Startup, shutdown, logon, and logoff scripts

  • Article

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Startup, shutdown, logon, and logoff scripts

Group Policy Object Editor includes two extensions for script deployment:

  • Scripts (Startup/Shutdown)--You can use this extension, which is located under Computer Configuration\Windows Settings in the console tree of Group Policy Object Editor, to specify scripts that are to run when the computer starts up or shuts down. These scripts run as Local System.

  • Scripts (Logon/Logoff)--You can use this extension, which is located under User Configuration\Windows Settings in the console tree of Group Policy Object Editor, to specify scripts that are to run when the user logs on or logs off the computer. These scripts run as User, not as Administrator.

For more information, see Use Startup, Shutdown, Logon, and Logoff Scripts.

The Windows Server 2003 family includes Windows Script Host, a language-independent scripting host for 32-bit Windows platforms that includes both Visual Basic Scripting Edition (.vbs) and JScript (.js) scripting engines. You can use Windows Script Host to run .vbs and .js scripts directly on the Windows desktop or in the command console, without the need to embed these scripts in an HTML document.

For more information about Windows Script Host, see Windows Script Host overview. To learn about Windows Script Host and the Object Model and to obtain script samples, see the "Windows Script" at the Microsoft Web site.