InitiateShutdown fails for a remote computer with RPC_S_SERVER_UNAVAILABLE error

[dc_2000]

I'm trying to implement rebooting of a remote computer with InitiateShutdown API using the following code, but it fails with RPC_S_SERVER_UNAVAILABLE or 1722 error code:

//Process is running as administrator
LPCTSTR pServerName = L"\\\\192.168.42.105";

if(AdjustPrivilege(NULL, L"SeShutdownPrivilege", TRUE) &&
    AdjustPrivilege(pServerName, L"SeRemoteShutdownPrivilege", TRUE))
{
    int nErrorCode = ::InitiateShutdown(pServerName, NULL, 30,
                                        SHUTDOWN_INSTALL_UPDATES | SHUTDOWN_RESTART, 0);

    //Receive nErrorCode == 1722, or RPC_S_SERVER_UNAVAILABLE
}



BOOL AdjustPrivilege(LPCTSTR pStrMachine, LPCTSTR pPrivilegeName, BOOL bEnable)
{
    HANDLE hToken; 
    TOKEN_PRIVILEGES tkp;
    BOOL bRes = FALSE;

    if(!OpenProcessToken(GetCurrentProcess(), TOKEN_ADJUST_PRIVILEGES | TOKEN_QUERY, &hToken))
        return FALSE; 

    if(LookupPrivilegeValue(pStrMachine, pPrivilegeName, &tkp.Privileges[0].Luid))
    {
        tkp.PrivilegeCount = 1;  
        tkp.Privileges[0].Attributes = bEnable ? SE_PRIVILEGE_ENABLED : SE_PRIVILEGE_REMOVED; 

        bRes = AdjustTokenPrivileges(hToken, FALSE, &tkp, 0, (PTOKEN_PRIVILEGES)NULL, 0);
        int nOSError = GetLastError();
        if(bRes)
        {
            if(nOSError != ERROR_SUCCESS)
                bRes = FALSE;
        }
    }

    CloseHandle(hToken);

    return bRes;
}

192.168.42.105 computer has file and printer sharing enabled on the network.

Note that the following shutdown command seems to work just fine to reboot the remote computer:

shutdown /r /m \\192.168.42.105 /t 30

What am I missing with my code?

[Arjay]

My only question is whether you are coding in C or C++.

[dc_2000]

My only question is whether you are coding in C or C++.

It is a C++ VS2008 project. But the code itself can be reduced down to plain C. Why would it matter though?

[Arjay]

It is a C++ VS2008 project. But the code itself can be reduced down to plain C. Why would it matter though?

It was in reference to another forum post. I should have used a .

[dc_2000]

It was in reference to another forum post. I should have used a .

If we run into an issue one of my colleagues may ask the same question in a different location (of his choosing.)

Still back to the point. Any idea about my actual question?

Can anyone at least repro it?

[Arjay]

If we run into an issue one of my colleagues may ask the same question in a different location (of his choosing.)

Still back to the point. Any idea about my actual question?

Can anyone at least repro it?

Have you looked into the answers on the other forum - it seems to give some idea there? Search bing or google for "InitiateShutdown RPC_S_SERVER_UNAVAILABLE".

[Igor Vartanov]

First thing I would try was dropping install updates flag. Second would be specifying some specific reason code instead of the zero.

[dc_2000]

Have you looked into the answers on the other forum - it seems to give some idea there? Search bing or google for "InitiateShutdown RPC_S_SERVER_UNAVAILABLE".

Arjay, are you talking about this one? (That's the first one that comes up for me.) I tried all this. Microsoft's shutdown works fine if I do the following from that same machine:

shutdown /r /m \\192.168.42.105 /t 30

First thing I would try was dropping install updates flag. Second would be specifying some specific reason code instead of the zero.

Yes, tried it. Dropping SHUTDOWN_INSTALL_UPDATES doesn't change anything, as well as specifying a reason code. I also tried using just "192.168.42.105" without two slashes. Still the same error code RPC_S_SERVER_UNAVAILABLE. Worse still, if I simply use "somebadservername" instead, it also returns RPC_S_SERVER_UNAVAILABLE.

Further exploration.

If I use InitiateSystemShutdown(ex) instead, everything works as expected. The problem with that API is that I can't use SHUTDOWN_INSTALL_UPDATES flag, which is the sole reason why I went with InitiateShutdown.

My colleague put those APIs through a low-level debugger and the problem seems to lie in the way InitiateShutdown makes an RPC call to the server. Are you guys familiar with RPC binding and mostly RPC authentication? Because that's where the root of this error seems to be in.

[Igor Vartanov]

Well, natural thing to ask about is if the remote server version is high enough to support the InitiateShutdown API. Did you try that with different server platforms? My guess is W2008 Server is minimal platform to be kicked with InitiateShutdown.

[2kaud]

Well, natural thing to ask about is if the remote server version is high enough to support the InitiateShutdown API. Did you try that with different server platforms? My guess is W2008 Server is minimal platform to be kicked with InitiateShutdown.

From MSDN, the minimum supported server is 2008 and the client is Vista (but from previous experience this is not always correct!).

[Igor Vartanov]

Are you guys familiar with RPC binding and mostly RPC authentication? Because that's where the root of this error seems to be in.

How RPC Works
I believe most of the times what you need to know about RPC authentication is that it exists and works properly. Distributed COM builds on top of RPC, and I never had an issue of unreasonable DCOM call failure.

As for RPC binding, it's the same play with stubs like in COM. Client calls are actually processed by server stubs, and the corresponding APIs get called on behalf of the remote caller. Of course, to be called the remote procedure must exist. That's why I asked about remote Windows server version.

[dc_2000]

Thank you, guys. To answer your questions.

I tried it using the following configuration:

Server Client
------- ---------
Windows Server 2008 R2 --- Windows 7 Professional
Windows 7 Professional --- Windows 7 Professional

They may not have the latest updates installed (both ran in a VM) but would that matter for that API?

Also question to you -- if you substitute my server name with a loopback address and run my code on your system, can you repro this error?

[2kaud]

I've tried this and can confirm that from a Windows 7 computer trying to shut down a Windows 10 computer I get the error code 1722.

[dc_2000]

I've tried this and can confirm that from a Windows 7 computer trying to shut down a Windows 10 computer I get the error code 1722.

Thanks.

So what's the next step in trying to make this work? Any suggestions?

[VictorN]

Thanks.

So what's the next step in trying to make this work? Any suggestions?

Well, if you are sure that this cmd code

shutdown /r /m \\192.168.42.105 /t 30

worked then the possible workaround would be just spawn the cmd process with this command line!