How to quickly shutdown Windows Vista and XP
Have you ever wondered why the damn computer becomes standstill when you tell it to shutdown? Some people has noticed that Vista takes as long as 5 minutes to shutdown and recently I experienced the same. But with the help of a simple tweak we can achieve our goal of shutting down Windows Vista and Windows XP in less than a minute.
Here is the tweak and explanation of the tweak to quickly shutdown your Windows Vista based PC.
For Windows XP Users:
Note: Before editing the registry, please take a back up of it. It is quite simple and can be done by clicking file > Export in registry editor menu and putting the file name of the backup and clicking on save.
- Click on Start and Type regedit in the search box and hit Enter.
- Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER >> Control Panel >> Desktop
- Look at the right pane to locate the key WaitToKillAppTimeout, double click on it and change the value to something between 4000 and 5000. (Lesser the value more quicker will be shutdown, the value is in milliseconds).
- Click on Ok and the settings will be saved.
The key WaitToKillAppTimeout determines how long the system waits for user processes to end after the user attempts to log off or to shut down. When the time specified in this entry expires, the End Task dialog box appears, stating that the process did not respond. So now we need to do some tweak so that end task dialog box will not appear. Right? The key responsible for this is AutoEndTasks.
In registry editor Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER >> Control Panel >> Desktop
Look for AutoEndTasks key in the right pane and double click on it. The default value will be 0, change it to 1. Click on OK. This will not display the end task dialog box.
For Vista Users:
The key WaitToKillAppTimeout is replaced by WaitToKillServiceTimeout in Vista and the location has also changed.
- In Vista navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control
- In right pane, look for WaitToKillServiceTimeout and double click on it. Change the value to around 5000. Click on OK.
Test your shutdown speed now and let me know if it really become quicker.
Comment by luke on 19 June 2008:
This great tip. I will like to use this. are you sure this will not effect system hardware like motherboard or hard disk, RAM
Comment by Ajay M on 21 June 2008:
NO, it will not have any effect on System hardware.
Comment by Movie Gift Baskets Guide on 4 July 2008:
I have been looking for this type information recently, but was not able to locate it. I will for sure give this a try since my laptop takes forever to shutdown.
Comment by Abrablogger on 7 August 2008:
Very interesting tip…will check it out later tonight and let you know if see any improvement.
Comment by ankit on 18 August 2008:
i has been also used this tip ,but i found it is not so effective becoz making changes into registry could become a great prob.
Pingback by Most popular post from techiezone » Techie Zone on 20 August 2008:
[...] How to quickly shutdown Windows Vista and XP [...]
Comment by Scott on 3 September 2008:
This may help, but I would be wary of editing the registry. That was my favorite part of switching to Linux — no more registry!
Comment by scissors on 9 September 2008:
That’s a great tip. Thanks for sharing. I always tend to hang around and make sure my PC actually swiches off (it ended up being left on for a couple of days once when I assumed it would switch off) and it does seem like ages sometimes before it actually powers off.
Comment by Default on 12 September 2008:
I found disabling anti virus before you shut down also helps it out quite a bit.
Comment by blogger on 23 September 2008:
This is useful!! but what will happen if i put the value near some 10 ..?? will it shut down directly
Comment by Jason on 25 September 2008:
Ajay
Just checked my WaitToKillAppTimeout it was 5000, im sure i used some tool to tweak it, will change to 4000 and see if that helps
My AutoEndTasks was already one, but need to keep looking ,my xp it still taking WAY to long to shut down
thanks for the tips
Comment by TV Bracket on 29 September 2008:
Oh yes… thanks for sharing the very good tweak …. well I think if your hard disk is regularly defragmented and your overall system health is ok then you should not have these types of problems … i would highly recommend a system maintenance software like ” System mechanic ” which keeps the system in very good shape and your booting time and shut down is very less
Comment by Bryan Alwright on 6 October 2008:
Nice tip. I will try it. My XP recently need me to click on shut down button twice before it goes off. I don’t know what’s wrong with it, but hopefully the tip will help to solve it.
Comment by DeborahBradley on 5 December 2008:
Wondreful tip, I’m having problem with my pc right now shutting it down usually takes 5-10min.. hope this works
Comment by Clam Chowder on 12 December 2008:
Why doesn’t Microsoft implement and increase the boot down speed of windows vista? I mean they are suppose to be super intelligent right?
Comment by mokey on 12 December 2008:
Please let this work…please let this work…please let this work! I CAN NOT WAIT to try this. My laptop takes such an inconvienently long time to shut down that I usually just leave it on for days. Then, I end up having to restart it right in the middle of projects. Thanks for the tip.
Comment by Nelson on 20 December 2008:
very cool trick.
disabling programs that run at the start-up also will improve shutdown time. I will try this registry hack on my computer and post the results.
thanks for sharing.
Comment by betty on 7 January 2009:
my laptop has windows xp had been giving the same trouble since i got it formatted due to virus trouble but they are greater as it also takes lot of time to start up too. How can I also ensure it starts up pretty quickly. Any tips on that?
Comment by File Lock on 19 January 2009:
Damn Windows!
I’m going to apply the trick now.
Thanks for sharing. Keep it up!
Comment by persianas on 29 January 2009:
Any problem with keeping it on?
Kind of noticed that every time I reformat the comp and re-install as part of yearly maintenaince the shutdown time is quick again. So I stick to that
Comment by Steve on 31 January 2009:
This blog is awesome. You give out so many great tips its fabulous. I have just followed your step by step instructions above and it works like a charm. I was fedup with waiting and waiting for the computer to shut down but never know what to do about it. Now its fixed. Thank you
Comment by Windows Cardiff on 2 February 2009:
I am no windows whizz, but that is something that has been annoying be for quite some time, and could never understand it. I kinda always thought that it’s just how Windows XP was, but nope. It worked perfect thanx!
Comment by Andy Haugh on 5 February 2009:
Microsoft has always chosen strange default registry settings for many things in Windows, and this led to the creation of hundreds of third party “tweak” programs.
This has been going on for over a decade, so you would have thought that by now Microsoft would have enough sense to choose some reasonable defaults. All they did here was reinforce the idea held by many that Windows Vista is too slow.