Regular rebooting of servers and workstations, and disk error scanning is part of any good
system maintenance plan - it enhances the overall reliability and performance of systems,
particularly those under heavy usage. Greyware Reboot Service (GWBoot) is a utility that
lets you easily have Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2K/XP/.Net machines reboot themselves on demand or at
scheduled times.
The Greyware Reboot Service makes this an easy-to-manage task without having to rely on batch
files, AT job schedules or other manual methods. In addition, having the reboot function integrated
into its own service allows the administrator to temporarily suspend, interrupt or change the
reboot schedule as needed without affecting any other scheduled jobs.
Greyware Reboot Service is designed to be as reliable and easy-to-manage as possible. The
service handles automatic shutdown and restart, floppy disk boot protection, ChkDsk scheduling,
and provides clear log entries indicating the success of the reboot.
The Control Panel applet lets you control GWBoot on your own machine, or on any other machine
where GWBoot is installed (and you have administrative rights). If you connect to an NT/2000
machine where GWBoot isn't installed yet, or where an older version is installed, GWBoot lets
you install/upgrade the remote machine right then with a single click. Additionally, you can force
an immediate reboot of the local or remote machine directly from the Control Panel applet.
Requirements
This program requires Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2K/XP with MSIE 3.0 or greater
installed. Both Intel and Alpha binaries are supported for NT and Windows 2000.
Setup and Installation
Installation
GWBoot runs as a system service. You must be logged on using an account
with administrative privileges to install, remove, or control the service.
The program will automatically determine your system type and install itself correctly.
After you download the zip file, unzip the contents
to a temporary directory on your machine (or a shared network directory), then
double-click setup.exe and click the Install button. Note: Some of our
products are distributed as self-extracting zip files. You may either just double-click
the distribution file, or rename it to .zip and unzip it.
If GWBoot is already installed, the Install button will not be present.
Instead, setup will present an Upgrade button. If older versions of any of the
distribution files already exist on your machine, the program will upgrade them
automatically when you select Upgrade. In some cases, it may be necessary for
you to reboot your machine to complete installation or an upgrade. If so, you will
be prompted to restart.
GWBoot installs to the system directory. On Windows 95/98/ME, this is
usually c:\windows\system. On later versions, it is usually c:\windows\system32 or c:\winnt\system32.
Removal
Run setup.exe again, and click the Remove button on the setup dialog.
You may also run gwboot.exe /remove from the system directory. The Remove
button will only be enabled if setup determines that the service is already installed.
Upgrading
To upgrade to a new version, download and unzip the new version to a temporary
directory. Double-click the new setup.exe and click the Upgrade button.
The Upgrade button will only be visible if setup determines that an older version
of the service is already installed. Otherwise, only the Install and Remove
buttons will be shown.
Note: This program may be distributed as a self-extracting zip. If so, it will be named
.exe instead of .zip. You may rename it to .zip if you want to extract the files manually.
Otherwise, run the file you downloaded, and it will extract the files to a temporary
directory and run setup.exe for you.
Command-line Options
Although not generally needed, you may specify the following command-line options when
running setup.exe or gwboot.exe. You may use a dash or a forward slash before the option. Slashes
are shown below for clarity. Options may also be specified by just the first letter.
gwboot.exe /version or setup.exe /version -- displays the program's version and copyright information.
setup.exe /install -- forces installation.
gwboot.exe /remove or setup.exe /remove-- forces removal.
gwboot.exe /foreground -- runs the program in the foreground. (Not available on Win9x)
setup.exe /upgrade -- upgrade to newer version without removing and reinstalling. (Not available on Win9x)
To assist with automated installations, the program also supports the /quiet command-line switch.
You may use the /quiet switch in conjunction with /remove, /install, or /upgrade.
When the /quiet switch is specified, the program only displays dialog boxes if errors are encountered;
otherwise, the program performs the requested function and exits immediately. This feature makes it easy to
handle installations or upgrades network-wide with a simple batch file.
