I have seen an issue where a Force Restart does not happen if the server has a locked console. I tested this by sending a “Server Restart” in the following situations:
Logged on to console of a server with the console open/unlocked - The restart was successful.
Logged on to console with console locked - The restart was unsuccessfull. I had to unlock the console and click on the restart button.
Not logged on to console - The restart was successful.
I am using BigFix v5.1.9.4 on both server and client.
The BES Agent has a setting that should help you here. The behavior of the agent restart command is:
Do a “polite” restart request to the OS to allow users one last chance to save their work.
Wait 60 seconds, then do a “force” restart request.
Every 60 seconds do another “force” restart request
The problem is that if there are users remotely logged into the computer (like with a remote desktop connection), the OS puts a dialog up to ask the user to save work… The agent will be completely ignored by the operating system until that message box is closed. I believe this is the situation you are describing.
The BES Agent has a setting “_BESClient_ActionManager_SkipVoluntaryOnForceShutdown” and if the value is set to “1”, it skips the polite request (#1 above), which never triggers that message box.