How to allow Windows Shutdown my WPF application?

Question

How to allow Windows Shutdown my WPF application?

13514180 0

Greetings, Is there a property within WPF applications that will allow Windows to force shutdown the application when trying to do a Windows Shutdown or a restart? When my applicaiton is running and users attempt to restart their PCs they get a message from Windows saying "this app is preventing Windows shutdown". Any suggestions to avoid this?

Viorel 122.5K Reputation points

2023-04-18T08:49:17.2966667+00:00

Probably it displays a message, such as “Save changes?”, which prevents shutdown. Is it acceptable to lose the work in this case?
13514180 0 Reputation points

2023-04-19T08:05:43.45+00:00

No messages are shown to save changes and it is fine to lose all changes. However, it only makes https calls using HttpClient
Hui Liu-MSFT 48,676 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2023-04-20T07:06:26.6266667+00:00

Hi, @13514180. Welcome Microsoft Q&A.

it only makes https calls using HttpClient

Could you provide me with more descriptions and relevant codes for analysis?

13514180 0

 Using handler As New HttpClientHandler
                handler.PreAuthenticate = True
                handler.UseDefaultCredentials = True

                Using client As HttpClient = New HttpClient(handler)

                    Using response As HttpResponseMessage = Await client.GetAsync(serverURL)
                        Using content As HttpContent = response.Content
                            ' Get contents of page as a String.
                            Dim result As String = Await content.ReadAsStringAsync()



                            Me.Dispatcher.Invoke(Sub()
                                           'Execute Another code. based on the call result

                                                 End Sub)

                        End Using
                    End Using
                End Using

Hui Liu-MSFT 48,676 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2023-04-21T09:24:25.1466667+00:00

Hi,@13514180. Thanks for your reply. Generally speaking, this code has no effect on the current problem. You could check my answer to see if it is helpful.
Viorel 122.5K Reputation points

2023-04-21T10:09:35.76+00:00

Did you check if the program can be always closed manually using standard methods, such as pressing <Alt+F4> or clicking the native Close button, with no long delays?

2 answers

Your answer

Viorel 122.5K Reputation points

2023-04-18T08:49:17.2966667+00:00

Probably it displays a message, such as “Save changes?”, which prevents shutdown. Is it acceptable to lose the work in this case?
13514180 0 Reputation points

2023-04-19T08:05:43.45+00:00

No messages are shown to save changes and it is fine to lose all changes. However, it only makes https calls using HttpClient
Hui Liu-MSFT 48,676 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2023-04-20T07:06:26.6266667+00:00

Hi, @13514180. Welcome Microsoft Q&A.

it only makes https calls using HttpClient

Could you provide me with more descriptions and relevant codes for analysis?
13514180 0 Reputation points

2023-04-20T07:22:35.39+00:00

Using handler As New HttpClientHandler handler.PreAuthenticate = True handler.UseDefaultCredentials = True Using client As HttpClient = New HttpClient(handler) Using response As HttpResponseMessage = Await client.GetAsync(serverURL) Using content As HttpContent = response.Content ' Get contents of page as a String. Dim result As String = Await content.ReadAsStringAsync() Me.Dispatcher.Invoke(Sub() 'Execute Another code. based on the call result End Sub) End Using End Using End Using
Hui Liu-MSFT 48,676 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2023-04-21T09:24:25.1466667+00:00

Hi,@13514180. Thanks for your reply. Generally speaking, this code has no effect on the current problem. You could check my answer to see if it is helpful.
Viorel 122.5K Reputation points

2023-04-21T10:09:35.76+00:00

Did you check if the program can be always closed manually using standard methods, such as pressing <Alt+F4> or clicking the native Close button, with no long delays?

Answer 1

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Answer 2

Hui Liu-MSFT 48,676 Microsoft External Staff

Hi, @13514180. Welcome Microsoft Q&A. You could use the SessionEnding event to detect when Windows is shutting down and handle it accordingly in your WPF application.

You can also use the Application.SessionEnding event to handle this event in your WPF application.

To prevent the “This app is preventing shutdown” message from appearing when users attempt to restart their PCs, you could modify the Registry by following these steps: 1 . Press Windows key + R to open up a Run dialog box. 2 . Type “regedit” and press Enter to open up Registry Editor. User's image

3 . Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop. User's image

4 . Locate the “AutoEndTasks” value on the right-hand side of the window and double-click it. User's image

5 . Change its value data from 0 to 1 and click OK to save changes. User's image

6 . Close Registry Editor and restart your computer to save the changes. This will ensure all software will close automatically as soon as you click the Shutdown button – even if they contain unsaved data.

If the response is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and upvote it. Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

13514180 0 Reputation points

2023-05-02T07:40:48.7+00:00

Thanks for your answer which works with side effects as this will affect all open applications and the users work might be lost. I'm looking for a way to apply to my application, like the one you mentioned that I need to listen to the shutdown event. How could I do that within my WPF application?

Note that after commenting the HttpClient code the PC restarts fine.
Hui Liu-MSFT 48,676 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2023-05-02T09:50:45.96+00:00
Hi, @13514180. In WPF, you could detect when a user is ending their Windows session by handling the Application.SessionEnding event. This occurs when the user is logging out of Windows or shutting down the machine.

In your event handler, you have the ability to cancel the termination of the Windows session by setting SessionEndingCancelEventArgs.Cancel to true.

private void Application_SessionEnding(object sender, SessionEndingCancelEventArgs e) { MessageBoxResult res = MessageBox.Show("Exiting Windows will terminate this app. Are you sure?", "End Session", MessageBoxButton.YesNo); if (res == MessageBoxResult.No) { e.Cancel = true; } }

Note that this event fires when Windows is exiting, but not when the application is closed in the normal manner.

You can click on the text Application.SessionEnding to see more details.

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How to allow Windows Shutdown my WPF application?

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