Quick Links
If you’ve ever accidentally triggered a system shutdown and then suddenly changed your mind, here’s the simple trick to tell Windows to abort the shutdown and let you get back to goofing off.
Note: This isn’t a new trick to most serious geeks, but it’s something useful that quite a few people don’t know.
The Scenario
So there you are, minding your own business and wasting time on Facebook, when Windows pops up a message telling you that you better reboot right now… and you accidentally choose Restart now.
While you’re learning new stuff, you should check out our article on how toPrevent Windows Update from Forcibly Rebooting your gear, to confirm that Windows doesn’t automatically restart on you while you’re away from your keyboard.
Aborting the System Shutdown
To prevent Windows from shutting down on you, just key in in shutdown /a into the Start menu search box, and then use the Ctrl+Shift+Enter shortcut key combination to execute the command as administrator—of course, if you’vealready disabled UACyou can just hit the Enter key.
If you already have an Administrator mode command prompt window open, it’s possible for you to just jot down it into there instead, if Windows hasn’t closed it already.
There you go.
You’ve learned something new—or maybe you already knew it already, in which case I’m not sure why you are reading this line.
