Cancel a Pending Restart or Shutdown With a Shortcut

Sometimes, Windows will notify you when you’re about to be signed out for a scheduled restart or shutdown. You’ll see a message saying something like: “Windows will shut down in less than a minute.”

One way to cancel the forced shutdown timer is to quickly open Command Prompt and type shutdown /a. It will work if you time it right! Still, there’s an easier way if you’re ever in a hurry. You can create a shortcut and pin it where it’s convenient.

Here’s how!

Create a shortcut

Follow these steps:

1. Right-click an empty spot on your desktop and select New > Shortcut.
2. Type this in the text field for the location: shutdown -a
3. Click Next.
4. You can name it Cancel, Abort, or whatever you like.
5. Click the Finish button.
6. Now, right-click your new shortcut and go to Properties.
7. Click the Change icon button.
8. Confirm by clicking OK.
9. Choose an icon you like from the list, and click OK.
10. Click OK again.

You can then right-click it, select Show more options, and then click Pin to Start or Pin to taskbar. You can even assign a keyboard shortcut to it, or just keep it somewhere on your desktop where it’s easy to reach. As long as you don’t forget where you put it, it’s good.

selma citakovic Selma is a gamer, geek and gremlin hunter with a passion for cyber security and smashing Windows bugs before they bite. She’s IBM-certified, loves real freeware, despises bloatware, and powers most of her troubleshooting with an unhealthy amount of coffee.

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