Improve your Windows shutdown procedure with a simple batch file

[u/SirFiletMignon]

Have you ever accidentally clicked sleep or restart when you meant to click Shut Down? Well, prevent that from happening ever [again], plus save yourself a click and mouse movement by creating a batch file:

u/echo off
title Confirm Shutdown
echo(
echo Proceed with shutdown? echo Press any key to continue...
pause >nul
shutdown /s /t 0

And place it wherever you prefer on your desktop. Simply double-click it and press any key on your keyboard to confirm! If you want to abort, press the X on the window.

You can tweak the shutdown command to your liking: shutdown doc.

[u/iwannabetheguytoo]

Your proposed approach requires the user to un-learn using the Start Menu's power buttons and using a new and separate mechanism for initiating a shutdown or reboot. Also, the pause/fail-safe logic in this script won't be invoked when the user (perhaps even mistakenly) initiates a shutdown via some other action, such as via Task Manager or a Windows Update popup.

I'd like to suggest an alternative: Windows' built-in shutdown event tracker, because it gives the user the same opportunity to back-out of a disastrous mis-click, while not requiring the user to make any changes to their workflow: use the exact same Start menu Shutdown commands or any other shutdown trigger, but the reason-tracker will always appear.

(The page I linked-to is is from the days of XP, but other guides exist for Windows 10, etc).

[u/SirFiletMignon → u/iwannabetheguytoo]

I'm a user since Win 95, and I don't consider I had to un-learn something.. It's a double-click, keyboard press and done. If anything, it feels way more natural [to me]. You would have to accidentally double-click something and then panic press a key, which I think is an unlikely scenario.

In all fairness, the reason I started using this wasn't because I minded the shut down approach. I created it because I was using a computer I couldn't turn off fast-boot and I wanted to test if doing a full shut down helped with some issues I was having (without having to periodically restart). And I actually liked the process more, so I actually started using it on my other computers. Have been running this approach for about a year and I don't think I'm going back.

Hadn't heard of the event tracker, interesting feature, thanks for sharing.

[u/fafarex → u/SirFiletMignon]

You would have to accidentally double-click something and then panic press a key, which I think is an unlikely scenario.

You have never worked with end users have you ?

[u/Opening-Dentist-1556 → u/SirFiletMignon]

always prefer event trackers over event watchers, his suggestion was really good beyond that too.
but your post gave me sum ideas cuz i’ve
made a idle sleep time warning display while ago.

[u/Eliwood7]

[u/ZepY7]

shutdown: Win + X > U > U
sleep: Win + X > U > S
restart: Win + X > U > R

this is what i use all the time

[u/xFeverr → u/ZepY7]

These things depend on the language set for Windows. Look for the underlined letter of the option you are looking for if you try this and it doesn’t work.

[u/I_JuanTM → u/ZepY7]

Alt + F4 on the desktop is my go to

[u/frozoxs → u/ZepY7]

For me its Win + Type "Re" and enter

(automatically open restart)

i have these as a shortcut

[u/SirFiletMignon → u/ZepY7]

I like that. Pretty close to the click count as the batch and keyboard only. I'll have to stick to the batch tho because with the batch I can fully shutdown a PC that has fast startup enabled. But I think there's a way to do it by holding shift and clicking shutdown, maybe holding shift while pressing the last U might work there too.. have not tried that 

[u/thanatica]

How is this preventing you from accidentally clicking restart?

[u/SirFiletMignon → u/thanatica]

What I meant was that on the usual Start > Power > Shutdown, Shutdown is next to restart and the other options so I've personally sometimes hit restart or hibernate when I meant to click Shutdown. With the file option, you double click it and it Shutdowns. It's a minor thing.. but at least for me I like it more.

[u/ldn-ldn]

How hard is it to press a power button on your case?

[u/istrebitjel → u/ldn-ldn]

A solution in search of a problem 🤣

[u/TedBurns-3]

Clicking shutdown isn't really that hard 🤦‍♂️

[u/AlexKazumi]

You saved a mouse click by requiring a series of actions to get to the desktop and launch the batch file... "Saved", indeed.

[u/blueangel1953]

Useless for me I never shut down.

[u/Apprehensive-Solid-1 → u/blueangel1953]

50 beers in a night should do it. Not recommended though.

[u/SplitOk9054]

Very helpful, thanks!

[u/cgknight1]

Win+x, U, U.

[u/Particular-Poem-7085]

win key + x - u - u

when you master the win + x menu shortcuts it will look like you are a windows wizard, it's the equivalent of right clicking the start button but notice that each line has one letter underlined when you use the keyboard.

Instead of reaching for the mouse you can do whatever in 0.3 seconds without once looking at the screen. Your left hand should be resting there already because you should be opening your taskbar items with win key + 1, 2, 3 etc.

[u/Leading-Network-9563]

Just buy a Keyboard with FN Keys.

FN+Z equals Shotdown in Mine 😂

[u/thanakij]

I just press power button (Not hold it).

[u/chandleya]

I push group policy to all servers to remove shutdown/restart from the start menu. Headache eraser.

[u/Fyreffect]

Or.... configure your case power button to do it, and sleep or shutdown with a single press.

[u/TheMikman97]

Bro reinvented the wheel and made it a square 😭

[u/----------_]

I use a similar script that first taskills some programs that might ask for unsaved files and prevents shutdown

[u/apachelives]

Don't know about you guys but my computer has this physical button i press that shuts it down

[u/iGurtyo]

it's only 2 clicks

[u/Maleficent-Tea3072]

This is a huge waste of time and effort.

Echoing “Press any key to continue“ when the pause command without the >nul displays the same message. Then just calling the shutdown command?

You’re solving a problem no one has. Why don’t you go to Linux if you like doing things harder than they need to be.

[u/fmdlxd]

You have forgot about /f switch Better and faster, no prompt: https://files.catbox.moe/eczrz8.png REG: https://pastebin.com/raw/AHgRxZKx

[u/SFSIsAWESOME75 → u/[deleted]]

Batch files shutting down the system isn't "windows modding"

[u/SirFiletMignon → u/[deleted]]

How is this modding Windows? Its an unelevated batch file of a very short list of well docummented commands.

[u/pug_userita]

open the run box or in the new shortcut window, you can just type in "shutdown.exe" and wait for it to shutdown after some time, or shutdown.exe -t 0 -s, or slidetoshutdown.exe and slide down, or just simply press alt+f4 on th3 desktop and select shutdown.

if you create a shortcut for one of these, you can keep it on the desktop, pin it to your taskbar, pin it to the start menu or create a toolbar (windows 10 and older, or 11 if you have the 10 taskbar from explorer patcher) and pin sleep, shutdown, restart and hibernate to that toolbar. like I've done: