<\/span><\/h3>\nGo to Settings > Windows Update<\/strong>. If an update is waiting, choose “Update and restart” and let it complete. Stuck updates are one of the most common reasons Windows won’t restart.<\/p>\n<\/span>4. Turn off Fast Startup<\/span><\/h3>\nOpen Control Panel > Power Options > Choose what the power buttons do<\/strong>, click “Change settings that are currently unavailable”, and untick Turn on fast startup<\/strong>. This often fixes PCs that restart instead of shutting down, or hang on the shutdown screen.<\/p>\n<\/span>5. Repair system files<\/span><\/h3>\nRun Terminal as administrator and type these two commands, one after the other:<\/p>\n
DISM \/Online \/Cleanup-Image \/RestoreHealth\nsfc \/scannow<\/code><\/pre>\nRestart when they finish.<\/p>\n
<\/span>6. Update drivers<\/span><\/h3>\nInstall the latest drivers from your PC maker or through Windows Update > Advanced options > Optional updates<\/strong>. Graphics and chipset drivers matter most.<\/p>\n<\/span>7. Check startup apps<\/span><\/h3>\nIn Task Manager, open Startup apps<\/strong> and disable programs you do not need. Fewer background apps means fewer things to hang at shutdown.<\/p>\n<\/span>8. Automatically end hung apps (registry)<\/span><\/h3>\nThis tip from the original post still works. Press Win + R, type regedit<\/code>, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Control Panel\\Desktop<\/code>, create a String value named AutoEndTasks<\/code> and set it to 1<\/code>. Windows will then close hung apps automatically at shutdown. Back up the registry before making changes, and remember this can close apps with unsaved work.<\/p>\n<\/span>9. Try a clean boot<\/span><\/h3>\nRun msconfig<\/code>, hide all Microsoft services on the Services tab, disable the rest and restart. If shutdown now works, turn services back on in groups to find the culprit.<\/p>\n<\/span>10. Hold the power button<\/span><\/h3>\nIf nothing else works, hold the power button for about 10 seconds. Use this only as a last resort, because unsaved work is lost and frequent forced shutdowns can damage files.<\/p>\n
<\/span>FAQ<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/span>Why does my PC restart when I click Shut down?<\/span><\/h3>\nThis is usually caused by Fast Startup, a driver problem or the “Automatically restart” option after a system failure. Turn off Fast Startup first.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Is it bad to force shut down a computer?<\/span><\/h3>\nOccasionally it is fine, but regular forced shutdowns can corrupt files and updates.<\/p>\n
<\/span>How long should Windows take to shut down?<\/span><\/h3>\nNormally under a minute. If it regularly takes longer, check updates and background apps.<\/p>\n
Originally written by guest author Aseem Kishore of HelpDeskGeek, a site with help desk tips for IT professionals. Updated for Windows 11 and Windows 10 in 2026 by QuickOnlineTips.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You click Shut down or Restart, and nothing happens. Or the screen says “Shutting down” for ten minutes. If Windows…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":63927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[44],"class_list":["post-4496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-computers","tag-guest-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4496"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65279,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4496\/revisions\/65279"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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