Windows 7 / Getting Started

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Shutdown and Restart Issues

The normal way to shut down or restart Windows 7 is to click Start, click the Options button to the right of the power and lock buttons, and then click Restart or Shut Down as appropriate. There are times, however, when Windows 7 won't shut down or restart normally and you must resolve the problem that is preventing the operating system from shutting down or restarting. To resolve shutdown or startup problems, follow these steps:

1. Press Ctrl-Alt-Delete to display the Windows screen and then click Start Task Manager. If your computer doesn't respond and you've waited a sufficient amount of time for it to recover by itself or complete any pending tasks, press and hold the computer's power button to force a shutdown.
2. In Task Manager, click the Application tab. Look for an application that is not responding. If all programs appear to be running normally, skip to step 5.
3. Click the application that is not responding, and then click End Task.
4. If the application fails to respond to the request, you'll see a prompt that allows you to end the application immediately or cancel the end-task request. Click End Now.
5. Try shutting down or restarting the computer. Press Ctrl-Alt-Delete, click the Shutdown button or click the Shutdown Options button (the arrow to the right of the Shutdown button), and then click Restart.
6. If the preceding steps don't work, perform a hard shutdown by pressing and holding the computer's power button or by unplugging the computer.

If you force the computer to shut down, the Windows Error Recovery screen should be displayed automatically the next time you start the computer. You then have the option of starting the computer in one of several Safe Modes or using normal startup. After you start your computer, you may want to run Check Disk to check for errors and problems that might have been caused by the hard shutdown.