Shutdown using power button from lock screen

SSShadii · 21 Jan 2019

My problem is that Windows will not shut the computer down when you press the power button (physical button on the computer, not the button on the log in screen) at the lock screen or log in screen.

Is there a setting or registry I have to change to allow this to function correctly?

Basically I have set the computer to turn off when I push the button on the computer in Windows settings, but it doesn't respond when you press it at the lock (or login) screen.

Thanks for your help.

SSShadii · 23 Jan 2019

Bump

bro67 · 23 Jan 2019

You can set in power settings to allow the button to shut down the computer. You should be using the shutdown in Windows, not the physical button. That way the OS can properly close things down and save certain settings. Powercfg flags allow you to check those properties. You need to also check the bios settings. Only use the physical power button as a last resort, if the system is locked up. Powercfg command-line options | Microsoft Docs

SSShadii · 23 Jan 2019

I'm not long pressing the power button to reset it. If you set it up in settings, you can press the button once, and it triggers the standard OS shutdown (same thing if you told it to shutdown from the start menu).

That part is set up and working correctly, my problem is that the computer ignores the button press when on the lock or log-in screens.

bro67 · 23 Jan 2019

Yes, but that does not properly shutdown the OS. Check Bios and see the link I posted. Only use the physical power button as a last resort if the system is locked up, not to end your session.

SSShadii · 23 Jan 2019

What exactly happens that is different? The link you provided just looks like different power settings, nothing to do with how the button is not a proper way to shut down the computer. With my current settings, I push the button, and it shuts down the same way it would if I went to the Start Menu (i.e. I get a gray screen that says shutting down, it pauses to warn me about shutting down programs and lost work, etc.)

bro67 · 23 Jan 2019

Those are not power settings in that link, it gives you information on how to diagnose issues with the powercfg command and its flags. The reports help us to diagnose what is going on.

Ztruker · 23 Jan 2019

bro67, if you setup the power button to shutdown, pressing it once and releasing it is exactly the same as doing a shutdown from the Start menu. SSShadii is not pressing and holding the power button to drop power, he is pressing it once, to trigger a normal shutdown. I do it all the time and setup all my computers that way, personal and ones I sell.

Doesn't work for me from the lock screen either so it's a bug in Windows 10, as it used to work.

This was reported via feedback, I upvoted it:

Shutdown using power button from lock screen-image.png

SSShadii · 24 Jan 2019

Ztruker said:

Doesn't work for me from the lock screen either so it's a bug in Windows 10, as it used to work.

Thanks for confirming this. I figured this wasn't right. I switched over to "Sleep" since that does work from the lock screen. I'm using a Wifi relay to simulate the button press, so I can use Amazon Echo to boot everything up and shut it down, hence the importance for the button press. Shutdown would have been preferable, but Sleep it is.

Bree · 24 Jan 2019

SSShadii said:

...I switched over to "Sleep" since that does work from the lock screen... Shutdown would have been preferable, but Sleep it is.

If your concern is possible loss of work if the power fails while in Sleep or there still being some small use of power, then I can confirm that Hibernate also works from the power button while on the lock screen. Hibernation will completely turn off all power on the PC, just like a Shutdown.

While sleep puts your work and settings in memory and draws a small amount of power, hibernation puts your open documents and programs on your hard disk to the hiberfile (C:\hiberfil.sys), and then turns off your computer.

Enable or Disable Hibernate in Windows 10 | Tutorials