Administrative Options and Remote Installation
Remote Install or Removal
The setup program, setup.exe allows you to specify parameters on the command line for remote installation
or removal:
setup -upgrade \\fred would install the service (upgrading if necessary) onto the machine named \\fred
setup -remove \\barney would remove the service from the machine \\barney
setup -install -quiet would install the service onto the local machine without any prompts
setup -remove -quiet would remove the service from the local machine without any prompts
Note: For remote installation or removal to work (i.e., specifing a target machine name as in the above two examples
using \\fred and \\barney), both the machine you are working on and the target machine must be logged on under an account
that has administrative privileges on the target machine. You cannot remotely install to
or remove from Windows 95/98/ME machines.
Version History
2.1.b.20040308 - Maintenance release. XP-ified the interface, made minor internal changes,
updated graphical elements. Upgrade optional.
2.1.b.20030103 - Maintenance release. Fixed error in CHKDSK scheduling on NT4 without
service pack 6 applied. No other changes. Upgrade only if you are running NT4 and
experience problems with CHKDSK not running reliably.
2.1.b.20020521 - Recommended upgrade. Added workaround for changed CHKDSK behavior on XP. If
you are using the CHKDSK feature during scheduled boots on 2K/XP/.Net, this is a recommended
upgrade. Behavior on 95/98/ME/NT unchanged.
2.1.b.20010905 - Recommended upgrade. Added fix for registry API error on Windows 2000
that could prevent connecting to a downlevel (NT4 or Win9x) machine from a Windows 2000/XP
machine. Minor cosmetic changes in the control panel applet.
2.1.b.20010126 - first public release of version 2.x. Includes remote install/upgrade for NT/2000,
support for Windows 95/98/ME, system tray icon, control panel applet pop-up help, and indication
of who is logged on at remote stations.
1.3 through 1.5 - internal use only
1.2.b.20000510 - added icon to alert dialog when it is minimized; no other changes
1.2.b.20000504 - first public release
1.1.b.20000407 - custom version for internal use
1.0.b.20000301 - internal use release. Basic functionality established
Notes
Greyware Reboot Service (GWBoot) is controlled by its Control Panel applet:
Control Panel Applet
Use the How Often section to select the reboot schedule that you prefer. You can schedule daily,
weekly, or monthly reboots at specific times.
If you wish to reboot the machine you're controlling immediately, simply click the Boot Now button.
You will still have the option to cancel the reboot if you wish.
Confirm Manual Reboot screen
The Options section of the Control Panel applet allows you to select specific boot options.
When the scheduled time for a reboot occurs, GWBoot pops up an administrative alert on the system
with the option to cancel the reboot.
You can control how long GWBoot will wait for the administrator to cancel the reboot by setting the
Delay after restart triggered option.
You can also set GWBoot to beep the PC speaker when the reboot is triggered to give an audible alert to
a pending reboot.
The Run ChkDsk section allows you to specify whether GWBoot will schedule a CHKDSK /F on the
rebooting system. You have the option of checking all disks, just the system disk, or all disks except
the system disks (data drives). ChkDsks can only be performed on local drives (not networked volumes).
Controlling other Machines
Greyware Reboot Service gives you an extremely handy way to control the reboot schedule of any other
machine on which GWBoot is installed (and to which you have administrator rights). Use the Connect
button to browse the network for the machine you wish to control. When you click on the machine, the GWBoot
Control Panel changes to display the Control Panel applet of the remote machine. You can set all of the
GWBoot scheduling and configuration options remotely on this machine, and even reboot the system!
The Browse for other Machines dialog box
See the Setup and Installation section for instructions on how to install GWBoot remotely on
other machines from your desktop.
The Greyware Reboot Service makes this an easy-to-manage task without having to rely on batch
files, AT job schedules or other manual methods. In addition, having the reboot function integrated
into its own service allows the administrator to temporarily suspend, interrupt or change the
reboot schedule as needed without affecting any other scheduled jobs.
