Remotely Shut Down Your PC from Mobile/PC Using Dropbox

If you forgot to shut down your PC when departing from your home or office and suddenly realized about that after traveling a long distance, you would return and then shut down your PC. To get rid from such situation you can use Dropbox to remotely shut down PC or notebook from Mobile Phone.

Here is the complete procedure for Windows 7 and Windows XP users.

Requirements

1. Your computer must be pre-installed with Dropbox. If not then install Dropbox.

2. The computer should be connected with internet.

3. Internet enabled mobile phone e.g Android, iPhone, Nokia mobile phones etc.

4. A simple script to check for a file in your Dropbox folder. Download the zipped file and extract it at any location of your computer.

After extracting the zipped file you can see two files: 1. remote_shutdown.vbs2. trigger.bat under the folder drsd.

A small editing in the script

Just right-click on the remote_shutdown.vbs file and select “Edit”.
You will get the following code in your notepad editor or some thing else.

Dim fl1 Set fl1 = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") 

If (fl1.FileExists("your_dropbox_folder_path\secret_file.txt")) Then 

Dim oShell Set oShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell") 'shutdown, wait for 5 seconds, force running apps to close 

oShell.Run "%comspec% /c shutdown /s /t 5 /f", , TRUE 

Msgbox "You will be shut down shortly" 

End If 

Change the highlighted part with your Dropbox account path (Don’t remove the quotes). By default it should be C:> Users> user_name> Documents>My Dropbox. After editing the line it should look like

If (file1.FileExists("C:\Users\user_name\Documents\My Dropboxsecret_file.txt")) Then

Save the file by pressing CTRL + S. You can change “secret_file” with some secret name. Actually, the above code will search for this file in your Dropbox folder. If it finds that, it will command the computer to shut down.

Setting your PC Task Scheduler for triggering the above batch file

1. Press Win key and type “task scheduler” at the search box. Right-click on “Task Scheduler” > select “Run as administrator”.

2. In the upcoming window click on “Create Task” from the right pane.

3. Give a reasonable name of the task and check the box to “Run with highest privileges”.

4. Head to the “Trigger” tab and click on “New..”. A pop up window will appear.

5. Now keep the “Begin the task:” option as “On a schedule”, choose the “Daily” button under Settings. At the starting time option, delay the time about 10 minutes.   Under Advanced settings check the box to “Repeat task every: 5 minutes,  for a duration of :Indefinitely” (Set the values from the drop down menu) and finally, click on OK.

6. Flip to “Action” tab and click on “New”. Set the “Action: Start a program”, at the “program/script” box locate the batch file trigger.bat) by clicking on the “Browse” button and click OK.

7. Finally, head to “Settings” tab and check the box to “Run task as soon as possible after a scheduled start is missed”.

8. Now click on OK.

Your computer is now completely configured. When you are outside and your computer is on and connected with the internet, just log-in to your Dropbox account from your mobile phone or any other computer, upload a text file with the same name as you specified earlier to Dropbox folder (secret_file.txt).

You are done! your computer will be shut down in next 5 minutes. An you will get detailed log at test.txt file in the same directory drds.

Note: Immediate after the next time of logging into your PC, delete the secret_file.txt from your Dropbox account, nevertheless your computer will again shut down. You can also build your schedule task settings as such a way, so that the task starts after a specific time every day.

ShutDown the Windows XP From Mobile Phone Using Dropbox

Here is the complete workarounds to remotely shut down your Windows XP PC from mobile phone or other computers using Dropbox.

Though the working algorithm is same for both Windows 7 and XP, I made some small changes in the batch file trigger.bat to work properly in Windows XP. Also the options in Task Scheduler wizard is little different for Windows XP.

Here is the complete guide  to remote shut down your Windows XP via Dropbox.Your Windows XP must be pre-installed with Dropbox . Just download the zipped file for Windows XP and follow the steps below.

• Extract the zipped file at any location of your computer. You will get two files as remote_shutdown.vbs and trigger.bat.
• Now right-click on remote_shutdown.vbs and select to edit.
• Replace the part “your_Dropbox_folder_Path” with your Dropbox folder path and save the file. As example, E:\My Dropbox .
• Now Press the key Win + R and type “control schedtasks” without the quotes and hit Enter.
• Click on Add Scheduled Task > Next. You will be asked to select the program that you want to run in a scheduled manner.
• Click on “Browse” and locate the file trigger.bat, give a suitable name for this task, select “Daily” to perform this task and then Next.
• Change the starting time to delay it for 5-10 minutes from current one.
• Specify the user name and the password under which the task will run and click Next.
• At the finishing step of the wizard, check the box to open advance properties after the “Finish” and click on Finish.
• A window with your task name will appear. Flip to “Schedule” tab and click “Advanced”.
• In advanced schedule option check the box to repeat task, change the repeating properties as the screenshot below and then click OK.
• Notice that at the “Until” option I have put the time 1:29 PM as the starting time was 1:30PM. Put this option wisely for yourself.
• Now head to the Settings tab and deselect the check box  pointing “Stop the task if it runs for”.
• Click on Apply then OK.

Now your Windows XP is configured. Whenever you want to shut down your PC remotely just log-in to your Dropbox account from the remote device like Mobile phone or PC and send the file secret_file.txt to your Dropbox folder. Your home or office computer will be shut down in next 5 minutes. Cheers!

Tip: Let your Windows PC to Be Shut Down Automatically at Night (If Idle).

Watch the video tutorial

Tip 1: Easiest Way To Run Multiple Instances of Dropbox in Windows 7 .

Tip 2: Print Files from any Mobile Phone using Dropbox.

** You can use Dropbox to start a program on pc using mobile.