You may occasionally find that when you need to reboot a Windows server, you'll encounter some difficulty.
What if remote desktop services are no longer responding, what options remain in order to carry out the reboot of the server?
When you are unable to get to the "Start" Menu, some of the alternative options to carry out a server reboot are described below.

1. Attempt to use the shutdown.exe command.

If you are able to access another host on the same subnet as the unresponsive server you are trying to reboot, this command will send a remote (or local) shutdown command to that host.
From the command prompt use "shutdown /r -m servername /f /t 10"
Where /r = shutdown and restart; -m servername is the remote computer to shutdown/reboot; /f forces applications to close withour warning and /t 10 is the timeout for shutdwon in seconds.
The PowerShell equivalent of this command can also be used:
Start-Sleep 10
Restart-Computer -Force -ComputerName SERVERNAME
Note 1: This is the preferred way to reboot a Windows host, to ensure the reboot cycle completes successfully. https://wiki.opsource.net/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=31035392
Note 2: Running 'shutdown /I' from the command line will present you with the "Remote Shutdown Dialog" Window.

2. Use the builtin hardware management device (VM's excluded).

For an HP Server, use the ILO. For a Dell server, use the DRAC and for the Verari Servers (LHR) use the IPMI. Each of these management tools will have a virtual power button and remote screen console tool to show the system's state regardless of the state of the operating system.

3. For VM's only - Use the VMWare Virtual Centre.

If the system in question is a virtual machine, the VMWare Virtual Centre can be used to establsih a "Console" session to the host. Also included is the option to power off the server, use the option to Shut Down The Guest Operating System instead of Power Off; this will make the call to VMware Tools to make it a clean shutdown. If that fails, the Power Off button will be the next logical step.

4. Connect to the server using computer management from another server/workstation.

From another host on the same subnet, right click on My Computer and go to 'Manage'.  When the computer management console comes up, right-click on the top of the hierarchy, which says "Computer Management (Local)", and choose 'Connect to another computer...'.  Type in the name of the server you are trying to reboot. You should then be able to right-click on Computer Management and go to properties.  From within this dialog box, you can reboot the server.

5. Use iisreset.

A less unknown, but workable option, however this will obviously only work if the destination server has IIS installed.
command: iisreset [computerName] /reboot

6. Additional 3rd Party alternatives.

Although not in use in Opsource some 3rd Party alternatives can be used. Can be installed if a server is known to be problematic with remote reboots.
Sysinternal's Psexec utility