Windows features a ridiculous number of ways to shut down. You’ll find options on the Start menu, Administrative Tools menu, and the Login and Lock screens. You can also shut Windows down using keyboard shortcuts (Alt+F4 at the desktop) and even the command line. Here’s how to disable them all for specific users.
Home Users: Disable Shutdown for a User by Editing the Registry
If you have Windows Home, you will have to edit the Windows Registry to make these changes. You can also do it this way if you have Windows Pro or Enterprise, but just feel more comfortable working in the Registry. (If you have Pro or Enterprise, though, we recommend using the easier Group Policy Editor, as described in the next section.) Keep in mind, though, that when editing the Registry, you’ll need to be logged on as the user for which you want to disable shutdown.
To get started, log in as the user for whom you want to make these changes. Open the Registry Editor by hitting Start and typing “regedit.” Press Enter to open Registry Editor and give it permission to make changes to your PC. In the Registry Editor, use the left sidebar to navigate to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Next, you’re going to create a new value in the Explorer key. Right-click the Explorer icon and choose New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name the new value NoClose
.
Now, you’re going to modify that value. Double-click the new NoClose
value and set the value to1
in the “Value data” box.
Click OK, exit Registry Editor, restart your computer, and log in as the user for whom you made the change. That user should no longer have access to most shutdown functions (including sleep and hibernate), whether it’s from the Start menu, lock screen, or even the Alt+4 shutdown shortcut from the desktop. If they try using the shortcut method, users will see a Restrictions message instead.
If you want to re-enable the shutdown commands for a user at any time, just log back in as that user, fire up the Registry, and set the NoClose
value back to 0
(or delete it).
Download Our One-Click Registry Hack
If you don’t feel like diving into the Registry yourself, we’ve created two downloadable registry hacks you can use. One hack removes the shutdown ability for the current user and the other restores the shutdown ability. Both are included in the following ZIP file. Double-click the one you want to use, click through the prompts, and then restart your computer.
In Windows Pro or Enterprise, find the MSC file that you made for the users to whom you want to apply the policy, double-click to open it, and click Yes to allow it to make changes. In the Group Policy window for those users, in the left-hand pane, drill down to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar. On the right, find the “Remove and prevent access to the Shut Down, Restart, Sleep, and Hibernate commands” item and double-click it.
In the policy window, click Enabled and then click OK.
To test the changes, exit the Local Group Policy Editor, restart your computer, and then log on as the user (or a member of the user group) for whom you made the changes. If you want to re-enable shutdown, just follow these same instructions and set the policy back to Disabled (or Not Configured).
That’s all there is to it. It may be a change that is only useful in specific circumstances, but when you do need it, it’s an easy change to make.
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