Shutting down a computer closes all the programs that are open and exits the operating system safely so hardware isn't damaged and your operating system isn't corrupted. The following article describes how to shut down a computer, with instructions for different operating systems. If you are not sure what OS your computer is running, see our guide, how to determine a computer's operating system.
1) Formated the SATA 2 drive with XP (on the actual originall computer), formates it, loads the drives and when it comes to the screen where it saying 'Installing Windows' *there is a bar below showing what it;s installing - installes devices* then it shuts down. Always at the same point / place - over and over again. This is a basic home built computer about a year ago, nothing special just for the internet. Started running windows 7 and then the upgrade to Windows 10 a couple of months ago. For the past couple of weeks the PC has been shutting down randomly. No rhyme nor reason to the issue. Someone told me. Finally got my vista premium to work. Recieved a patch from MS and the installation is fixed! A patch we had to burn on a copy of the orginal dvd and the boot loop never came up again. A sofware failure they called it but after we used that file it worked just fine on all our 5 computer we had problems with. Even my friends computer started.
Windows 7 Miscellaneous https://social.technet.microsoft.com/forums/windows/en-US/b29b5fea-f54c-496d-99e1-e09f68ff4bfd/windows-keeps-shutting-down-unexpectedly.
Note
If computer is frozen, see our what to do when computer freezes document for steps on how to shut down a frozen computer.
Shut down in Windows 10
Press the Windows key on the keyboard, or click Start. The Start menu opens.
In the Start menu, click Power, then click Shut down.
or
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del and click the power button in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
or
From the Windows desktop, press Alt+F4 to get the Shut Down Windows screen shown here.
Tip
If you have no mouse, while in the Shut Down window use the Tab key and arrow keys to switch between fields and when selected use the Enter key or the spacebar to select what is highlighted.
Shut down in Windows 8 and 8.1
Windows 8 and 8.1
Neither of these versions of Windows has the Start menu. However, with the 8.1 update, Microsoft added the power options button to the upper-right corner of the Start screen that allows users to restart their computer quickly. Click the power options icon (squared in red in the image to the right) and select Restart from the drop-down menu that appears.
Vista Computer Shuts Down Without Warning
or
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del and click the power button in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
or
Vista Computer Shuts Down Randomly Not Overheating
From the desktop, press Alt+F4 to get the Shut Down Windows screen.
or
With Windows 8, Shut down is found in the Settings of the Windows Charms.
Tip
If you have no mouse, while in the Shut down window use the Tab key and arrow keys to switch between fields and when selected use the Enter key or the spacebar to select what is highlighted.
Shut down in Windows Vista and Windows 7
Press the Windows key on the keyboard or click Start.
Click the Shut down button.
or
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del and click the power button in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
or
From the Windows desktop, press Alt+F4 to get the Shut down Windows screen and select Shut down.
Tip
If you have no mouse, while in the Shut down window use the Tab key and arrow keys to switch between fields and when selected use the Enter key or the spacebar to select what is highlighted.
Shut down in Microsoft Windows 95, 98, NT, ME, 2000, and XP
All these versions of MicrosoftWindows can be shut down through the Start menu.
Press the Windows key on the keyboard or click Start.
From the Start menu, click Shut Down..
MS-DOS and Windows command line
Press the Windows key, type cmd, and then press Enter to open the command line.
In the prompt that appears, type shutdown -s and press Enter.
After a few moments, the computer will shut down.
Tip
You can restart the computer by typing shutdown -r.
Tip
You can log off of the current user account typing shutdown -l.
Tip
You can also shut down a computer using a batch file.
Shut down in a Chromebook
To shut down your Chromebook, follow these steps.
Click on the digits showing the time in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
Click the Power button icon.
Shut down in Apple macOS
To shut down a macOS computer, follow these steps.
Click the Apple menu icon in the top left corner of the screen.
In the Apple menu, click Shut Down..
Additional information
See our shutdown definition for further information and related links.