Shutdown and restart are two key functions of the windows operating system. Restarting your computer sometimes required to apply important updates or security patches that only turn off the computer momentarily. But when you shut down your computer it turns off your system completely until it’s turned on again. You can easily shut down or restart windows 11 from power options But sometimes you may notice the computer takes a long time to shut down. A few users mention windows 11 will not shut down completely power light stays on or windows 11 not shut down after update. There are multiple reasons why Windows 11 Won’t Shut Down or take a long time to shut down, incorrect power configuration, pending windows updates, outdated graphics drivers or corrupted system files are common. Here in this article, we have a few effective workarounds apply to fix PC Won’t Turn Off After Clicking “Shut down.
Apps close, the screen goes dark, but my PC keeps running – for hours. The only way I can do a full power off is by depressing the power button for 5 – 10 seconds.
How To Fix Windows 11 PC Won’t Shut Down
If you notice windows 11 won’t shut down after update, this might be because of an outdated driver and it’s advised to update the drivers for this device to the latest version.
Well if you notice windows 11 not shut down completely power light stays on, Turn off the Fast Startup feature helps fix the problem on your computer. Windows system files are corrupted that why the computer takes a long time to shut down windows 11 in such cases you can run SFC and DISM command tools to repair system files and fix the problem.
How to shutdown windows 11
The easy and standard way to shut down windows 11 completely is Press the start menu, locate and click on the power icon then select the shutdown option.
Also, you can press the Alt + F4 key on the keyboard to get the shutdown prompt.
In addition, you can press the Ctrl + Alt + Del keys simultaneously, and a black screen opens locate and click on the power icon on the bottom left corner the select shutdown.
You can open the command prompt as administrator and run command shutdown /s to shutdown windows 11 completely.
Disconnect all external devices and try shutting down your computer, now check it takes a long time to shut down windows 11 or if it’s quicker now.
Turn off the fast startup feature
The fast startup feature was introduced to make speed up starting your computer, but sometimes it has a negative impact when it comes to shutting down the computer. With this feature enabled when you shut down your PC windows puts your computer into a hibernation state instead of a full shutdown. And for most of the users disable the fast startup feature helps them fix windows 11 will not shut down completely, and the fan and power light stays on.
- Press the Windows key + R and type powercfg.cpl then click ok to open power options,
- Click on choose what power buttons do on left then click on Change settings that are currently unavailable“.
- And finally under ‘Shutdown settings‘, uncheck the option “Turn on fast startup (recommended)“. Click save changes
Run power troubleshooter
Incorrect power configuration could be the reason why the computer takes a long time to shut down windows 11. Let’s run the built-in power troubleshooter that automatically detects and fixes general issues related to power and sleep settings.
- Press Windows key + I to open the settings app on windows 11
- Navigate the system then troubleshoot and click on other troubleshooters
- Here scroll down to locate power troubleshooter and click Run next to it,
After identifying the problem, the utility will also fix or recommend a solution.
Update windows 11
There is an update bug or pending windows update that prevents windows 11 shutdown. Let’s check and install the latest windows updates that may have bug fixes for this problem.
- Press the Windows key + X and select settings,
- Navigate windows update and hit the check for updates button,
- If pending updates there, allow them to download and install on your computer,
- In addition, click on advanced options then optional updates and check or install if the optional driver updates there.
look for Driver updates
In addition, you need to check for outdated drivers or reinstall them if the windows 11 PC won’t shut down. You can use the built-in device manager tool to update or reinstall drivers on windows 11. Also, you can visit the device manufacturer’s site to download the latest driver update or you can consider third-party driver update tools to make the process automatic.
- Press Windows key + X and select device manager,
- This will display the list of all installed devices and drivers, look if any of the drivers are listed with a yellow warning mark.
- If found any right click on it select update driver then choose search automatically for drivers and follow on-screen instructions.
In the same way, we recommend to update or reinstalling the essential drivers which include the Graphics driver, Network adapter, and Audio driver.
Installing the latest driver update is important, especially if you want to ensure that there are no conflicts between your operating system and your hardware.
Run system file checker
Corrupted system files are another common reason why computer takes a long time to shut down windows 11. If the above solutions didn’t fix the problem, run the system file checker utility with DISM restore health command that repairs corrupted system files on windows 11.
A corrupted system file might keep your computer from shutting down.
- Press Windows key + S and type cmd, Right click on the command prompt select run as administrator,
- Run command sfc /scannow this will scan all protected system files on your computer
- If the SFC utility is found a problem with system files the utility replaces corrupted files with a cached copy that is located in a compressed folder at %WinDir%\System32\dllcache.
- Let the scanning process complete 100%, once done reboot your computer.
- In addition, if SFC scan results SFC scan result found corrupt files but was unable to fix some you need to run DISM restore health command
- DISM /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
- This will look system images for corruption and repair them online using windows update as source.
- Now again run the sfc /scannow command check if there are no more errors present there.
Turn off Link State Power Management
- Press Windows key + R, type control.exe powercfg.cpl,,3 and click ok to open the power options window,
- Here locate and expand PCI express then Link State Power Management
- Set it off for both on battery and plugged in, now click apply then ok.
Run System Restore
If the above solutions didn’t fix the problem and the still computer takes a long time to shut down windows 11, its time to utilize the system restore feature. If you have system protection feature enabled Windows 11 creates snapshots periodically. And you can perform system restore to revert your PC to the previous working state.
- Press windows key + R, type rstrui.exe and clik ok
- The system restore wizard opens click next to select the restore point from the list,
- You can click on scan for affected programs to check what changes will be made to your system.
Now follow the on-screen instructions to revert your system using the system restore.
Did the above solutions help fix Windows 11 won’t shut down or takes a long time to shut down issues on your computer? Let us know in the comments below.
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