Shutting down Windows 11 (Keyboard Only)

Eddiee · March 2

I use a TV as a display device for my computer. That TV is also a smart TV. I use the smart TV for streaming and my PC to drive PC things. If I am streaming on the TV and turn on my PC to get it booted, the computer does not always begin to display HDMI when I switch to the correct input. This is not the end of the world, I can always reboot or reseat the cable. I would prefer to just reboot most of the time.

But here is where my issue is. Now I have my Windows 11 PC booted and no display. Because Microsoft, I have 4-5 ways to shut down or reboot the Windows 11 PC. Also, because Microsoft, none of these can be done without clicking an object on the screen. The whole point for wanting to shut down or reboot is because the screen is not working. I can't find an object on the screen if it is not working. Every version that I have used since Windows 95 has had some method of keyboard clicks that I can perform to shut down the PC if the screen is not working. Here, it is just not possible. Why Microsoft?

Thankfully, Microsoft has left the customizable shortcut key option for desktop shortcuts. So, for the time being, they have left an option for the user to program a method of shutting the computer down their operating system using only the keyboard. Creating a shortcut with: [ %windir%\System32\shutdown.exe /s /t 0 ] I can then assign a keyboard shortcut. That of course does not help if your PC is a shared device and users have passwords.

It would be nice if Microsoft gave us back the shutdown and reboot options in the Ctrl+Alt+Del menu that can be triggered by the keyboard.

If anyone knows a registry hack or some other method for adding options to that menu, or some other trick for doing so, it would be appreciated. 3rd party software like AutoHotkey will not work if a user has not logged in and no user applications or services have started.

Average Nerd · March 2

8 minutes ago, Eddiee said:

Also, because Microsoft, none of these can be done without clicking an object on the screen.

You can push the power button and the machine will shut off.

You can also change that in the power pln settings somewhere so it goes into sleep mode or reboots when you push the power button when the computer is on.