How to shut down

[Matthew Seaman]

On Wed, Sep 17, 2003 at 08:19:49AM -0500, Charles Howse wrote:
> > I am a new user learning about Unix.
> > 
> > I found the shutdown command and have been using "shutdown 
> > now" to shut down
> > before powering off.
> > 
> > When the pc boots up it complains that it was incorrectly shut down.
> > 
> > Am I following an incorrect procedure?
> 
> 'shutdown now' will take you to single user mode.
> This is not what you want if you're ready to power off.
> Use 'shutdown -h now' and wait for the 'press any key to reboot' prompt
> before you power off.
> To reboot, use 'shutdown -r now'.

If you do forget the flags to shutdown, and end up in single user
mode, then you can just type 'halt' to take the machine all the way
down to a state where you can hit the power button. 'halt -p' will
attempt to power down the machine as well, but that depends on what
sort of motherboard you have and whether you've compiled appropriate
support into your kernel.

The error you see is due to the filesystems not being correctly
dismounted.  Since you're taking the system down to single user mode
before pulling the power, you've vastly reduced the probability of
filesystem damage, but still, better safe than sorry.

	Cheers,

	Matthew


-- 
Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil.                       26 The Paddocks
                                                      Savill Way
PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey         Marlow
Tel: +44 1628 476614                                  Bucks., SL7 1TH UK
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