Schedule Automatic Shutdown for Windows 7, 8.1 & 10

This article tells you the easy process to schedule automatic shutdown of your Windows. Most probably yes, every computer user knows that how to shut down or turn off the computer after finishing the work or when system in not in use. Though, if you are not in hurry or none of process/work is running on the Windows computer, you can easily shut down or turn off Windows by navigating to Windows Start Menu -> Power Button.

If you missed, likewise, one of our previous articles which can help you to “Create Shutdown Shortcut on Windows Desktop”. By using this shortcut, with a single click, your Windows will be turned off less than a minute and you don’t need to wait and standby until it turns off. Just need to double-click on the shutdown shortcut and you can leave.

Schedule Automatic Shutdown for Windows

We create this post, especially because sometimes, we have to wait or stick to the computer until the running task got completed. For example; data coping in process, Windows downloading updates, etc. For the reason that we need to stand behind the computer and wait until the task is finished just because to turn off or shutdown the Windows computer.

If you face this issue sometimes then, don’t worry, we got an easy solution for you. Maybe, you heard about scheduling a Windows shutdown. If you already know, this will be great, but if not then, this post is fruitful to you. Just follow the steps given in this article and we can help you to schedule automatic shutdown of your Windows and you don’t need to standby or wait for to end the running task to turn off the PC.

Note: Given steps in this post are tested and will work on Windows Vista, Windows 7, 8.1 and Windows 10. The following post is created by doing the steps on Windows 10.

Task Scheduler Trigger for Automatic Windows Shut Down

There are also many other ways to schedule a Windows shutdown such as by using Command Prompt or PowerShell, auto shutdown via Run dialog box or you can use any third-party software to do this task. But in my opinion, scheduling an automatic shutdown with built-in task scheduler is very easy and reliable. Here is how you can do this:

Step 1. Launch Windows Start Menu and search for task scheduler. Right-click and Run as administrator

OR

Navigate the below path to reach and open Windows task scheduler:

Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Administrative Tools \Task Scheduler

Windows task scheduler shutdown settings

Step 2. Navigate and click on Action from the top menus and select Create Basic Task from the list.

create task to shut down windows

Step 3. Name this task as I have given Shutdown and put some description as you require and click Next to continue. Take a look on below image:

schedule automatic shutdown for windows

Step 4. Now we need to Trigger this task so you have to choose one of the options that when do you want the task start? Options to select is daily, weekly, monthly, one time, when the computer starts, when I log on and when a specific event is logged. Choose appropriate one and click Next then, set a date and time when you want this to happen?

Step 5. In the next step, select Action to Start a program and tap on Next. Browse the location and select shutdown.exe from the System32 folder of your Windows directory.

  • System32 location may vary depending on your system type (32-bit or 64-bit)
  • Add arguments (optional) to /s. Where /s stands for shutdown.

Once done, click Next to continue.

schedule automatic shutdown windows 10

Step 6. Finally, you will a summary screen for confirmation. Check carefully, if all looks good, click Finish and the new task will be created and added to your Windows schedule.

schedule automatic shutdownConclusion

So now, when system scheduled shut down time come up, it will give you a small notification on screen before it shut down the system such as “Windows will shut down in less than a minute” and it will automatically turn off your computer desktop or laptop.

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