How to Restart a Remote Computer Using CMD

If you use multiple computers, you may find it a hassle to restart them all manually. To make the task easier, you can easily restart these computers using a simple CMD command. 

For this to work, you will have to ensure all of your PCs are connected to the same network as a Remote computer. Moreover, you will also need the credentials to the administrator account of the PC. 

Restarting a remote computer using CMD is quite easy and will save you time and keep you away from the hassle of physically restarting each computer you have. In this article, we will be discussing various ways to restart a Remote computer using CMD.

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Ways to Restart a Remote Computer Using CMD

Given below are all the three ways to restart a remote computer using the CMD-

1. Use the Shutdown Command

The very first way to restart a remote computer using CMD is with the help of the shutdown command. To do so, follow the steps given below-

1. Press the Windows key and search for CMD. Run the Command Prompt as administrator.
2. Now, type the command- shutdown /m \\computername /r in the command prompt. Here, you will have to replace computername with the name of the computer you want to restart.
3. If you want to close all the programs before restarting, type /f one space after /r. 
4. Add /c after /f in the command. Then type a message in quotes to notify you about restarting your PC. The command should look like the below-
   • shutdown /m \\computername /r /f /c “This computer is about to restart”
5. Add  /t xx command on it. Here xx represents the time duration for your computer to restart. Now, the new command will look like this-
   • shutdown /m \\computername /r /f /c “This computer is about to restart” /t 30
6. At last, press Enter to execute the command. 

NOTE– Some commands that have been used above are explained below-

• /r – It is used for restarting a computer.
• /s – It is used for shutting down a computer.
• /m \\computername – This command specifies the remote computer to restart or shutdown.
• /l – Stands for logging off the computer.
• /t xx – Tells the duration when setting the timeout period before restart or shutdown to xx seconds.
• /c “comment” – Used to display on the screen before restart or shutdown.

2. Windows PowerShell

You can also use Windows PowerShell to restart remote computers. Given below is the Windows PowerShell command to restart your PC-

1. In the Start Menu, search for Windows PowerShell. Right-click on it and select the Run as administrator option.
2. There type and execute the following command to restart a remote computer-

• • Restart-Computer -ComputerName REMOTE_COMPUTER_NAME -Force
    

Note- Here, replace REMOTE_COMPUTER_NAME with the name of the computer you want to restart.

3. Remote Shutdown Dialog

The computer automatically shuts down or restarts depending on the switch you choose in this method. Given below are the steps to use the Remote shutdown dialog to restart your PC-

1. Open Start Menu, and search for Command Prompt. Run the Command Prompt with administrative privileges.
2. Then, type the command given below and execute it-
   • shutdown -i
3. Next, on the remote shutdown dialog window, click on the Add button.
4. Type the computer’s IP address that you want to restart and click OK.
5. Now, under the dropdown menu of What do you want these computers to do, select Restart.
6. Check the checkbox for Warn users of the action and set the time in seconds next to the Display Warning field.
7. Now, click on the Planned checkbox. This will create an event tracker from the remote restart.
8. Next, select a reason from the dropdown list for the restart. Under the comment section, type a comment that you want to be displayed before the computer restarts. Once done, click on OK, and your computer will restart.

Conclusion

This article discusses the three simple methods to restart a remote computer using CMD, which will help you. Following the above methods, you will be able to restart your remote computer using CMD easily.