview

Forced reboot


Forced reboots.
Forced reboot

Three options are available.

Ask to close

Default value. Each running application is given the chance to block the shutdown of Windows. Applications will typically block a shutdown if there is data that has not been saved to disk.

Force to close

Forces processes to terminate. When option is selected, the system does not ask each running application for permission to shut down Windows. This can cause the applications to lose data. Therefore, you should only use this flag in an emergency.

Force if hung

If applications do not respond to the query to ask for shutdown permission, then they are forced to close. This option is only taken into account in Windows2000 and XP. In other versions of Windows selecting this option is the same as selecting, “Force to close”.

See also

Overview

Reboot types


Command line arguments
Command line options

There are two command line options. If no command line option is specified, Rebooter runs in interactive mode.

-Reboot

Perform a reboot according to the parameters in the saved configuration file. The count down to a reboot will start immediately after the program has started. All buttons are disabled (as if the user had hit the reboot now button). The type of reboot / restart performed will be whatever was lasted saved in the configuration file.

-Config

Allows the user to change and save the settings but not do a reboot. This is useful when Rebooter is integrated into another external application. The external application can call Rebooter with this option to allow the user to configure various parameters then call Rebooter once again with the –Reboot argument to effect the Reboot.

Example – Execute a reboot from the command line

rebooter  -reboot


Autorun applications
Auto-run applications

This page gives a brief description of how an application can be setup to run automatically when Windows starts. This is an important part of creating a stress test to cyclically reboot a PC. There are various methods that can be used to set up an application to run automatically.

Method1 – Windows Startup folder

There is a “Startup” folder in the Start menu of Windows. Shortcuts to files can be placed in this directory. All the shortcuts in this folder will be executed automatically when Windows starts. One easy way to edit the contents of the startup folder is to use the Advanced view in the “Start / Settings / Task bar & Start menu”, window. Short cuts can be created by dragging executable files into this Startup folder with the ALT key held down.

Right clicking on the short cut and selecting properties then allows the shortcut settings to be modified. This is the best and easiest method to auto-run applications.

See the Windows documentation for more information about short cuts.

Method2 - win.ini

In the windows section of this file, new lines can be added to start applications automatically. For example,

[windows]

run="C:\PROGRA~1\PERFOR~1\pt.exe"

This file is found is in the Windows installation directory. Note the use of older style 8.3 files names as spaces are not allowed in the file name. This method is not recommended, as it was designed for Windows3.1 and Windows95 and is no longer used in newer versions of Windows. (It still works in Windows98 however).

Method3 – Edit the registry

By placing entries into following registry key, applications can be executed automatically at startup

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

Don’t edit the registry unless you know what you are doing.


How to setup a reboot cycle
Cyclic rebooting

This page gives a brief description of how a PC can be set-up to reboot itself in a cycle.

Step1 – Select and save Rebooter settings

Start Rebooter and use the “Clear” button to return the reboot count to 0.

Set the ‘Maximum Reboots’ value to the number of cycles required.

Set the other parameters in Rebooter. (Reboot type, Delay, etc). Don’t set the delay value to be too short, as you want Windows to fully boot before starting the next cycle. 20 Seconds is a good value.

Save the settings, with the ‘Save Options’ button.

Step2 – Create an autorun shortcut

Create an autorun short cut that points back to Rebooter executable. See the auto-run page for help on how to do this. The shortcut must use the  ‘-Reboot’ command line parameter.

Step3 – Start the cycle

Click on the “Reboot Now” button to start the cycle.

Each time Rebooter is started with the ‘–Reboot’ command line parameter, the reboot counter in incremented. Once the reboot counter becomes equal to the Maximum Reboots value no further cycles will be executed and the reboot counter will be reset to zero (ready for the next run).


Autologin
Auto-login

You can use Rebooter to set and clear the Windows Auto-login feature. By entering your Domain, User name and password then clicking on ‘Set Auto-login”, you can avoid the login prompt appearing during the windows boot process.

The feature is only available with Windows NT, 2000 and XP.

Although enabling autologon can make it more convenient to use Windows, use of this feature is a security risk. See the FAQ for more details.


Contacting PassMark
Contacting PassMark Software

On the Web

You can contact PassMark on the web at

http://www.passmark.com

E-Mail

For technical support questions, suggestions

support@passmark.com

For sales & commercial issues

sales@passmark.com

For any other issues

info@passmark.com

FAQ

You may also want to check out the list of Frequently Asked Questions .


System Requirements

80486 50Mhz or faster

Windows 95, 98, WinMe, NT4, Window 2000, Windows XP

16Meg RAM

0.1MB of free hard disk space to install the software


Copyright and License
Copyright & License information

Copyright & End User license

This End-User License Agreement (“EULA”) is for the PassMark Rebooter software.

