running a shutdown script before Windows 7 OS shutdown

Group Policy way:

http://techsupt.winbatch.com/ts/T000001048F90.html

A

Anything else, ideally built into Windows? Group policy way does not work as it runs script AFTER shutting down apps.

Windows has a time set to saving settings and exit upon shutdown you could modify the registry to tell windows to wait a few secs longer till programs have shut down fully before shutting down that way allowing your (HomeSeer) to cleanup first?
This will show you how to set the Wait to Kill time Windows 7 waits for programs to save data and close before shutting down
Look to option two > Manually set

Thanks for the suggestion but it doesn't work. I think the "wait to kill" time is if the program does not respond to whatever the app shutdown command is. In this case the app responds within half a second and simply shuts down hard (closes window without cleaning up first). It wasn't properly written IMO. what I need to is 1) run a VB script that makes an API call to a HomeSeer function called shutdown and 2) delay having the "shutdown" command sent to the app while the script runs (~15-20 secs). The VB script is what I run when I'm the one that initiates the shutdown. I preceded it by the "shutdown -r /t 30" command, which buys me the 30 sec delay I want before the shutdown command is actually sent to any apps.

Since this is designed to automate things in your home why are you turning the system off?
From what I sourced you run this on several mobile devices as well,
Home Control with Smart Phones & Tablets
Home Automation app  (HomeSeer)
http://www.homeseer.com/products/Android-iPhone-Home-Automation.htm

Please explain>that does not clean up when Windows tells it to shutdown, in my humble opinion it should never be shutdown.
Could you provide model and make?
And what service this device performs so I can better understand it's source.
HomeSeer Control System Manuals & Guides
http://homeseer.com/support/manuals_guides.htm

Am running the HomeSeer 2 software (http://store.homeseer.com/store/HomeSeer-HS2-Home-Automation-Software-Download-P103C5.aspx) in a Windows 7 32 bit virtual machine on a VMWare ESXi 5.0 server. I'm not personally connecting to it via mobile devices but yes, it's possible.

The VM is generally on all the time but I do have to reboot it once in a while for various reasons. Doing it manually or via a HomeSeer event is not a problem though; I have my VB script for that. The two scenarios I am trying to get working are 1) when the UPS kicks in because of a power outage it runs a script that tells my ESXi host to shutdown, which then sends "shutdown guest" message to all my running VM's. The second one is when I'm telling the ESXi host to restart for whatever reason. I don't want to have to go to that VM to shut it down before telling my host to shutdown. While these scenarios don't happen often they do happen and I'd like to deal with them if I can.

Thankyou so much that clarifies a lot more, hopefully the experts in VB will now know what to offer you, I on the other hand don't have the knowledge on scripting in this area
what I can offer
is sourced for your consideration,
 first one is from EE may not be relevant to your situation however
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/23866933/How-to-schedule-shutdown-of-ESXi-from-Virtual-Machine.html

How to automatically shut down VMware ESXi gracefully during power failure using an APC UPS.

How to automatically start and shut down VirtualBox machines?

Just to clarify, I'm not having any problem with VMWare - it does everything it's supposed to do as expected when it's being told to shutdown, either by me or the UPS.

What is recommend is have a batch file call the program then in the last line is the command to clean up the database.and put a shortcut on the desktop for the customer to run the program with.

Example to batch file

@echo off
call "" "C:\Program Files (x86)\program where it is\program.exe"
call "" "C:\Program Files (x86)\program where it is\program.exe" /clean up database

Select allOpen in new window

if you need a window type batch file then i recommend something like this:

http://www.winautomation.com/index.html
http://www.tethyssolutions.com/
http://www.autoitscript.com/site/autoit/ 
http://www.advanced-mouse-auto-clicker.com/

CT

I already have a batch file, which I use when I am manually shutting down or restarting the VM. What I need is to intercept or pre-empt the Windows shutdown messages that may be coming from other (automated) sources, such as my VM host telling all VM's to shut down.

It looks like the only available solution for this may be the first one provided - from Ackles - but it's more involved that I want. I'll give this a few more days but I think the points will have to go to Ackles on the basis that it looks like it would work (although I didn't test it)

Johnny,
Why don't you give it a shot?
Maybe you will save yourself lot of hassle & if there is something which is not appropriate we all can assist you in reaching what you want.

I prefer the way of GP because you have more control & you it's more granular.

All the best,
A

didn't try this but it appears to be the only way to intercept a windows shutdown and be able to call a batch file programmatically BEFORE windows sends the shutdown command to my app. The alternatives tell my app to shutdown first then runs the batch file.