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Windows 10 forced shutdown

Anonymous
2022-10-14T16:40:00+00:00

When using the "Start", "Power", "Shut down" option Windows 10 shuts down.

UNLESS there is an application running that expects a user response.

Too many times I have used the above and left, thinking Windows will shut down. Only to come back in the morning and find out that Windows has NOT shut down because a user application (MS Office, Notepad, Adobe Reader etc.) had an unsaved file and are expecting me to respond to the Save/Don't save prompt.

I tried a batch file with the contect "SHUTDOWN /s /f /t 0".

However, this causes CMD to go into an infinite loop, displaying the line "SHUTDOWN /s /f /t 0" over and over again.

But never shutting down.

When I create a shortcut for it and set it to "Run as administrator" I get the UAC prompt.

Is there a way to force Windows 10 to shutdown? To close all applications, regardless, and shut down?

In other words "Damn the consequences, shut down no matter what" type of shut down?

Without getting the UAC every time?

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Sleep and Power on, off

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-10-17T17:31:46+00:00

    Dave,

    Thank you for the response.

    I tried it today but it did not work.

    I made the changes, both, to the registry. BTW, what does the "500" signify? Seconds? Milliseconds?

    After making the changes I restarted the PC (did NOT shutdown).

    When Windows came back up I opened Notepad, wrote something and left it open.

    Clicked on Start/Power/Shutdown.

    Windows started the shutdown process and told me that Notepad was still open and required attention.

    60 seconds after the above notification Windows went into sleep mode, did NOT shut down. Windows was still running and I was able to go back into Windows.

    When I went back into Windows Notepad was displaying the following message.

    "You cannot shut down or log off Windows because the Save As dialog in Notepad in open. Switch to Notepad, close this dialog box, and then try shutting down or logging off Windows again"

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  2. DaveM121 871.3K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2022-10-14T17:18:57+00:00

    Hi Timos_99,

    I am Dave, I will help you with this.

    This process will ensure your PC shuts down every time, even if there is an application open or unsaved work, but please note, you may loose unsaved work when Windows shuts down.

    Click your Start Button, type regedit and hit Enter to open the Registry Editor

    Click View and make sure 'Address Bar' is turned on

    Paste this into the Address Bar at the top and hit Enter

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control

    Then in the Right Pane double click WaitToKillServiceTimeout and change the value to 500

    Click OK

    Paste this into the Address Bar at the top and hit Enter

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

    Then in the right pane, right click in the blank space and choose New - String Value

    Name the String Value WaitToKillServiceTimeout

    Then double click WaitToKillServiceTimeout

    Set its value to 500

    Save and close the Registry Editor

    Then restart (not shut down) the PC to apply the changes.

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