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My PC with Windows 10 Pro boots up without me touching it. I always use "On/Off"->"Shut down" to shut down my PC in the evening.

Nevertheless, sometimes during the night or the day when I am at work, the computer boots up. I haven't touched it, and there is no other person near it, so there is no apparent reason.

Anything I could do against that? As of now, I have to use the kill switch at the power supply to make sure my PC doesn't power up unexpectedly.

C:\users\alexander>powercfg -wake
Aktivierungsverlaufsanzahl - 1
Aktivierungsverlauf [0]
  Aktivierungsquellenanzahl  - 1
  Aktivierungsquelle [0]
    Typ: Schalter
    Netzschalter
Alexander
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    Related: [Windows 10 Computer Wakes During Night](http://superuser.com/q/963888) – DavidPostill Feb 06 '16 at 13:59
  • What is the output from running `powercfg -lastwake` in a `cmd` shell? – DavidPostill Feb 06 '16 at 14:01
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    You should also look at your scheduled tasks ... – DavidPostill Feb 06 '16 at 14:02
  • @DavidPostill I have looked at the chaos Microsoft calls "Scheduled Tasks", where I can't sort them all by last execution time because they are already sorted into folders - one task per folder. Is there anythign I can do to make the search easier? – Alexander Feb 06 '16 at 20:58
  • No need (yet) to go thru all scheduled tasks. It's most likely to be a task created by one of your programs, which aren't usually in any folder. – Dr.Ping Feb 06 '16 at 21:01
  • Yes, the GUI is not very friendly. However from a `cmd` shell you can run `schtasks /query` and look at the `Next Run Time` column. Does that help? – DavidPostill Feb 06 '16 at 21:02
  • There are quite some tasks that are to be run every night, but the computer does not wake up every night; so I guess it is easier to search for the very task that has been executed last night around midnight - assuming that this task has started my computer. – Alexander Feb 06 '16 at 21:05
  • @Dr.Ping There are only four tasks in the main folder that have been executed after Win 10 has been installed last fall: GoogleUpdateTask...UA, GoogleUpdateTask...Core, Adobe Flash Player Updater and User_Feed_Synchronization. Neither of them has "Reactivate the computer" enabled. Also, there is no Windows task that has "Reactivate the computer" enabled. Am I missing any other possibility? – Alexander Feb 06 '16 at 21:23
  • Forgot the most obvious question. Are these startups random, or at specific times? Monitor for two weeks, and write down every such bootup. If there's a pattern, the prime focus goes for scheduled tasks. If there's no pattern, scheduled tasks are out and you'd look at bad power button or network triggered – Dr.Ping Feb 07 '16 at 08:12
  • Have you disabled Windows update? My PC used to turn on at 3AM and install updates, it was very annoying until I disabled that functionality. – Burgi Apr 24 '16 at 23:16

2 Answers2

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As @DavidPostill said .. "powercfg -lastwake" will tell you what device woke the computer. I have found it is usually a mouse or Network component. You can then go into Device Manager, right-click the offending hardware and under Properties > Power management (Some items don't have it), Clear "Allow this device to wake the computer".

It's also good to go through each device and make sure they also have this disabled, The Keyboard is usually all you need enabled.

You may want to just put the computer to sleep and wake it from the keyboard then check what's reported; as it may be listed as "USB Host controller" not keyboard

Sir_Scofferoff
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This sounds like either someone set up a "Power Up By RTC Alarm" in your computer's BIOS/UEFI or you have got a faulty power button in your case.

I recommend doing the following:

1) Try resetting your BIOS/UEFI to Factory Defaults (or deactivate Power Up by XXX options) and see whether the problems persists.

2) In case the first approach did not fix this issue, try detaching the cable for the power button from your motherboard after you have turned off the machine.

markusju
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  • I don't have any "Power Up by xxx" enabled in UEFI. Windows does not tell me that any driver started up the computer. There is no windows task that may start up my computer. So I guess I'll try detaching the power button and use the reset button instead. I will report back in a week if it worked, possibly earlier if it didn't. – Alexander Feb 07 '16 at 22:55