After installing Windows 10, the computer does not turn off. The computer does not turn off when Windows shuts down. Solving computer shutdown problems

Many users who have updated their operating system or installed Windows 10 are faced with a problem when the laptop or computer does not turn off completely through “Shutdown”. This problem can have different symptoms - the monitor on the PC does not turn off, all the indicators on the laptop turn off except the power, but the cooler itself continues to work. The laptop may turn on immediately after the shutdown process and other similar situations.

In this manual, we will look at possible ways to solve the problem if a desktop computer behaves strangely when shutting down or a laptop running Windows 10 does not turn off. The problem is caused by different reasons for different equipment. If you don’t know how to solve a problem, you can try them all. There is nothing in the instructions that could lead to malfunctions.

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Laptop won't turn off when shutting down

The largest number of problems with shutdown and power management in general occur on laptops. It doesn’t even matter here whether they work on Windows 10 after the update or whether a clean installation was carried out (in the latter case, errors are less common).

If your laptop with Windows 10 still continues to “work” when shutting down, the cooler is noisy, although the device should be turned off, you need to try the following steps. The first and second options are suitable for laptops that use Intel processors.

Another solution to the problem is this: the laptop turns off and immediately turns on again (seen on Lenovo, but may also happen on other brands). If a similar problem occurs, then you need to go to the Control Panel, click on Power Options, click on Setting up the power plan for the current mode. There we change additional power settings.

In the "Sleep" menu, you need to open "Allow wake timers." Now switch the value to the “Disable” position. You should pay attention to one more parameter - the properties of the network card in the Windows 10 task manager section. There you need to open the item that allows the network card to wake the laptop from standby mode using the power management tab.

You need to disable this option, apply the settings and try to start the laptop again.

Windows 10 PC won't turn off

If the personal computer does not turn off with symptoms that are similar to those described for laptops (the coolers continue to make noise with the screen off, but turn on again after finishing work), then you should try the methods described above. Next, let's look at a type of problem that is seen only on PCs.

Some computers, after installing Windows 10, stop turning off when the monitor is turned off. They go into low power mode and the screen continues to light up, although it remains black.

This problem can be solved in the following two ways:

  1. Reinstall the video card drivers, remove the previous ones completely.
  2. Trying to shut down with disconnected USB devices. Try turning off what you can. In particular, the problem was noticed when there were connected printers and gamepads.

At the moment, these are the most effective solutions that solve the problem. Most situations in which Windows 10 does not turn off are associated with incompatibility or lack of individual chipset drivers (this should always be checked). Situations with a monitor that does not turn off when a gamepad is connected are similar to a system bug.

The problem with PC shutdowns has been known for a very long time, since the days of the “ancient” XP. Unfortunately, new versions of the operating system also suffer from this. Of course, the latest releases function more correctly, but there are still difficulties. Users often complain that the computer does not turn off after shutting down Windows 10, although this did not happen on 7 and 8. Let's find out what to do in such a situation and why such errors occur.

Many users may be surprised, but in fact this option can significantly influence not only activation, but even deactivation. Apparently, Microsoft specialists haven’t fully thought through something, so if the computer doesn’t turn off, try deactivating fast startup. For this:

  • Click Start and look in the “Options” menu to open such a window;


  • in the settings that open, select “System” and start configuring this section;
  • on the left side, select “Power and sleep mode”, click on additional options to open the “Power Options” section;


  • here you tap on the item with the actions of the power buttons to go to the advanced PC power settings;
  • scroll to the subsection with shutdown options, here uncheck the quick launch box;
  • reboot the equipment and check the results of the manipulations performed.

It should be noted that this option is only needed to completely turn off the computer or laptop. If you use “sleep” more often, then it is practically useless for you.

Intel MEI Driver

Another reason why a Windows 10 computer often does not turn off after finishing its work is MEI, which is installed on Intel-based equipment. To be more precise, this is often the eleventh version. You can easily see your type, to do this go to:

Device Manager/System Devices/Intel Management Engine Interface/right click/Properties.


In the new window that appears, go to the drivers and see what version it is. If, as in the example - 11.X.X.X - try changing it to a release older than 9.X.X.X. you will need to go to the official resource of the motherboard developer and download it there. You can also load firewood from Intel website. Then remove the installed driver and point to the newly downloaded file yourself.

You can use a special package that contains system notifications about downloading the new version.

