Shut Down Computer in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Help Forums (2025)


How to Shut Down the Computer in Windows 10

If you don't plan to use your PC for a while, then you could shut down (turn off) the PC. A shutdown will close all apps, sign out all users, and completely turn off the PC. Hybrid shutdown performs a shutdown of the computer and prepares it for fast startup.

Starting with the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update:

Old behavior:
- When you shut down your PC, all apps are closed
- After reboot/restart, you have to re-open any app you'd like to use

New behavior:
- When shutting down your PC, any open apps are "bookmarked" (for lack of a better word)
- After reboot/restart, these apps will re-open automatically

Workaround:
- Shut down all apps before you shut down or restart the PC.
OR
- Shut down from Alt+F4 Shut Down Windows dialog.
OR
- Add Shut down Context Menu in Windows 10 Customization Tutorials

Source: Programs autostart after boot in Windows 10 Insider Preview 16257 - Microsoft Community
Shut Down Computer in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Help Forums (1)

UPDATE: Starting with Windows 10 build 17040:

Based on your feedback, the feature to restore applications that have registered for application restart after you reboot or shutdown (through power options available on the Start Menu and various other locations) has been set to only occur for users that have enabled “Use my sign-in info to automatically finish setting my device after an update or restart” in the Privacy section under Sign-in Options Settings.

This tutorial will show you different ways on how to do a hybrid shutdown (fast startup) or full shutdown of your Windows 10 PC.

Contents


  • Option One: To Shut down Computer from Start Menu
  • Option Two: To Shut down Computer from Win+X Power User Tasks Menu
  • Option Three: To Shut down Computer from Alt+F4 Shut Down Windows Dialog
  • Option Four: To Shut down Computer from Ctrl+Alt+Del Screen
  • Option Five: To Shut down Computer from Sign-in Screen
  • Option Six: To Shut down Computer from Power Buttons and Lid
  • Option Seven: Slide to Shut down your PC
  • Option Eight: To Shut down Computer from Command Prompt
  • Option Nine: To Shut down Computer from PowerShell

OPTION ONE

To Shut down Computer from Start Menu


If you have fast startup turned on, then this option will perform a hybrid shutdown instead of a full shutdown.

If you do, then you can press and hold the Shift key, click/tap on Shut down, and release the Shift key to perform a full shutdown.


1 Open the Start menu , click/tap on the Power button Shut Down Computer in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Help Forums (2), and click/tap on Shut down. (see screenshots below)


OPTION TWO

To Shut down Computer from Win+X Power User Tasks Menu


If you have fast startup turned on, then this option will perform a hybrid shutdown instead of a full shutdown.

If you do, then you can press and hold the Shift key, click/tap on Shut down, and release the Shift key to perform a full shutdown.


1 Open the Win+X Power User Tasks Menu, click/tap on Shut down or sign out, and click/tap on Shut down. (see screenshot below)

OR

2 Press the Win + X keys, press U, and press U again.

Shut Down Computer in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Help Forums (5)

OPTION THREE

To Shut down Computer from Alt+F4 Shut Down Windows Dialog


If you have fast startup turned on, then this option will perform a hybrid shutdown instead of a full shutdown.

If you do, then you can press and hold the Shift key, click/tap on Shut down, and release the Shift key to perform a full shutdown.


1 Click/tap on your desktop to make it the current focused (active) window, and press the Alt + F4 keys.

2 Select Shut down in the drop down menu, and click/tap on OK or press Enter. (see screenshots below)

OPTION FOUR

To Shut down Computer from Ctrl+Alt+Del Screen


If you have fast startup turned on, then this option will perform a hybrid shutdown instead of a full shutdown.

If you do, then you can press and hold the Shift key, click/tap on Shut down, and release the Shift key to perform a full shutdown.


1 Press the Ctrl + Alt + Del keys, click/tap on the Shut Down Computer in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Help Forums (7) Power button, and click/tap on Shut down. (see screenshot below)

OPTION FIVE

To Shut down Computer from Sign-in Screen


If you have fast startup turned on, then this option will perform a hybrid shutdown instead of a full shutdown.

If you do, then you can press and hold the Shift key, click/tap on Shut down, and release the Shift key to perform a full shutdown.


1 While on the sign-in screen, click/tap on the Power button Shut Down Computer in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Help Forums (9), and click/tap on Shut down. (see screenshot below)

OPTION SIX

To Shut down Computer using Power Buttons and Lid


This option is to specify what your computer does when you close the lid and/or press the power button.

If you press the power button once, it'll perform the action set in this option.

If you press and hold the power button until the PC turns off, it performs a hard shutdown. A hard shutdown should be used as a last resort since it doesn't give the system time to tell running apps to close first.


1 Open your Power Options.

2 Expand open Power buttons and lid, specify what action (ex: Shut down) you want for Lid close action (ex: for laptops), Power button action, and Sleep button action, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)


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OPTION SEVEN

Slide to Shut down your PC


If you like, you can create a slide to shut down shortcut to use where you like.


