I know I can get logs of shutdowns from the eventlog when the shutdown is proper and initiated by the user or due to software upgrades. But how do I determine if the last shutdown was due power failure, over heating etc?
2 Answers
In the System
event log, look for EventID 41 Kernel-Power. It's description is:
The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.
That sounds like what you're looking for, correct?
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1Also if the system was shut down cleanly there will allways be 3 events "Event Log" in a row. One stopping one stopped and one starting.– ZaptoAug 9, 2012 at 14:25
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Is there any way to know when the last shutdown happened due to the reasons mentioned in my question?– unlimitAug 9, 2012 at 19:07
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You can have a scheduled task with that event as a trigger and have it send an email or do whatever else you want.– MDMarraAug 9, 2012 at 19:35
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I was thinking of creating a service and maybe do a "touch" on a file every n minutes and then compare its last modified date with the event timestamp to figure this out. Do you think this will be efficient or do you have any better way?– unlimitAug 9, 2012 at 23:31
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You can create a custom event viewer view of the System log and restrict the source to
Source: Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power
These should notify you about power-loss and subsequent power-restored events.