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Q259436: Log Off all Terminal Server Session Users from a Command Prompt

Article: Q259436
Product(s): Microsoft Windows NT
Version(s): winnt:4.0
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbnetwork kbtool
Last Modified: 11-DEC-2001

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0, Terminal Server Edition 
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SUMMARY
=======

Under some conditions, an administrator may want to force a logoff of all users
currently logged onto a Windows NT 4.0 Server, Terminal Server Edition-based
computer. You can do so by creating a batch file that calls two Terminal Server
specific commands, QUERY and LOGOFF.

WARNING: Performing the following procedure logs off all users currently logged
onto the Terminal Server. This may result in a loss of unsaved data. Because of
this, extreme caution is advised.

MORE INFORMATION
================

To create a batch file that calls these two Terminal Server specific commands,
place the following information into a batch (.bat) file:

query session >session.txt
for /f "skip=1 tokens=3," %%i in (session.txt) DO logoff %%i
del session.txt

This batch file may be run at any time the Administrator desires to force the
logoff of all users that are not logged onto the Terminal Server console.

Query is a multi-purpose command found within the Terminal Server environment. In
this case, Query Session creates a list of all sessions running on the Terminal
Server, complete with Session ID numbers. Within the batch file, this output is
redirected to a text file. The FOR statement then parses each line of the text
file, skipping the first line, and looking for the Session ID number found in
the third column. It then places this variable into Logoff, resulting in that
session being logged off.

It is not uncommon to receive an error message when you run this batch file. If a
user is logged onto the Terminal Server console, the following error message is
generated:

  Could not logoff session ID 0 from session Console, Error code 5
  Error [5]: Access is denied.

This is due to a limitation of the Logoff command. It cannot force the logoff of
the console session. A work around to this issue would be to modify the batch
file to read:

query session >session.txt
for /f "skip=2 tokens=3," %%i in (session.txt) DO logoff %%i
del session.txt

This causes the first two lines of the Session.txt file to be skipped, avoiding
the error.

REFERENCES
==========

For additional information about the Query command, click the article number
below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

  Q186592 TERMINAL SERVER COMMANDS: QUERY

Additional query words: logoff script

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Keywords          : kbnetwork kbtool 
Technology        : kbWinNTsearch kbWinNT400search kbWinNTSsearch kbWinNTS400search kbNTTermServ400 kbNTTermServSearch
Version           : winnt:4.0
Issue type        : kbhowto

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