Change the Windows 7 or Vista Power Buttons to Shut Down/Sleep/Hibernate
The default action for the Power button on the start menu in Windows 7 is shutdown, and in Vista is Sleep, which isn’t necessarily useful for everybody, so we’ll explain how to change it here.
Change Windows 7 Shutdown Button
Windows 7 makes it really easy – just head into the Start Menu / Taskbar preferences by right-clicking on the start menu and choosing Properties.
All you need to do is change the drop-down for Power Button Action to whatever you would prefer.
Change Windows Vista Power Buttons
You can configure this setting easily by using the advanced power settings panel, which is a little tricky to get to normally, but we’ll take the shortcut.
Open a command prompt (type cmd into the start menu search bar), and then type in the following:
powercfg.cpl,1
You could also take the long route (Control Panel \ Power Options \ Change Plan Settings \ Change Advanced Power Settings)
Once you get to this dialog, browse down as shown to “Power buttons and lid”
From here, you can change the options:
- Power button action – Changes the hardware power button action
- Start menu power button – Changes the power button on the Start Menu
You can change the power button to either Sleep, Hibernate or Shut Down, or even nothing for the hardware power button.
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I tried changing to shutdown but it never takes. I even tried to change to HIGH PERFORMANCE and hit APPLY then OK and it still didn’t take. Am I missing doing something?
Hey there,
In my copy of Vista the command you gave gives this error:
“powercfg.cpl,1 Windows cannot find ‘powercfg.cpl,1′. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again.”
Also, the Control Panel path is different for me:
Control Panel -> Power Options -> Change power-saving settings -> Change plan settings (of the plan currently selected) -> Change advanced power settings.
Then you can do the rest of your steps. Thanks for this.
where is the “ask me what to do” option?
Is there a way to tweak that?
Good work, turn off my laptop by start menu power button work.
how do i configure sleep button as hibernet or log off.
This worked perfectly for me. Thanks for the tip. No thanks to Microsoft for the poor config choice (or is this Dell’s doing…) I wonder how many people are wondering why their laptop battery is always drained….
Thanks again,
Scott
This website is on top of my list, VERY well bookmarked in a safe place!! Thanks to whoever owns it!
I too ask where is the “ask me what you want to do” option as in windowsXP?
Obviously none of the Vista Usability Testers have kids?
I think annoyance at Vista’s shutdown options is widespread…
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/.....11/21.html
Anyone know a way to set this button to “restart” instead? IMHO doing “user” support, they need to reboot more often than shutting down and having this option right up front would be more advantageous. Six of one, half dozen of the other, I guess…
Anyone know how to completely disable the start menu power button.
Or… just simply have it log off insted of going to sleep or shuting down.
Im sure there are ways of doing things like this… cause I mean Im sure you cant just shut down a public computer.
EliteMusician,
There is a group policy to remove all options: User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Start Menu and Taskbar. Locate “Remove and prevent access to the Shut Down, Restart, Sleep and Hiberate Commands” and enable it.
HTH,
Rick
Thanks Rick… I never knew (or even cared for that matter) how to access all of those options until now. I never needed to until I got labeled the “Tech-Geek” at work.
Even though It took a little searching to figure out what you were talking about, you’ve been very helpful. Thanks
-elitemµsician-
The reply from Rick, June 27 looks useful but where can I find the commands that he lists starting with User Cofiguration etc. please?
Lawrence,
Click the start orb, then in the “Start Search” box (or Run if you have it configured to be showing) type “gpedit.msc” (w/o the quotes). Click continue when the security dialog comes up. This will bring up the Group Policy Editor, from there just follow the path I outlined in the posting. If you click on the Setting column it will sort them by name making the “Remove and prevent…” option easier to locate.
HTH,
Rick
Rick
Many thanks for your help
Lawrence Moss
I have a desktop w/ vista. Every time it goes into sleep mode, the computer freezes, and I have to shut it off and restart. Can you help?
Could someone tell me please how can I activate the Password manager in Netscape 9.0b2 when I did not
let it save the first time it asked me ? My OS is Windows XP Home.
Many thanks.
Nikolaus
THANK YOU. This has always been one of those “annoying, but I’ll get around to it later” things for a while, glad you have this info posted
Thank you very much. This was another one of those nagging frustrations that I never had time to deal with and that gets me to thinking fondly of Microsoft…..
How do i get the power management tabs back in keyboard and mouse in vista?…i have a aspire 5610z and the tabs were there when i purchased it…but lately i looked and they were gone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!…THANKS.
Is it possible to make the sleep button act as power off. The keyboard I have has a sleep button and in XP it was set to turn off the pc which saved me bending down. I would like the same feature in Vista.
how to deactivate the (user-defined activated)in my power plan which is set in high power performance
easy to drained my battery..im using windows vista…i try to change in Balanced setting still cannot do.
