How can I recover my frozen remote work computer from home?

May 28, 2011 9:02 PM

My work computer that I am connecting to through a remote connection is freezing on the log in screen. When I type the password, it gives me the welcome screen, but the little welcome wheel keeps spinning infinitely. I want to restart it to try to solve this. But the only way I know how to restart remotely is using the cmd prompt, which I can't get to until I'm logged in. So how can I restart?

I'm in a real jam because I have a deadline to deal with, and thanks to Memorial day, I won't be able to physically power off until Tuesday.

There has got to be some way to restart remotely while on the log in screen. This is a windows 7 machine. I was able to connect fine earlier today. But then I had an unresponsive program. So I restarted the computer using cmd prompt. Trying to log on after this restart is where I ran into this problem.

I really appreciate your help!

posted by chocolatemilkshakes to technology (6 answers total)

Do you have an IT support team at work? Can you have another person retrieve the files and email them to you?
posted by dfriedman at 9:09 PM on May 28, 2011

Do you have access to any other machine on the network remotely? Even if you're attached to the VPN you should be able to issue a reboot command from your non-remote machine or another networked machine's cmd prompt:
shutdown /r /f /m \\computername
Substitute computername for the remote computer's name or IP. Be forewarned that if this hangs at all you won't have anything but physical access to the machine.
posted by msbutah at 9:14 PM on May 28, 2011

No, I don't have any access to support right now. The office is closed until Tuesday.
posted by chocolatemilkshakes at 9:15 PM on May 28, 2011

Unfortunately I cannot access any other network computer either. Any further ideas are appreciated.
posted by chocolatemilkshakes at 10:45 PM on May 28, 2011

Are you using a VPN to access the private network, and then Remote Desktop from there? If the VPN puts your home machine on your work's private network then...

- you can try the shutdown command from home, but you might have to use the hostname or IP instead of "computername"

- if your account is in the Administrator's group, then you can try to connect to the default drive share (C$). Again, when connecting with "Map Network Drive" you might have to use the hostname or IP instead of "computername". You have to type this share name in manually... Windows will hide it in most cases. This would give you the files if it works.
posted by sbutler at 10:55 PM on May 28, 2011

Thanks for the suggestions! I found someone who had a key to the office who was willing to physically boot it for me. So problem solved.
posted by chocolatemilkshakes at 11:35 AM on May 29, 2011