EULA is a legal agreement between you (either an individual or a single entity) and PassMark Corporation for the PassMark software product identified above, which includes computer software and may include associated media, printed materials, and “online” or electronic documentation (“SOFTWARE PRODUCT”).  By installing, copying, or otherwise using the SOFTWARE PRODUCT, you agree to be bound by the terms of this EULA.  If you do not agree to the terms of this EULA, do not install or use the SOFTWARE PRODUCT.

1. GRANT OF LICENSE. This EULA grants you the following rights:

•	A license is granted only after the payment of the license fee (unless. PassMark has made the software freely available from the www.passmark.com web site).

•	If the software has not been made freely available and no license fee has been paid the product can be used for evaluation purposes for a maximum period of 30 days.

•	After the license fee has been paid, you may install and use one copy of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT, or any prior version on a single computer, or on a single removable disk. The SOFTWARE PRODUCT must NOT be installed on a network where it could be used by more than a single computer unless a multiuser license has been purchased.

•	The primary user of the computer on which the licensed SOFTWARE PRODUCT is installed may make a second copy for his or her exclusive use on a portable computer.

0	2. DESCRIPTION OF OTHER RIGHTS AND LIMITATIONS.

•	Limitations on Reverse Engineering, Decompilation, and Disassembly.

You may not reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble the SOFTWARE PRODUCT.

•	The shareware version of the software may be freely distributed provided that no fee is charged and the product is distributed complete and intact.

3. COPYRIGHT.

All title and copyrights in and to the SOFTWARE PRODUCT (including but not limited to any images, photographs, animations, video, audio, music, text, and “applets” incorporated into the SOFTWARE PRODUCT), the accompanying printed materials, and any copies of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT are owned by PassMark. The SOFTWARE PRODUCT is protected by copyright laws and international treaty provisions. Therefore, you must treat the SOFTWARE PRODUCT like any other copyrighted material except that you may install the licensed SOFTWARE PRODUCT on a single computer provided you keep the original solely for backup or archival purposes.

LIMITED WARRANTY.

PassMark warrants that (a) the licensed SOFTWARE PRODUCT will perform substantially in accordance with the accompanying written materials for a period of ninety (90) days from the date of receipt, and (b) any Support Services provided by PassMark shall be substantially as described in applicable written materials provided to you by PassMark, and PassMark support engineers will make commercially reasonable efforts to solve any problem issues. Some states and jurisdictions do not allow limitations on duration of an implied warranty, so the above limitation may not apply to you. To the extent allowed by applicable law, implied warranties on the SOFTWARE PRODUCT, if any, are limited to ninety (90) days.

No warranty of any sort of offered on the evaluation version of the software, until a license fee is paid.

Additional information

For questions regarding the copyright, end user license contact, multi-user licenses and site licenses, contact.

info@passmark.com


Problems and FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Note: See the PassMark website (www.passmark.com) for the latest version of the FAQ

Q. Why trying to reboot, I get a message like, “Could not adjust privileges...” or  “Could not open security token…”

In Windows NT/2000/XP you need to have the correct security permissions set in order to shutdown Windows. These messages can be avoided by using an Administrator account, which has full security permissions. The permission required is called, “Shut down the system”.

Q. Why doesn’t the Auto-login feature work in Windows95/98/ME

The different versions of Microsoft’s operating systems work differently internally. There is however some advice from Microsoft on how to avoid the network login prompt appearing in Windows95/98/ME. See question Q152104 in Microsoft knowledge base for more details.

Q. I have entered the correct User name and password but the auto-login fails.

If you have set the DontDisplayLastUserName flag in the registry, this prevents auto-login from functioning. See question Q159969 in Microsoft knowledge base for more details.

Q. Is setting auto-login a security risk?

Although enabling auto-login can make it more convenient to use Windows, use of this feature is a security risk.

Setting a computer for auto-login means that anyone who can physically obtain access to the computer can gain access to all of the computer contents, potentially including any network or networks it is connected to. A second risk is that enabling auto-login causes the password to be stored in the registry, in plaintext. The specific registry key that stores this value is remotely readable by the Authenticated Users group.

As a result, this setting is only appropriate for cases in which the computer is physically secured, and steps have been taken to ensure that untrusted users cannot remotely access the registry.

Q. How can I disable auto-login and remove my clear text password from the windows registry?

Just disabling the auto-login feature is not enough. You need to

•	Clear the Password field

•	Then use the Set Auto-login button to update the registry entry.

•	Then disable Auto-login

Q After setting up Auto-login how can I log in as a different user (without disabling it permanently)

To bypass the Auto-Admin Logon process, and to logon on as a different user, hold down the SHIFT key after a logoff or after a Windows restart.


Whats new - version history
What new - Version history

V1.0.1001  13/April/2002

- Changed name of the Rebooter configuration file to avoid a conflict with BurnInTest.

V1.0.1000  14/Mar/2002

First release