FIX: Windows 10 Restarts Instead of Shutting Down

Countless Windows 10 users have complained about their computers experiencing shutdown problems immediately after they have been upgraded to Windows 10. The most common among these shutdown issues is the computer restarting instead of shutting down whenever the user attempts to shut it down.

In such cases, your computer will restart 5-10 seconds after it powers down. This happens irrespective of whether you turn it off by clicking on the ‘Shut down’ button or by ordering the shutdown through a command prompt. Additionally, if you put your computer to sleep by clicking on the ‘Sleep’ button, it will also wake up after 5-10 seconds. Even if your computer goes into sleep mode due to inactivity, the screen will illuminate again within a few minutes. The only viable solution for Windows 10 users facing this problem is to disconnect their computers from the power supply. Alternatively, laptop users can remove their batteries, while desktop users can hold down their power buttons for 3-10 seconds.

The cause of this issue has now been revealed as the fast startup feature that Microsoft has introduced with Windows 10 – a feature that is actually meant to allow Windows 10 computers to boot up faster when they are coming out of a shutdown. The following are the two solutions that have proven to be highly effective against this issue:

Solution 1: Disable fast startup in Power Options

For almost 85% of the people who have been affected by this restart instead of shutdown issue, disabling fast startup in Power Options took care of the problem. To disable fast startup in Power Options, you need to:

Open Control Panel.

Switch to Icons View.

Click on Power Options.

Click on Choose what the power buttons do in the left pane.

restart loop - 1

In the System Settings dialog, click on the blue colored Change settings that are currently unavailable option.

restart loop - 2

Confirm the action if prompted to do so by UAC.

In the Shutdown settings section, uncheck the checkbox beside ‘Turn on fast startup (recommended)’. Click on ‘Save Changes’. This will disable fast startup on your computer. Consequently, the next time you shut your computer down, it will actually stay shut down for good and not restart on its own.

restart loop - 3

Solution 2: Uninstall the ON/OFF by Gigabyte application,

If Solution 1 didn’t work for you, which is quite unlikely, the fact of the matter may be that fast startup is not the culprit behind your computer restarting itself instead of shutting down. In a select few cases, notably computers that were manufactured by Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd., this issue was traced back to a Gigabyte application named ON/OFF. If your computer has the ON/OFF by Gigabyte application, it could very well be causing this problem. In such cases, the best course of action would be to uninstall this application to resolve the issue.

Navigate to Apps/Programs.

Scroll down, locate and click on ON/OFF by Gigabyte.

Click on Uninstall and wait for the program to be removed,

As soon as the program has been uninstalled, your computer will start shutting down as it should.

Solution 3: Reconfiguring Network Adapter

In some cases, the Network Adapter has the permissions to wake the computer. This can be an issue if the Network that you are connected to constantly signals the computer to remain awake. Therefore, in this step, we will be disabling this setting. In order to do that:

  1. PressWindows” + “R” keys simultaneously to open the Run prompt.
  2. Type in “devmgmt.msc” and press “Enter“.
    Typing “devmgmt.msc” in the run prompt.
  3. Double-click on the ‘Network Adapter’ dropdown, then on the adapter the computer is using.
  4. Click on the “Power Management” tab and uncheck the “Allow this device to wake the computer” option.
    Clicking on the power management tab and unchecking the “Allow this device to wake up the computer” option
  5. Click on ‘OK’ to save your settings and check to see if the issue persists.

Solution 4 involves changing registry configurations.

The ‘Power down after shutdown’ feature might have been disabled in the Registry. This might be preventing your computer from shutting down immediately. To rectify this, you need to modify the Registry settings. Here’s how you can do it:

  1. PressWindows” + “R” keys simultaneously to open the Run prompt.
  2. Type in “regedit” and press “Enter“.
    Typing in “Regedit” and pressing “Enter”
  3. Navigate to the following address,
    Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
  4. Double-click on the ‘PowerDownAfterShutdown’ entry in the right pane, and type ‘1’ into the ‘Value’ option.
    Double-clicking on the “Powerdownaftershutdown” entry and changing the value
  5. PressOK” to save your changes and check to see if the issue persists.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kamil Anwar


Kamil is a certified MCITP, CCNA (W), CCNA (S) and a former British Computer Society Member with over 9 years of experience Configuring, Deploying and Managing Switches, Firewalls and Domain Controllers also an old-school still active on FreeNode.