Update motherboard BIOS settings

On laptops, usually the ASUS brand, even on very recent devices, after installing Windows 10, failures occur - either the wireless Internet does not function, then a black screen appears, or the computer does not turn off at all. Usually such situations are saved by updating the firewood.

This is quite easy to do. Just go to the PC manufacturer's page, for example, HP, open the support tab, look for your model and check for BIOS updates. If available, download and then follow the steps noted in the instructions.

The device does not turn on sleep mode

Almost every second user does not turn off the laptop after a complete shutdown. They just close the lid on him, sending him to sleep. For this reason, we will analyze one of the variants of the error we are discussing, or rather, when deactivation occurs as standard, but the PC does not go into sleep mode and returns to normal operation.

  • Usually the culprit in such situations is a specific program or application running in the background and preventing the PC from falling asleep. So you should start by launching the task manager and viewing the processes that are heavily using the processor and RAM. If you find any utility, stop it. And if this is a system service (Explorer.exe, System and others), then you need to scan Windows 10 with a powerful antivirus; most likely, your operating system is infected with malware.
  • Another popular reason is the activity of additionally connected devices: a keyboard, mouse or something else connected via a USB connector. For example, a WIFI adapter. Windows 10 has a special tool that helps you find out which device last “woke up” the computer - this is a special command:

powercfg -lastwake

If it doesn't work, try another option:

powercfg –devicequery wake_armed

  • Enter it in the command line and the “culprit” will be displayed. Perhaps it will be some kind of USB device. To set a ban on waking up the PC, you need to open the Device Manager of the operating system.

  • Find the line with the root USB hub in the list, right-click with the mouse, and select the “Properties” sub-item. In the new window, go to “Power Management”.
  • Uncheck allowing the object to wake up the computer from standby mode and click OK. The same procedure must be repeated for the mouse and network cards operating with or without wire.


  • Next, reboot and check whether the equipment goes to sleep or not.

Don't forget about the various wake-up timers that are set in the OS. For example, game or software updates, malware. You can check this option in the power settings of Windows 10, go to the additional parameters of the power management scheme and to “Sleep”. So turn off timers.

Disabling the Fast Boot feature may also help. But for this you will need administrator rights.

What else can you do?

These are the most common culprits that affect the correct operation of the PC. Other cases occur extremely rarely, but if some other case occurs, then you can:

  • try to install the latest releases of "ten";
  • deactivate all peripheral elements (especially if they are connected to USB);
  • remove video card drivers.

Even if this did not help, then, most likely, serious problems have arisen with the program that appeared in Windows 10, and it is necessary to reinstall it or further diagnose it.

If you have a black screen and your computer does not turn off after Windows 10 shuts down, one of the described objects may be the cause. So check everything carefully.

Obviously, any Windows user, when shutting down or restarting their computer, very often saw the message “Preparing Windows. Don't turn off your computer." This is normal and concerns either the initial system setup or the installation of important updates. But there are also situations when the message does not disappear from the screen for a long time, and the terminal does not turn off or the system does not start when rebooting. What is the reason for this, how to get rid of this problem, read on.

Preparing Windows

We will not consider installing the system now. Apparently, the message “Preparing Windows. Do not turn off the computer” is mostly associated with when operating system files are copied to it, and it is not possible to launch them for initial setup. Here you will have to either check the disk initially, or change it altogether.

Another thing is installing updates. Indeed, after the download of critical packages is completed, the message “Preparing Windows. Do not turn off the computer" indicates that the system is integrating and configuring them. But freezing or looping of these processes can appear completely unexpectedly.

“Preparing Windows” hangs on the screen for a long time. Don't turn off your computer." Reasons for freezing

What could cause this behavior of the operating system? Apparently, no one can pinpoint the exact reason. But in most cases, it can be assumed that such a failure is associated with the services that oversee the search and installation of downloaded packages.

In other words, failures are observed in the Update Center. Either its components are damaged, or the service is not working correctly, or something really happened to the hard drive. Get rid of the situation where the “Preparing Windows. “Don’t turn off the computer” hangs for too long, and the system shows no signs of life; a normal reboot is impossible (the message may appear again during a restart). Therefore, radical methods will have to be used.

How to solve the problem in the simplest way?

The first proposed solution is to use a safe start. For systems below the tenth version, at the very beginning of the boot, you must use the standard entry into the extended menu by pressing the F8 key, after which the boot of the last known good configuration is selected.

If this does not help, and upon restart the message “Preparing Windows. Do not turn off the computer” does not disappear from the screen for a long time, working with updates again, you can force the system to reboot several times in order for automatic recovery to start.