How to change power button to show “shutdown dialog”, like in windows xp. same as you see when you press alt+f4 on desktop?
Hi I have a problem with my dvd burner not reading dvd disc cd’s it reads just fine the problem only started a couple of weeks ago on my Acer Aspire T310 running XP Pro
Thanks for any help you can give me for this problem Regards Jenn
Jenn,
Not sure what your problem is. Does it read DVD’s or not?
BTW, CD is an abbreviation for compact disc.
I might be able to help you with your problem, but your question might do better on a more appropriate thread.
In response to Rick.
While acting on Group Policy object “Remove and prevent access to the Shut Down, Restart, Sleep and Hiberate Commands” marginally solves the problem with no “Ask me what to do” screen (it’s a big issue fo me too because it’s more easy than before to accidentally shutdown the PC which is VERY frustrating for a server though), this basically means you cannot shutdown your computer. You can logoff, but no shutdown. This is very frustrating on its own.
We just want the confirmation screen after we push the ShutDown button/link in start menu.
Teodor,
I agree that these options need more flexability. If there is an “always confirm shutdown” option, I havent found it yet. In the meantime, you could write a simple app / script to meet your needs, and it doesnt get much simpler than this one…
Result = Msgbox (”Are you sure that you want to shut down?”,4,”Confirm Shutdown”)
if (Result = 6) then
Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject(”WScript.Shell”)
Return = WshShell.Run(”shutdown.exe /f /s /t 30″,1,false)
End If
Wscript.Quit()
Copy and paste that into notepad, save it as something like MyShutdown.vbs, create a shortcut to it somewhere and use that as your shutdown. The “/t 30″ is the countdown, adjust as you see fit. Just a thought. The snippet is far from polished, but seems to work on the box I’m sitting at now.
To all you VBS’ers who are about to flame my code, its just an example, not an application so please keep your comments to yourself.
Thanks,
Rick
Rick,
yes, after some researching, I didn’t find such option neither, and I came up to a similar solution as you.
It is plain old batch file with content similar to this:
choice /c yn /t 5 /d n /m Shutdown computer?
if ERRORLEVEL==2 goto noshut
shutdown /s /t 1
:noshut
and similar for RestartMe.bat
I’m not familiar with VBS, but with C# so maybe using PowerShell will be the preferred way when I get familiar with PowerShell’s exact syntax.
Change the Windows Vista Power Buttons to Shut Down
I tried this but when i click shutdown from start menu, the computer still reboots, is there a way to shutdown when i click shutdown or is it problem with vista install? Please help..
Hello Mital,
Can we assume that you “tried this”, you mean the steps at the very beginning of this thread? If so, can you please verify that your power options dialog looks exactly like the image at the top (as far as BOTH of those options saying “shut down”). Also, when you click the start orb, is the shutdown button (the button immediately to the right of the Start Search box), is reddish with a power-button logo on it (circle w/ a vertical line).
Rick,
Yes the image above is exactly what i have. Also i click on shutdown button immediately right of start search box. When i click on it the computer reboots instead of shutting down.
I’m trying to find out how to add the “Ask me what to do” option. Right now, I’m looking for the file on my other laptop (Windows XP) and I will copy it to this laptop (Windows Vista). I’ve tried the registry but no luck. If I knew what the file name was or even what the file type was.
Also, does anyone know how to install Windows XP when I have Vista? I’m still used to XP since I’ve used it since I started using computers. I only had Vista just over a month. It came with the laptop when I bought it, they all had Vista. When I inserted the Windows XP CD, the Install Windows wasn’t highlighted like it should be and when I tried to re-format the hdd, it wouldn’t let me. I also put the Windows XP CD in while the laptop is booting up and try and install windows that way but still it wouldn’t work.
http://s212.photobucket.com/al.....atToDo.jpg
Exactly what I was looking for! Thanks!
@ Me (= alisonmxo): so how did you do it ?? Which file does one need to swap with one from XP?
I didn’t find any file or anything yet. I just edit the registry (Vista) to make it say that “Ask me what to do” and took a screenshot.
I didn’t really do anthing yet. I just edited the registry (Vista) to make it say that “Ask me what to do” and took a screenshot. I’ll let you know when I fix it. You all I know is you need to get it set up so when you push the power button, it’ll open prompt.js (think thats what it is). It’ll bring up the pop-up asking you what to do (ex. restart, logoff, shut down etc.)
hi Me. Yeah that would be great if we can connect the registry key with the js-script (I also have it here). Would you please tell me the registry key in Vista where I need to start editing and experimenting
?
Thanks,
Lee
I don’t know how or what to to in the registry at this time. I will continue to investigate it though. When I find out, I’ll let you know.
well you know you’re contradicting yourself, don’t you ..
