While it’s true that shutting down or restarting your Windows 10 PC is relatively quick when done from the Start menu, using the built-in shutdown tool in Command Prompt (CMD) provides you with a lot more options. With CMD, you can schedule actions such as shutdown, reboot, or hibernation as well as display a personalized message when running them. Additionally, you will be able to shut down or reboot other remote computers that you may have access to on the same network.
Shutdown/Restart Your PC With Command Prompt
With the Command Prompt, you can shut down or restart your Windows 10 PC with a timer or by displaying a custom message. Here’s how:
1. Open the Start menu and type in Command Prompt in the search box. Then click on Run as administrator to open it with admin rights.
2. Type in the following command and press Enter.
shutdown /s
Your PC will power off after a minute. If you wish to modify the timeframe after which the PC should turn off, then use the following command instead.
shutdown /s /t COUNTDOWN
You should now replace the COUNTDOWN in the command above with the number of seconds after which the PC should shut down.
In addition to a timer, if you wish to shut down your PC with a custom dialog message, then use the following command instead:
shutdown /s /t COUNTDOWN /c CUSTOM MESSAGEAgain, replace the CUSTOM MESSAGE with any text to let the user know the reason behind powering off the PC.
Similarly, to restart the PC with Command Prompt, replace the letter s with r in the commands above to perform a restart, restart with custom countdown, and restart with a custom message.
- Normal restart – shutdown /r
- Restart with a countdown – shutdown /r /t COUNTDOWN
- Restart with a custom message – shutdown /r /t COUNTDOWN /c CUSTOM MESSAGE
If at any point during the countdown, you decide to abort the scheduled shutdown, give the following command:
shutdown /a
Aside from the options to add a timer and message, there’re a bunch of other options available while shutting down or restarting your PC. To get the full list of commands available, type the following in the Command Prompt and press Enter:
shutdown /?
You’ll be presented with a list of all the shutdown commands you can perform with a brief description.
How to Shutdown a Remote Computer with Command Prompt
Probably the best part about using the shutdown command-line tool is being able to shutdown/restart a computer remotely. However, to enable this feature, you need to first configure that remote computer to receive commands from other PCs.
Set Up Remote Shutdown on Remote Computer
To set up remote shutdown or restart on a computer, you need to disable the User Account Control in it. Here’s how to do it.
1. Open the Start menu and type in Command Prompt in the search box. Then click on Run as administrator on your right to open it with admin rights.
2. Type in the following command and press Enter.
reg add HKLM\Software\Microsoft\windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\system /v LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
That’s it. Now you’re all set to receive commands remotely from an authenticated PC.
Perform a Remote Shutdown
Once you’ve disabled the User Account Control in the remote computer, follow the steps given below to remotely turn off that computer.
1. Open the Start menu, type in the Command Prompt, and click on Run as administrator to open it with admin rights.
2. Type in the following command and press Enter.
shutdown /i
3. This will open up the Remote Shutdown Dialog. Here, under Computers, you can Add or Browse the remote computers connected on the same network as yours to shutdown or restart remotely.
4. Once added, you can choose to shut down or restart from the drop-down menu. Additionally, you can also modify the number of seconds for which warning should be displayed before shutting down the remote computer. Press OK to save changes.
And voila! You’ll be able to shut down or restart a remote computer without accessing it physically. Using the steps above, you can add multiple computers to the list and perform shutdown action remotely.
Closing Remarks: Shutdown/Restart Windows 10 PC with Command Prompt
So that was that. Using a command prompt to shutdown or restart your PC unlocks a whole lot of options. Especially, being able to shut down or restart a remote computer can be useful if you’ve multiple computers set up in different rooms.
Also Read: Run Cmd Prompt as Administrator With This Desktop Shortcut
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