Have you ever been working on an issue, rebooted the computer, and forgot to remote back in to finish the problem? Wouldn’t it be nice if your computer just magically reminded you?

But why stop at a little reminder, why not have your computer automatically launch a remote session to that computer! PowerShell can do all of this and when embedded in Active Directory Users and Computers, you get instant access to it. Don’t let the length of this script discourage you; setting this process up won’t take more than 10 minutes!

The Restart Monitor and Automatic Remote In Script

First, I want to thank Sitaram Pamarthi for most of this script. You can find his original script here. If you are looking to populate your PowerShell Script store, his blog would make a good resource. Go ahead and copy the script below. Save it to a network location. I will meet up with you in 100 lines!

Param (                        
 [Parameter(ValueFromPipeline=$False,Mandatory=$False)]            
 [int]$timeout=5            
)            

$MAX_PINGTIME = $timeout * 600            
$max_iterations = $MAX_PINGTIME/5            
$Notification_timeout = 10 # in seconds            

function Show-notification {            

param($type,$text,$title)            

#load Windows Forms and drawing assemblies. Thanks to George for catching this.
[Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName(“System.Windows.Forms”) | Out-Null
[Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName(“System.Drawing”) | Out-Null            

#define an icon image pulled from PowerShell.exe            
$icon=[system.drawing.icon]::ExtractAssociatedIcon((join-path $pshome powershell.exe))            
$notify = new-object system.windows.forms.notifyicon            
$notify.icon = $icon            
$notify.visible = $True            
#define the tool tip icon based on the message type            
switch ($messagetype) {            
 "Error" { $messageIcon=[system.windows.forms.tooltipicon]::Error}            
 "Info" {$messageIcon=[system.windows.forms.tooltipicon]::Info}            
 "Warning" {$messageIcon=[system.windows.forms.tooltipicon]::Warning}            
 Default {$messageIcon=[system.windows.forms.tooltipicon]::None}            
}            

#display the balloon tipe            
$notify.showballoontip($Notification_timeout,$title,$text,$type)            
}            

function ping-host {            
param($pc)            
$status = Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_PingStatus -Filter "Address='$pc'"            
if( $status.statuscode -eq 0) {            
   return 1            
} else {            
 return 0            
}            
}

Function Remote-host
{
while ((Test-Connection -Quiet -ComputerName $Computer) -eq $False) {Test-Connection -Quiet -ComputerName $Computer}

if ((Test-Connection -Quiet -ComputerName $Computer) -eq $True) {
& 'C:\Program Files (x86)\NetSupport\NetSupport Manager\PCICTLUI.EXE' /C"$Computer" /vw /e
}
} 

$Computer = Read-Host "What is the Computer Name?"           

if(ping-host -pc $computer) {            
 Write-Host "$computer is online; Waiting for it to go offline"
 Restart-Computer -ComputerName $computer -Force    
 $status = "online"            
 for ($i=0; $i -le $max_iterations; $i++) {            
  if (!(ping-host -pc $computer )) {            
   break            
  }            
  Start-Sleep -Seconds 5            
  if($i -eq $max_iterations) {            
   Write-Host "$computer never went down in last $timeout minutes"            
   Write-Host "Check that reboot is initiated properly"            
   show-notification -type "error" -text "$computer is still ONLINE; Check that reboot is initiated properly" -title "Computer is not rebooting"            
   exit            
  }            
    }            

    Write-Host "$computer is offline now; monitoring for online status"            

} else {            
    Write-Host "$computer is offline; Monitoring for online status"            
    $status = "offline"            
}            

for ($i=0; $i -le $max_iterations; $i++) {            
 if ((ping-host -pc $computer )) {            
  break            
 }            

 Start-Sleep -Seconds 5            
 if($i -eq $max_iterations) {            
  Write-Host "Your computer never came back online in last $MAX_PINGTIME seconds"            
  Write-Host "Check that nothing is preventing starup"            
  show-notification -type "error" -text "$Computer is NOT coming online; Something is preventing its startup" -title "Computer failed to start"            
  exit            
 }            
}            

Write-Host "Your computer is Online Now; Task done; exiting"            
show-notification -type "info" -text "$Computer is online" -title "$Computer successfully restarted"
Remote-host

Choose Your Remote Tool

So you made it, great! To enable automatic connections to a client, you will need a remote tool that supports command line options. In our environment, we use a product called NetSupport which works pretty well for this. You should also be able to use Remote Assistance, Remote Desktop, or Concurrent Remote Desktop.

In your saved script, search for this line: & ‘C:\Program Files (x86)\NetSupport\NetSupport Manager\PCICTLUI.EXE’ /C”$Computer” /vw /e  . Replace the program path (‘C:\….\PCICTLUI.EXE’) with your remote support tool. After the last ‘ mark, add in any silent connection options that you need. Be sure to specify $Computer as the client name/connection name.

If you are using Remote Desktop or Remote Assistance, you can use the commands below:

• Remote Desktop: mstsc /V:$Computer
• Remote Assistance: msra.exe /offerra $Computer

Adding the Script to Active Directory

The easiest way to access this script is to embed it within your Active Directory Users and Computers MMC. We’ve covered adding scripts to your ADUC MMC a few times. If you have a custom ADUC MMC, create a new task in your Taskpad. If you aren’t using a custom ADUC MMC yet, here are the short steps to creating one.

1. Launch a new blank MMC (start – run – mmc.exe). Select File – Add/Remove Snap-ins. Load the Active Directory Users and Computers Snapin.
2. Expand ADUC until you are looking at an OU. At the top of the MMC, select Action and then New Taskpad View.
3. Continue through the wizard until it ends. Save your MMC to a network location and create Start Menu/Screen shortcuts to it. Here is a detailed article covering this process.

You should now be at the New Task Wizard. Press Next and select Shell Command. Below is the information that you will need for this task. Be sure to include all quote marks.

Command: c:\windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe

Parameters: -command “”&” ‘”\\SERVER\SHARE\restart-monitor.ps1′””

Continue through the wizard by naming your task and selecting an icon. When you want to reboot a machine and automatically reconnect to it, select your new task and type in your computer name. The computer will reboot and your remote control agent will launch when the machine is active again!