How to safely power down Windows OS in VM?

[BrennanB]

I've got a Windows 2008 R2 server that has been shutting down for 45 minutes. When I GetState it is shown as ON.

If I do a PowerOff from Vcenter I'm afraid it will orphan.  Any suggestions?

Is the STOP command via SSH safer?

[peetz]

So, Windows is hanging while shutting down, but the VM is still powered in? It's a Windows issue then.

You can safely power it down with the VI client. This is what this function was designed for, and I have never seen a VM becoming orphaned because it was just powered off.

Andreas

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[mittim12]

I agree with the other poster.  I have never seen a VM get orphoned by doing a power off.     Choosing the power off is similar to walking up to a physical server and just pulling the plug.   I wouldn't recommend doing it all the time but I see no problem with doing it on a hung VM.

[AndreTheGiant]

Can you give more info on the Windows VM?

Which kind of services has?

Maybe is the last (or the only) AD DC?

Usually a VM may shutdown in few minutes (and it does not matter if you use the GUI or the CLI or the guest OS to make the shutdown).

But some services can create big delay in this process. In some cases also a big load of the host.

Andre

[bulletprooffool]

Power Off from the VC is no different to 'buttoning' a physical host.

It is not ideal, as you may lose registry changes etc - but if you've been hung for 45 minutes, odds are you have a hung service that is refusing to let go.

Just power it off - there should be no 'orphan' issues.