What is "Auto Shutdown" extension and how does it work?

This extension observes browser download jobs and when all jobs are completed, a notification window is appeared on the screen with a countdown box. If the window is not being closed by user, an OS level command is executed. By default the extension turns your computer off. However, this command can be modified to fit your needs. In the options page pre-defined commands for following actions are available: 1. ShutDown, 2. Hibernate, 3. Restart (Reboot), 4. Suspend.

Note: You can change one of these commands to do a custom operation when all downloads are finished. For instance you can bring up your media player application and play a song.

Note: For this extension to be able to execute an external command (OS level command), a minimal native client is required. To get the instruction on how to install this native client, click on the toolbar button to activate the extension. Now download an HTML page or a small image. You will get the countdown window. Wait for the timeout. You will get a tab with instruction on how to install the native client

What are the default commands used by this extension?

In the options page of the extension, different commands are defined for shutdown, hibernate, restart, and suspend. Based on your OS the commands are different. Here is the list of commands:

• Windows OS (Windows XP/7/8/10)
  • Shutdown: 'shutdown /s /f /t 0',
  • Restart: 'shutdown /r /f /t 0',
  • Suspend: 'CALL:PowrProf.dll SetSuspendState 0 1 0',
  • Hibernate: 'CALL:PowrProf.dll SetSuspendState 1 1 0',
  • Logout: 'shutdown /l /f'
• Linux
  • Shutdown: 'dbus-send --system --print-reply --dest="org.freedesktop.login1" /org/freedesktop/login1 org.freedesktop.login1.Manager.PowerOff boolean:false',
  • Restart: 'dbus-send --system --print-reply --dest="org.freedesktop.login1" /org/freedesktop/login1 org.freedesktop.login1.Manager.Reboot boolean:false',
  • Suspend: 'dbus-send --system --print-reply --dest="org.freedesktop.login1" /org/freedesktop/login1 org.freedesktop.login1.Manager.Suspend boolean:false',
  • Hibernate: 'dbus-send --system --print-reply --dest="org.freedesktop.login1" /org/freedesktop/login1 org.freedesktop.login1.Manager.Hibernate boolean:false'
• Mac OS
  • Shutdown: 'osascript -e "tell application "System Events" to shut down"',
  • Restart: 'osascript -e "tell application "System Events" to restart"',
  • Suspend: 'osascript -e "tell application "System Events" to sleep"'

What's new in this version?

Please check the Logs section.

Why do I need to give the installer script administrator permission on Windows OS? Is there anyway to install this script without this permission?

Windows: the installer script does two things that need admin permission. It is possible to perform these steps manually to bypass the admin permission. Basically you need to create a registry entry to let your browser know where the actual program is located. So first place the "app" folder somewhere locally and then create the registry entry as describe in here (if you are going to use this app with a single browser just create a single registry entry). If your registry is pointed to the right location for "app", the extension should be able to detect the native client.

Note that the installer script first checks to see if you have NodeJS in your PATH environment variable. If so NodeJS executable is not being copied. So if you are sure NodeJS is present in your system, there is no need to copy this file either.

How can I install the native client?

Instruction on how to install the native client will be displayed once the toolbar button is clicked. If you want to see it in action watch these two short tutorials

Windows: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18jAqTXBiZA

Linux and Mac: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB4Bj_APg4g

When I restart my browser the toolbar button goes back to the disabled state. Why this extension does not persist its state after session restore?

Since this extension turns off your PC by default, I have decided to disable it after a restart to prevent unintentional shutdowns. You can change this behavior in the options page though. Just uncheck the options and it will remeber that last state after a reboot.

Is it possible to open the shutdown panel from a webpage?

In general, it is not possible due to security considerations. However, this extension supports external messaging. For the external messaging to work, the hostname of the page that is supposed to issue the shutdown command needs to be added to the manifest.json file. First, download the extension from the GitHub page and then edit the manifest.json file and add the following key to the root object. Replace the example.com with the hostname that is supposed to send messages.

  "externally_connectable": {
    "matches": [
      "*://www.example.com/*"
    ]
  }

chrome.runtime.sendMessage('extension-local-id', {method: 'shutdown'})