also this may help, the other program i am running is sysprep. If i use the sysprep GUI i have the option of "Quit" as a "Shutdown Mode". But i want to run it via the command line and there isn't a documented switch to "Quit". There is a -noreboot switch, but that just has the machine power off and not come back on, not just close the program and not shutdown/reboot.

Ultimately i would like to run sysprep, then vpartition and reboot the computer. Can this be done all via the command line (in a batch file) without any prompt or GUI's?

For vpartition.exe exe part - yes you can run it without rebooting. Basically building VP and then exiting. Problem with this approach thou is that VP builder tries to lay out VP file such that it is in one contigous block on the disk. If you start doing something else there is a possibility that Windows will move chunks of file around. Chance is not great but it exists. As to the parameters - dont remember on the top of ny head but they are all documented in ghost implementation guide. In addition you can run vpartition.exe with either help or /? and it should show you the syntax. Also you can have a look at manifest.txt file that VP builder is using to build VP itself. It is semi-text readable file that is quite easy to follow as to what VP builder is doing.