The shutdown in Windows 10 does not shut down the computer completely

If your operating system is Windows 10 and you click the "Shut Down" button, you will find that Windows does not shut down completely. They just inactivate the kernel so it can boot faster next time. If you are having problems with your computer and need to shut down completely, then you should select the "Restart" command.

When you encounter strange problems in your system that can be caused by a driver error or generally other problems with low-level software, and you simply shut down your computer to eliminate the error, you will find that the problem is not gone, but continues. after shutting down and restarting your computer.

The reason is that the "Shutdown" option does not completely shut down the computer. This strange phenomenon is due to its default activated function “quick start”Of Windows 10. This feature was introduced in Windows 8 and also called Fast Boot and Hybrid Boot or Hybrid Shutdown.

In the traditional shutdown process by Windows 7 and back, Windows shuts down completely and starts from scratch the next time the computer starts. And when you hibernate, Windows saves the entire system state to disk, including all your open programs and files, so you can quickly get back to where you were.

A quick start of Windows 8 and above mixes the traditional shutdown process with hibernation. By enabling Quick Launch, Windows 10 discards all your open programs and files (as is the case during a traditional shutdown), but saves the status of the Windows kernel to disk (as would be the case during inactivation). The next time you start your computer, Windows restores the kernel and starts the rest of the system.

The kernel is the low-level program at the heart of the operating system. It takes full control of your computer and is one of the first things loaded during the boot process. The hardware drivers used by computer to interact with devices, is part of the kernel. Loading a ready-made kernel snapshot speeds up the boot process, as Windows does not have to spend time loading all device drivers and reinstalling hardware devices.

This hibernation process is done automatically when you click the "Shut Down" button and users will rarely notice the difference. But this means that if a hardware driver in your kernel is stuck in a strange state, shutting down your computer and then restarting it will not fix the problem. Windows saves the current state and restores it, instead of restarting everything.

If you're having problems with the system, you should perform a full kernel shutdown to ensure that Windows reinstalls things from scratch. To do this, simply click “Restart” on menu instead of the “Quit” option. Windows restarts your computer, but first disables kernel state.

Microsoft used this technique because troubled users often restart their computers to fix it, so it makes some sense. On the other hand, it is strange that the "Restart" option performs a more complete shutdown than the "Shutdown" option. But so is Windows!

You can also perform a full shutdown in Windows by pressing and holding key Shift on your keyboard while clicking "Shut Down".

If you prefer, you can perform a full shutdown using the shutdown command from a command prompt window or from PowerShell. To do this, open a command prompt window or PowerShell and type the following command:

shutdown / s / f / t 0

This command instructs Windows to close immediately and forcibly close all open applications. The shutdown command always performs a complete shutdown unless you add the / hybrid option. You can also create a shortcut on your computer screen that executes the above command. All you have to do is double-click the shortcut to complete the shutdown.

On the other hand, if you do not want to use the quick start feature, you can turn it off from Control Panel. For example, some older hardware devices may not be compatible with the "quick boot" and may not be reinstalled properly during the reboot. Or you may have dual-booting Linux and Windows on your computer and not be able to access the Windows NTFS file system from Linux if Windows performs a hybrid shutdown instead of a complete shutdown.

To turn off the quick boot, go to Control Panel> System & Security> Power Options> Select Power Button Actions. Click "Change settings that are not currently available" at the top of the window, then clear "Enable Quick Start (Recommended)" in "Shutdown Settings" and then click "Save Changes" ”.

We do not recommend disabling the quick start unless you have good reason to do so. It helps your computer to boot faster most of the time and you can always perform a complete shutdown with the tricks we mentioned earlier. However, if you need to shut down completely and restart your computer to fix system problems, remember to click "Restart" or hold down Shift while clicking "Shut Down" to perform a complete shutdown.