Create One Click Shutdown Shortcuts

In Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7, the process of shutdown is quite simple. But in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1, it requires you few extra clicks. But have you ever wondered if you could shutdown your computer in just one click? So, today we will create one click shutdown shortcuts so that you can shutdown your computer with just a single click without browsing into menus.

I will be showing this method in both Windows XP/Vista/7 and Windows 8/8.1 . Follow the below guide :

Method for Windows XP, Vista, 7 :

Navigate to Desktop. Right click on empty area on desktop and select New, and then click Shortcut from the menu that appears.

Create Shortcut dialog box will open up. Copy the below line and paste it in the box. And click Next.

shutdown.exe -s

After Clicking Next, you will be asked to enter a name for the shortcut you are creating. You can type any appropriate name for the shortcut. Type ‘Shutdown‘ and click Finish.

A new shortcut icon for shutdown will be created. You can also make it look good by changing the default icon. You can select your own icon. For this, right click on the shortcut icon which we have created just now. And select Properties from the menu that appears.

Shutdown Properties dialog box will appear. You can see a Change Icon button. Click on that and some icons will be displayed. Select any icon you want. It will be a better option if you select an icon that represents shutdown action. After selecting the icon, click OK. Then again click Apply and then OK.

That’s All. Your one click shutdown shortcut is created. Below we will see some more options to customize the shutdown shortcut.

More Options For Shutdown Shortcut :

You can also add a timer to the shortcut. That means when you run the shortcut, before the shutdown process initiates, it will show you a count down timer. You can even add a shutdown message which will appear along with the timer. Now we will see how to do this.

By default the shutdown shortcut will shut the computer after 30 seconds. But if you want to shut down after a specified time, say for example you want to specify the timer as 50 seconds, then you must replace the shutdown command with the below one :

shutdown -s -t 50

If you want to add a message before shutdown initiates, then you must replace the shut down command with the following line of code :

shutdown -s -t 50 -c “Don’t Forget to Close Everything.”

Note that the message should be enclosed within double quotes.

Create One Click Restart Shortcut :

You can even make a one click restart shortcut. You have to just replace the -s with -r. The following line of code will make the computer to restart with a 50 second timer along with the specified message.

shutdown -r -t 50 -c “The Computer is about to Restart.”

Method For Windows 8/8.1 :

Now we will see how we can create one click shutdown shortcuts in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1

First make the Desktop Mode active. You can do this either by clicking the Desktop Tile from the screen or by just pressing Windows + D on keyboard.

There is not much difference in the method for windows 8. You need to follow the steps as mentioned for the windows xp/vista/7 above. The only difference is you must replace the hyphens(-) with slash(/) in the command. The following line of code is what you have to enter to shutdown the computer with a timer of 50 seconds along with the specified message.

shutdown /s /t 50 /c “Don’t Forget to Close Everything.”

shutdown /r /t 50 /c “The Computer is about to Restart.”

Once the one click shutdown and restart shortcuts are created, you can pin it on your start screen. You can do this, by right clicking the shortcut and selecting Pin to Start option.

Tip:

1. Windows gives you the opportunity to save your work before shutting down the computer. But if programs are closed by forced shutdown, then I recommend you that before trying this, save all your work.

2. You can also abort a shutdown process by simply pressing Windows + R button and then type shutdown -a in the Run dialog box that opens.

Hope you liked this trick. If this was helpful, please like it and share it on your social networks.