When you are in a hurry, turning off your PC can become really annoying: you have to go to the operating system menu and select different items. Wouldn't it be better to have a nice shortcut where you can end your work session and turn off your computer by simply pressing a key combination on your keyboard ? techsmartinfo
You may not know, but by learning a few precise combinations
or making ad hoc shortcuts, it is possible to shut down your computer using
nothing more than the keyboard, without having to “turn” in the system menus.
It only takes a few steps and the game is done, among other things without
resorting to third-party software.
What do you say then? Are you ready to learn more about the
issue and find out how to shut down your PC from the keyboard ? Reading the
instructions I am about to give you, I assure you that regardless of the
computer and operating system you use - be it Windows or macOS - you will be
able to achieve the desired result in no time at all. Enjoy your reading and
have fun!
Index
• How to
shut down your PC from the keyboard: Windows 11
• How to
shut down your PC from the keyboard: Windows 10
• How to
shut down your PC from the keyboard: Windows 7
• How to
shut down your PC from the keyboard: Mac
• How to
turn off the PC from the keyboard without a monitor
• How to
restart the PC from the keyboard
How to shut down your PC from the keyboard: Windows 11
If you want to turn off the PC from the keyboard and use a
computer equipped with Windows 11 , there are several solutions you can use,
all already integrated "as standard" in the Microsoft operating
system.
First of all, you can turn off your PC from the quick menu
that appears by pressing the Win + X key combination on the keyboard (the Win
key , if you don't know, is the one with the Windows flag).
Within the menu in question there are all the options to
shut down, restart and suspend the PC, plus the option to log out of your
account. This means that pressing Win + X , then the arrow keys to get the item
Close or disconnect and then the key Enter to select Shut Down , you can turn
off your PC directly from the keyboard.
Another way to shut down the PC from the keyboard, valid on
Windows 11 but also on previous versions of the Microsoft operating system, is
to press the key combination Alt + F4 and then select the option Shut down the
system from the window that opens (the old Windows shutdown menu present since
the days of Windows 95) using the directional arrows and the Enter key .
If you have a laptop and the Alt + F4 combination doesn't work, try Alt +
Fn + F4 .
If you want, you can also create a shortcut for quick
shutdown of the computer on the Windows desktop (the procedure is the same for
all versions of the Microsoft operating system). Then go to the desktop of your
PC, right-click in a place on the desktop where there are no icons and select
the items New> Link from the menu that appears.
In the window that opens, type
%windir%/system32/shutdown.exe -s -t 00in the text field Enter the path for the
link , click on the Next button , type a name of your choice to assign to the
link (eg Turn off PC ) and click on the Finish button to complete the creation
of the computer shutdown shortcut on the Windows desktop.
Now, you have to go to the properties of the shortcut you
just created on the Windows desktop and set up a keyboard shortcut to start it
by simply pressing a key combination on the PC keyboard. Then click with the
right mouse button on the shortcut you created on the computer desktop and
select Properties from the menu that appears.
In the window that opens, click in the Hotkeys text field
(make sure you are in the Shortcut tab ), hold down the Ctr + Alt keys on your
PC keyboard at the same time and press a letter (e.g. A ) or a number ( eg 4 )
you want to use to call the PC shutdown function from the keyboard. At this
point, first click on Apply and then OK and you will have completed the job.
Here we are! With this step, you have completed the
procedure on how to shut down your PC from the keyboard . From now on, you can
turn off your computer simply by holding down the Ctrl and Alt keys on your
computer keyboard while pressing the letter or number you previously chose in
the properties of the Turn Off PC shortcut .
If you care about aesthetics, you can also change the icon
of the quick shutdown PC shortcut you created on the desktop .
Furthermore, if you have a laptop equipped with Windows 11,
you can turn off your computer simply by associating the operation of the Power
button (the one with which you turn on the PC) to the system shutdown
procedure.
To change the behavior of the Power button on your computer,
go to the Windows Search menu by clicking on the magnifying glass icon and
search for the control panel . Then select the Control Panel icon from the
search results. Make sure you select the classic control panel (the one with
the blue tablet icon) and not the Settings menu (the gear icon) which instead
refers to the modern administration panel present only in Windows 8.x and
later.
In the window that opens, click on the search field located
at the top right, search for the term power and select the item Change power
buttons behavior from the search results. This will take you to the menu to
change the behavior of the Power button on your PC.
Now all you have to do is expand the two drop-down menus
located next to the item When the power button is pressed , set them to the
option Shut down the system and click on the Save changes button located at the
bottom. This way every time you press the Power button on your PC, it will shut
down completely.
As easily understood, this procedure can also be implemented
on desktop PCs, but in that case the change will concern the Power button on
the case.
In case of second thoughts, to re-associate the Power button
to the system suspend function (therefore to stand-by), go back to the control
panel screen dedicated to the behavior of the power buttons and reset the
drop-down menus located next to the When item. it is pressed the power button
on Suspension .
How to shut down your PC from the keyboard: Windows 10
If you want to turn off the PC from the keyboard with
Windows 10, know that the differences with what has already been seen for
Windows 11 are almost nil. The procedures for switching off using the keys are,
in fact, exactly the same.
You can turn off your PC either from the quick menu that
appears through the Win + X key combination , or by creating a shortcut on the
Desktop, to which the code is assigned %windir%/system32/shutdown.exe -s -t 00.
Choose a Hotkey in the shortcut's Properties menu to complete.
If you have a laptop equipped with Windows 10, you can
conveniently turn off your computer via the Power button . Also of this
procedure, I have talked in depth in the tutorial section related to Windows 11
.