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We've all had to wait for Windows to shut down, and some of us have to wait so long that we have to turn off the computer & turn it back on. Mine usually sits forever on "Windows is shutting down" (it's there when I come back the next morning!)
So what does Windows actually do that is so important that it needs to hold things up?
KevinDeus
Posted 2009-09-17T21:46:54.080
Reputation: 307
5
It waits for all apps to shut down, it saves all its settings and it probably makes a cup of tea to drink before going to bed :)
On a more serious note, you can read more about the whole shutdown process here (really technical stuff).
alex
Posted 2009-09-17T21:46:54.080
Reputation: 16 172
You forgot to mention jam and bread, and on Thursdays, Windows fancies scones too! – caliban – 2009-09-17T21:50:11.827
3+1 for accurately pointing out that tea is needed. – caliban – 2009-09-17T21:51:11.667
@caliban: Go to sleep! :) – alex – 2009-09-17T21:51:13.430
1I once had a windows that preferred coffee. Needless to say, I reformatted quickly. – Phoshi – 2009-09-17T21:52:40.980
@alex: wet blanket. ;) Good morrow then, have a great weekend! – caliban – 2009-09-17T21:53:13.053
Yeah, my work PC probably drinks redbull all day. I have to kill explorer.exe every time I shut down my PC and then wait a couple of minutes before it figures out I actually want to go home. A couple of times I left work only to find it still shutting down the next day (have no idea what happened). – alex – 2009-09-17T21:55:12.753
@caliban: Thanks, same to you! I'll probably lose my woot badge, unfortunately. Won't be back until Monday :( – alex – 2009-09-17T21:56:23.920
You can't lose something you don't have :·þ ... so you'll just delay the badge :-) – Joey – 2009-09-18T04:55:43.690
@Johannes Sad, but true :) – alex – 2009-09-18T05:49:35.343
@alex the fantastic link is dead (more of a reason to always post a snippet of the actual text from the article), can you find it again pretty please? – Timo Huovinen – 2013-12-16T19:40:30.527
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the Event Log is always a good place to start your investigation.
Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Event Viewer
We've all had to wait for Windows to shut down, and some of us have to wait so long that we have to turn off the computer & turn it back on.
as a workaround (not a solution!) you may resort to Superfast Shutdown (it does what it says on the tin).
I think the corollary is what exactly does Superfast Shutdown do differently, and is it safe? – dlamblin – 2009-09-18T01:39:29.833
it is safe to use. of course, if you're having unsaved documents open, then changes will be lost. mind you, in this case it is a workaround, NOT a solution. however, i'm using SF Reboot regularly with 'DeepFrozen' computers in schools and internet cafes, etc. it works just fine. does what it says on the tin. – None – 2009-09-18T01:54:02.917
Keep in mind that user programs are pretty much the first to go on shutdown; the mentioned program probably also skips writing the disk cache to disk and other things. You might end up with a slower startup after that while NTFS heals itself – Joey – 2009-09-18T05:05:38.397
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You can set it to force kill any horrible apps - it should shut down within seconds, not days!
Rich Bradshaw
Posted 2009-09-17T21:46:54.080
Reputation: 6 324
1and where is that setting? – nnyby – 2009-09-17T23:43:52.940
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Windows saves all your settings and everything that you did. Profile Hive Cleanup has helped me with my shutdown, I wonder why no one mentioned it.
Timo Huovinen
Posted 2009-09-17T21:46:54.080
Reputation: 551
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Newflash, Walter Cronkite - it's not Windows. It's probably some processes that's having some problems shutting down, and since that processes never shuts down, Windows similarly won't power down too.
A finely-tuned Windows system shuts down really fast.
caliban
Posted 2009-09-17T21:46:54.080
Reputation: 18 979
NOT forcibly kill things that don't want to die, in many cases.
I've had CD-writing software force me to hard-reset, as they locked the drive then crashed. Windows wouldn't reboot! – Phoshi – 2009-09-17T21:49:51.373
I used to have to press enter to finish the shutdown once the disk stopped churning. It seems SOMETHING was prompting for a key press, and you can't see the text console behind the shutting down screen. – dlamblin – 2009-09-18T01:37:05.610