1 Press the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog, type SlideToShutDown.exe into Run, and click/tap on OK.

2 Do the action below you want to use. (see screenshot below)

  • Slide the slide to shut down screen to the bottom of the touch screen to shut down your PC.
  • Click and hold with mouse or touchpad and drag the slide to shut down screen to the bottom of the display and release to shut down your PC.
  • Press Enter while on the slide to shut down screen to shut down your PC.
  • Click/tap on the slide to shut down screen to cancel


OPTION EIGHT

To Shut down Computer from Command Prompt


1 Open a command prompt, type the command below you want to use, and press Enter.

shutdown /p

Performs a full shutdown by turning off the local computer with no time-out or warning. Shutdown will stop if there are any unsaved jobs, and will then prompt if you want to save on the desktop.

OR

shutdown /p /f

Forces running apps to close, and turns off the local computer with no time-out or warning.

OR

shutdown /s

Performs a full shutdown of the computer.

OR

shutdown /sg

Performs a full shutdown of the computer. On the next boot, restart any registered applications.

OR

shutdown /s /f /t 0

Immediately force running apps to close, and then performs a full shutdown of the computer.

OR

shutdown /s /t xxx

Performs a full shutdown of the computer after a timeout period you specified in seconds. Substitute xxx in the command above with between 0-315360000 seconds you want for the timeout period. If the timeout period is greater than 0, the /f (force) parameter is implied.

OR

shutdown /s /c "Your comment here"

Displays a warning with your comment, and performs a full shutdown of the computer. Substitute Your comment here in the command above with the comment you want up to 512 characters.
Shut Down Computer in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Help Forums (13)

OR

shutdown /s /t xxx /c "Your comment here"

Displays a warning notice with your comment, and performs a full shutdown of the computer after a timeout period you specified in seconds.

Substitute Your comment here in the command above with the comment you want up to 512 characters.

Substitute xxx in the command above with between 0-315360000 seconds you want for the timeout period. If the timeout period is greater than 0, the /f (force) parameter is implied.
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OR

shutdown /s /hybrid

Performs a hybrid shutdown of the computer.

OR

shutdown /s /hybrid /f /t 0

Immediately force running applications to close, and then performs a shutdown of the computer and prepares it for fast startup.

OR

shutdown /s /hybrid /t xxx

Performs a shutdown of the computer and prepares it for fast startup after a timeout period you specified in seconds. Substitute xxx in the command above with between 0-315360000 seconds you want for the timeout period. If the timeout period is greater than 0, the /f (force) parameter is implied.

OR

shutdown /s /hybrid /c "Your comment here"

Displays a warning with your comment, and performs shutdown of the computer and prepares it for fast startup. Substitute Your comment here in the command above with the comment you want up to 512 characters.
Shut Down Computer in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Help Forums (15)

OR

shutdown /s /hybrid /t xxx /c "Your comment here"

Displays a warning notice with your comment, and performs a hybrid shutdown of the computer after a timeout period you specified in seconds.

Substitute Your comment here in the command above with the comment you want up to 512 characters.

Substitute xxx in the command above with between 0-315360000 seconds you want for the timeout period. If the timeout period is greater than 0, the /f (force) parameter is implied.
Shut Down Computer in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Help Forums (16)

OPTION NINE

To Shut down Computer from PowerShell


To see all Stop-Computer options in Windows PowerShell 5.0, see: Stop-Computer


1 Open Windows PowerShell, type the command below you want to use, and press Enter.

stop-computer

Performs a full shutdown of the computer.

OR

stop-computer -force

Forces running apps to close, and then performs a full shutdown of the computer.

OR

stop-computer -confirm

Prompts you to confirm before performing a full shutdown of the computer.

OR

stop-computer -force -confirm

Prompts you to confirm before forces running apps to close, and then performs a full shutdown of the computer.

That's it,
Shawn Brink

Related Tutorials


  • How to Add Shut down Context Menu in Windows 10
  • How to Create a 'Slide to Shut down' Shortcut in Windows 10
  • How to Hibernate the Computer in Windows 10
  • How to Lock the Computer in Windows 10
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  • How to Read Shutdown Event Logs in Windows
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  • How to Play Sound at Shutdown in Windows 10
  • How to Enable or Disable Startup Delay of Startup Apps in Windows 10
  • How to Turn On or Off AutoEndTasks at Restart, Shut down, or Sign out of Windows 10
  • How to Change HungAppTimeout Value in Windows 10
  • How to Enable or Disable Shut Down, Restart, Sleep, and Hibernate in Power Menu in Windows 10
  • How to Add or Remove 'Enable forced button/lid shutdown' from Power Options in Windows
  • How to Add or Remove Power Menu Icon on Sign-in Screen in Windows 10
  • How to Allow or Prevent Users and Groups to Shut down System in Windows 10
  • How to Change Default Action of Shut Down Windows Dialog in Windows 10
  • How to Automatically Shut Down Computer at Scheduled Time in Windows 10


Shut Down Computer in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Help Forums (2025)

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