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Windows 10 does not always shutdown because "an app is preventing you from shutting down". Is there a setting to force shutdown regardless of "potential save loss"? I don't care if I lose work. This has become a problem for me because sometimes I stand up and walk away, and I come back 3 hours later and my computer is still on...

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Kellen Stuart
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  • Please understand that for a decade, Windows had a reputation for hanging on shutdown. This dialog is designed to prevent those hangs from happening, by having the user fix the underlying issue. – Frank Thomas Feb 25 '21 at 23:18

2 Answers2

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Create a shortcut, for example on your Desktop, to the command

shutdown /t 30 /s

and name it something description such as "Shutdown in 30 seconds".

As you'd expect, double-click the shortcut to run it. Your machine will shutdown after 30 seconds. Head to START and type shutdown /a if you didn't intend to do that!

Another useful shortcut is for a restart,

shutdown /t 30 /r

You can adjust the timeout up or down from 30 seconds as you like. (It must be non-zero; I tend to use 10 seconds as my "do it now" value.)

roaima
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  • If a file is open as the post said , your shortcuts will not prevent the message . Files have to be saved first – John Feb 26 '21 at 00:15
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    Works for me. on Windows 10, 20H2. Going the GUI route triggers the warning page with the inevitable abandonment of shutdown. Going the CLI route gets what I want. My test rig was a clean start of Word, editing a document (without autosave), and then triggering shutdown – roaima Feb 26 '21 at 00:19
  • I should have been clearer. Forcing a shutdown will lose the contents of open files. That does not seem at all useful to me. – John Feb 26 '21 at 00:23
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    I have good reasons for using this. I would imagine the OP does, too – roaima Feb 26 '21 at 00:34
  • @roaima I've been messing with PowerShells `Stop-Computer` and there's a `-Force` parameter – Kellen Stuart Feb 26 '21 at 01:30
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Click on Cancel, and then close both apps. If the files in the apps have been saved, it will not prevent shutdown. Just be sure files are saved.

I see this and how I describe is how I handle this.

You do have to deal with the issue as it will wait for a response.

So when you shut down, watch for this and deal with it. Better to save files frequently.

John
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    I meant that I want this to be turned off completely (e.g. completely bypass the dialog). I know how to get past the check, I'm not that stupid. – Kellen Stuart Feb 25 '21 at 22:25
  • I understand, but you need to save files. Otherwise you need to handle the message. – John Feb 25 '21 at 22:26
  • In other words, there's no way to force shutdown? What about PowerShell's `Stop-Computer`? – Kellen Stuart Feb 25 '21 at 22:27
  • Any shutdown (short of a script to save and close) will result in this message if files have not been saved. – John Feb 25 '21 at 22:29
  • You cannot disable the dialog itself but you can address the reason it happens. In the case of the example on the screenshot you have to close those two programs – Ramhound Feb 25 '21 at 22:44
  • @Kolob Canyon - Please do not forget that you will be very unhappy if you succeed in forcing shutdown and losing your work. Be sure to save your work. – John Feb 25 '21 at 22:50