I changed the “shutdown” button to “shut down”, but the machine will restart itself about 3 – 5 minutes after it has shut down. This is really annoying; how do I get it to shut down and stay powered down until I turn it on again?
1) apply the latest BIOS update
2) apply the latest Chipset update
3) apply the latest service pack for your Windows
THANKS! The hibernate default has been driving me crazy. This solution worked like a charm.
Lee, thanks, but the computer is brand-new (less than a week old). It has the latest updates, also. All the books I’ve checked also agree the computer should not restart unless RESTART is selected, and anyway RESTART usually restarts right away. In this case, the system restarts after about three minutes. I’ve decided, for the moment, to go with the Sleep option as it uses less power.
Dan,
If I’m following this thread correctly, the computer is 100% powered down. Then it just turns back on? Please Confirm. You can confirm this by doing the shutdown, waiting until it appears to be down, then hit the power button on the case of the computer. If it goes through POST (the black screen or manufacturers splash screen), then it shut down completely.
If so, it has nothing to do with Windows. No Power = No Windows Control.
If would still also check the BIOS version as Lee suggested. Regardless of how old it is to you, there is no telling how log it has been on a shelf somewhere.
Thanks,
Rick
@Everyone
PLEASE move discussions over to the forum, which is designed for these types of questions. There are also a lot of people over there that can help out with advice.
http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/
I changed the setting to Performance in the Power Options and the button has now changed to the Power Off instead of the Sleep. Initially I tried the Balanced option and changed the setting there for the “Menu Power Button” and when I pressed it nothing happend, the screen went blank and then I just moved the mouse and the session came back on. It never left, so I changed it to Performance and selected the menu power button to turn off the computer and viola! it’s a different icon, the power-off icon.
Just remember that with a laptop you’ll have to do this three times, once for balanced, power saver, and high performance. I was totally puzzled until I figured that out. You’ll also need to get to it the manual way so you can select the power options for each plan.
This is great. I think I’m the only one where I work that thinks this is so annoying. I wouldn’t have figured out how to make ‘Shutdown’ the default for shutting down. Thanks!
I changed the setting and it worked great…
Thanks
Thank you SO SO SO SO much for posting this very valuable information. Pressing the “shut down” and the computer going into SLEEP mode was driving me bomkers. Seriously I should have bought a Mac. This Dell (and VISTA) has been nothing but a hassle. Did I mention the hard drive on my brand new — 4 month old dell — had to be replaced?!!!!
Thanks for the great info about power controls.
Woohoo! Thanks again, another awesome tip. PS lol @ the IT inquiry line within this comment thread.
Like others, thanks very much for this tip. I was also going crazy trying to figure out how to get the shutdown button to turn off the comp instead of going into sleep mode.
hey guys
well my problem is kinda the opposite, i’ve just installed one of the updates that keeps on popping-up and it was for sp1 i think… the problem is i want the sleep function back
i dont have it even if i go to the advanced power settings, there is no sleep choice… i’ve done some research on the internet and found someone with the same problem but no solution yet 
please any one, i can’t function w/o my sleep button :’(
and thanx in advance ^_^
i went into the power options to change my power button well when i try to change it, it goes eather do nothing, sleep, or shut down. I would like it for hybernate if i clicked the power button. How do i get it to where it Hybernates to shut it down.
Thank you very much. That stupid sleep button has been annoying the hell outta me. Fixed.
Most helpful info. Thanks!
I have sort of the opposite problem.. My power button options are set to “do nothing” when pressed. After I put my computer into Sleep or Hibernate, when I press the power button to turn it back on, the computer shuts down. Very frustrating that I can’t figure this out? Any suggestions?
Thanks! Just upgraded to Vista and was confused… I didn’t use the power options before because I use my Lenovo power software… so never got to the advanced panel.
Can someone tell me if this is right. My Toshiba Satellite A355-S6925 laptop does not want to turn off the lights that control the dvd player, the Toshiba logo at the bottom, they always stay on, I don’t believe it was like this before, can someone tell me if I am right or wrong. Thanks in advance…
thank you sir,this problem was really annoying and disturbing one.but now you have helped us to replace
thank you once again
Hey,
My path seemed easier…..
Control panel/System & Maintenance/Power Options…
Then on side bar it asks ..
choose what power button does.
The next page is shows the power button with a drop down box that says shutdown,sleep,Hibernate,do nothing.
Much obliged for the tip. The start menu power button had irked me for some time.
I’m trying to change the settings so when I press the power button on lid it will automatically do a proper shut down. I tried to run: powercfg.cpl,1 and go the long way and it wouldn’t. I think it’s because I have Windows 2007? Anywho, could you help me? Thx
One happy googler.
Thanks!