Disabling the Shutdown Event Tracker in Windows 2003

If you try to Shutdown or Restart a computer running Windows 2003 OS you always have to give a reason for the shutdown or restart. This is because Shutdown Even Tracker is enabled. This will be great if it is a server, but this may be annoying if this is a normal PC. If anyone likes to stop this below I am discussing how to accomplish it.

1. In the Run Window (Start -> Run) type GPEdit.MSC and press enter.
2. Expand the Computer Configuration then Administrative Templates and then select System.
3. Double click on Display Shutdown Event Tracker to get the properties of it and select Disabled and click ok.

After these steps you will be able to shutdown the system as normal.

Sometimes your group policy settings may not apply immediately due to various reasons. To force apply the settings open the command window (Type Cmd in the run window) and type GPUpdate /force
This will force the changes made and any errors will be logged to the system event log.
If the shutdown event tracker keeps on appearing then probably an error may have occurred while trying to apply group policy settings. Go to Event Viewer and check for errors.

Note - If you are in a domain then you needs domain rights to disable shutdown event tracker.