If this does not happen, the best option would be to boot in safe mode, after which you will need to roll back yourself, using either the standard recovery partition in the Control Panel, or by launching the command console with the line rstrui.exe and then selecting a rollback point.

Note: in different builds of Windows 10, entering safe mode can be done through the diagnostic menu or when starting from removable media.

Disabling Update Center

So, we assume that the system did boot into safe mode. The first step is to deactivate the Update Center service.

In an OS below the tenth modification, you can disable it directly in the corresponding section of the Control Panel. In Windows 10, this procedure is performed exclusively through the services section. We will start from this section, since this solution is universal for all Windows systems.

First you need to enter the editor using the “Run” console and the services.msc command, find “Update Center” there, right-click or double-click to open the parameter editing window, stop the service, set its startup type to disabled, and then restart systems.

Removing updates

However, it happens that, for example, the corresponding message in Windows 10 (“Preparing Windows. Do not turn off the computer”) appears again only because the updates have already been downloaded, but the system is stubbornly trying to configure them. To correct the situation, they must be completely removed.

To do this, boot the system in the same safe mode, go to the programs and components section, select the section for viewing installed updates and delete the latest downloaded packages. Since the service responsible for the functioning of the Update Center is in a deactivated state, it makes no sense to run a manual search to exclude failed updates. Once the removal is complete, we reboot. In theory, the system should boot in normal mode.

Other possible causes and solutions

Now briefly about why the message “Preparing Windows. Do not turn off your computer" may appear cyclically during reboot. Perhaps the situation is related to viral exposure. If starting is not possible even in safe mode, you need to check the computer with some disk program, like Kaspersky Rescue Disk, indicating scanning of all boot records, hidden objects and existing partitions.

In case of damage to the hard drive, you should start from removable media and check the hard drive itself for errors using the attributes for repairing damaged sectors.

If secure boot somehow works, it may be possible to restore the disk by using the program. Of course, there is little hope for a favorable outcome, but it’s worth a try. Reviews about this application are quite mixed, so it cannot be recommended as a must-use tool.

Now you know what to do if you see the message “Preparing windows. Do not turn off the computer.”

No, this article will not talk about settings or programs for automatically turning off the computer.

I will describe a solution to the problem when Windows 10 turns off by itself, and how to prevent it.

First, go to the “Settings” section, then go to “Personalization”, click on “Lock screen” and then “Screen saver options”.

Here we need to make sure that the “Start at login screen” checkbox is unchecked. Then go to “Settings” -> “System” -> “Power and sleep mode”, where we check that all installed options are in the “Never” position. Next, click “Advanced power settings” and then click “Create a power plan.” In the window that opens, check the “High performance” checkbox.
If you did as described above and nothing helped, then another reason (why Windows 10 shuts down) could be due to viruses. Check your computer with an antivirus. Before doing this, be sure to make sure that it is functioning properly.

I would also recommend finding out which applications run with the operating system. You can do this by going to “Taskbar” -> Task Manager, opening the latter through the context menu with the right mouse button, and going to “Startup”, deleting what is unnecessary.

Moreover, the problem when the computer turns off by itself can be:

  • Driver conflict
  • Unstable voltage in the electrical network
  • Hard drive failure
  • Weak power supply or poor contact of the power cord with the power supply
  • "Bloated" capacitors
  • “Burnt” thermal paste
  • Burnt out North Bridge
  • Discord between installed software. For example, many people manage to install several programs for one action, say, Kaspersky Anti-Virus + Dr.Web + Avast. It is also not uncommon for non-updated applications to be to blame.
    There was a case when an acquaintance, an elderly man, approached me with a request to look at his computer. Programs could not open on it, the computer constantly turned off and froze. Imagine my surprise when his software was from 2009.
  • Poorly installed and configured Windows 10 operating system
  • Incompatibility of the motherboard with the processor. Then the computer will turn off approximately every 20-30 minutes
  • Poorly installed hardware. In this case, simply unplug it from the connector and reinsert it. More dust.
  • Extra items in the USB input. I had experience when small children inserted a 50 kopeck coin into the connector and the computer would turn on for a while and then turn off. And it happened that it didn’t load at all.

To the post “What to do if Windows 10 turns off by itself” 7 comments

    Imagine my surprise when his software was from 2009. And why should it work poorly? 10 is shit on its own.

    I don’t agree that 10 is bad; if it is bad, it’s only because of its dampness.

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