Solved How to achieve *complete" shutdown of Windows 11 Pro x64?

I usually use my Lenovo X1 2-in-1 on AC power and shut it down via the shutdown option in the Alt-F4 menu. After I did so recently I disconnected the laptop from AC power and left it in storage for a few days. When I retrieved it, the battery was almost fully discharged, so it evidently had *not* been fully shut down. I have already disabled "fast boot". What else can I do to ensure that shut down really does what it says?

Shift/Shutdown

Thanks for the quick response. I assume that you mean I should hold down the shift key while I pick shutdown from the Alt-F4 menu.
Is there a way to tell if the PC is *really* shutdown? The red LED on the cover turns off, even if I don't use the shift key.
I am also missing the earlier option "Install updates and shut down". Now I don't get any shutdown option at all if updates are pending.

rsbrux said:

... you mean I should hold down the shift key while I pick shutdown from the Alt-F4 menu.

Click to expand...

Or, hold Shift will pressing the normal Shut down button. (Hold Shift until the screen turns off)

rsbrux said:

Is there a way to tell if the PC is *really* shutdown?

Click to expand...

On next boot, look in Event Viewer, if it shows the last session boot type as 0x0, it booted from a Cold Shutdown.

You can check it through PowerShell as well, I just can't recall the command. You could probably Google it.

rsbrux said:

What else can I do to ensure that shut down really does what it says?

Click to expand...

How to Check if Last Boot was from Fast Startup, Full Shutdown, or Hibernate - TenForumsTutorials
This remains valid for Windows 11.

The boot type is also shown in Event viewer:
Log - System
Source - Kernel-Boot
EventID - 27


Denis

Is it necessary to use the shift key? I didn't have a clue of this. How many classes of "shut down" are there? I used to think that there's only two options: computer still plugged to the mains (this caused noticeable consumption with very old hw, from 17 years ago or more, but afaik this was a desktops issue, the EU and other countries produced norms against this and the PSU makers adapted to it fast) or totally unplugged (you can achieve this comfortably with a power strip at your feet or near anyway). Can you really "shut down" and leave the rig still working???

I shut down by Typing Alt-F4 and then holding shift down while clicking the OK button in the resulting dialog:

After starting the PC again, this PowerShell command confirmed that I had indeed started from a complete shutdown (type 0x0):
So as not to have to remember to use shift, I am going to create a shortcut on my desktop to run:
shutdown /s
in the hope that this will accomplish the same thing.
Many thanks for all of your help!

rsbrux said:

I am going to create a shortcut on my desktop to run:
shutdown /s

Click to expand...

I use
shutdown.exe /s /t 0 /f /c "Shutdown in Menus"
Shutdown - SS64
Shutdown - MSLearn
The only point of the /c "Shutdown in Menus" is that it leaves that text in the Event viewer records so I can spot deliberate shutdowns more easily when troubleshooting.

My Restart shortcut is
shutdown.exe /r /t 0 /f /c "Restart in Menus"

rsbrux said:

shutdown /s
in the hope that this will accomplish the same thing

Click to expand...

Yes, it does.


Denis

Thanks for the tips!
I purposely left out /f & /t 0 because I want to give any open applications a chance to exit gracefully (although I always close everything visible before shutdown anyway).
What I have read about the shutdown command says that /c only works from an admin account; I am almost always logged into an unprivileged account.

rsbrux said:

What I have read about the shutdown command says that /c only works from an admin account

Click to expand...

No, /c does not need any Admin privileges to work.


Perhaps, but I can only speculate, somebody was trying to explain that running Event viewer needs Admin privileges.


Denis

rsbrux said:

I want to give any open applications a chance to exit gracefully (although I always close everything visible before shutdown anyway).

Click to expand...

That's actually good practice, for background apps too, especially if you have WaitToKillAppTimeout set to an extremely low value.

Fortunately I haven't had any problems with applications not exiting gracefully in a short time since I got rid of MS365 Outlook.
The problems may have been due to GWSMO rather than Outlook itself.

Try3 said:

No, /c does not need any Admin privileges to work.
Perhaps, but I can only speculate, somebody was trying to explain that running Event viewer needs Admin privilege

Click to expand...

Absolutely correct, thanks!
I can't find where I saw that, but Event viewer can also be run for viewing without admin privileges, if you know where you need to look.

Perhaps that tip was correct after all. Using the following command:
I don't see the /c text anywhere. Neither in the Event Viewer (screenshot attached), nor with either of the following commands:
or

The /c comment is in the Event 1074 General tab - see the example in my post #10 picture.
I do not use Admin permissions when running my shutdown command.

The /c comment is not related to Event 27.
garlin posted an improved version of the first of those PS commands which I incorporated within a ps1 script rather than an Event viewer, Custom view because I find it more convenient to run a script than to open up Event viewer - adapting garlin's original code - my post #9 - ElevenForum

I've attached a Custom view definition that shows Starts & Shutdown events. It includes EventID 1074.
In case you do not already know how to import an Event viewer, Custom view definition there's an explanation in my post
Importing Event Viewer, Custom View - my post #23 - ElevenForum
Read from the line "To import it:" - you use the same procedure as in that post.
[You can also import the Custom view definition used in that example if you are interested in the transition between power-sleep states but you'll also need to read the explanatory notes from the line beginning 'You can see records of transitions' in that post because interpreting power-sleep state transition records is not straightforward.]


All the best,
Denis

---

Welcome to ElevenForum.

It's really worth making time to browse through the ElevenForum Tutorial index - there's a shortcut to it at the top of every ElevenForum page [within the Tutorials dropdown list].
- At the foot of the ElevenForum Tutorial index is a shortcut to download it as a spreadsheet.
- I download a new copy each month.
- By downloading it as a spreadsheet I can benefit from Excel's excellent filtering capabilities when I search for topics of interest.
- ElevenForum tutorials are also listed at Tutorials and there's a shortcut to that at the top of every page.

You can search ElevenForum using the search box in the top-right corner of all ElevenForum webpages or using Advanced Search - ElevenForum
- You can also search ElevenForum threads in many general search engines, such as Google, by adding site:elevenforum.com after your search term. For example,
Taskbar setup site:elevenforum.com
- [This is what the search box in the top-right corner of ElevenForum webpages does automatically]

Try3 said:

The /c comment is in the Event 1074 General tab - see the example in my post #10 picture.
I do not use Admin permissions when running my shutdown command.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your patience and detailed explanation! Sorry I didn't examine your screenshot more carefully. ;-}
Many thanks also for your comprehensive PowerShell script!

Try3 said:

Welcome to ElevenForum.

It's really worth making time to browse through the ElevenForum Tutorial index - there's a shortcut to it at the top of every ElevenForum page [within the Tutorials dropdown list].

Click to expand...

I did in fact search the tutorials but got no hits, but I wasn't aware of the Tutorial Index. Thanks for the tip!

Try another battery.