Restarting PC is one of the easiest ways to resolve many Windows 11 problems. Though Windows installation and updates will automatically restart your system, there are many situations you need to manually restart. For example, any changes you do in the Registry Editor will be effective only after restarting your system. Below screenshots shows you need to restart for changes to work after installing Wireless Display optional feature in Windows 11.
Sometimes, you will also see a prompt like below when changing system settings.
Restarting Windows 11 PC
In our earlier article, you could find different ways to restart Windows 10 PC. Since Window 11 has a brand-new interface, here are different ways to restart Windows 11 PC.
1. Use Alt + F4 for Restarting PC
Press “Alt + F4” keys and then press R to select “Restart” option from the dropdown. After that, press “OK” or enter key to initiate the restart. Good thing is that Windows will remember your dropdown selection and next time onwards you can simply press “Alt + F4” and then enter.
Remember to use the shortcut keys when you are in the desktop. Otherwise, Windows will close the open app instead of showing “Shut Down Windows” pop-up.
2. Restart from Power User Menu
Windows has a hidden power user menu that you can reveal by pressing “Win + X” keys. Alternatively, you can right-click on the Start icon in your taskbar to open this menu. From the long list that appears, go to “shut down or sign out” and select “Restart” option. Otherwise, simply press U and then R hot keys.
3. Restart from Start Menu
If you are using Start menu for everything in Windows, then click on it. Again, click the power icon showing at lower right corner and select “Restart” option. The advantage with this method is that if you have any pending Windows update, you will see an additional “Update and restart (estimate: time in minute)” option. Use this option to get the latest Windows update when you can wait for the shown estimated time.
4. Using Control + Alt + Delete
Many users use “Control + Alt + Del” shortcut keys for locking, changing password, singing out or opening Task Manager. However, you can also restart the PC using the same shortcut keys. Press “Control + Alt + Delete” to open the list of options. Click the power icon showing on the bottom right corner of the screen. Select “Restart” option from the list of menu items. From here also, you will see the “Update and restart” option with an estimated time if there are Windows updates available for your system.
5. Restart from Lock Screen
- Simply press “Win + L” keys to lock your display.
- Press any key or use mouse click to go to login prompt.
- Click the power icon showing at bottom left corner.
- Select “Restart” option from the list.
6. Restart from Terminal App
Terminal app is the default command line interface in Windows 11. Based on your profile settings in the app, it will either open with Command Prompt or Windows PowerShell by default. You can open additional tabs of Command Prompt or PowerShell within Terminal app. You can also restart Windows directly from the command line. In fact, this is useful to schedule restarting after certain time instead of rebooting immediately.
- Right-click on the Start icon and select “Terminal (Admin)” option from the list of menu items.
- When you are in Terminal app (no matter Command Prompt or PowerShell), type shutdown -r and press enter key.
- You will see a confirmation prompt showing Windows will show shutdown in less than a minute. Though the prompt shows shutdown, it will actually restart your system.
- Click on the “Close” button to close the prompt and make sure to save all your open work before the restarting is initiated.
- As you see, the above command will trigger restart in one minute (60 seconds) time. However, if you want to delay the restarting time, then use the command shutdown -r -t 120. Here 120 is the number of seconds (2 minutes) system will delay the restart.
7. Restart from Run Prompt
In Windows, Run dialog works with almost all Command Prompt commands. So, you can use the same shutdown – r or shutdown -r -t time command to trigger the restart process.
8. Restart from Setting App with Advanced Startup
There is a hidden restart option available in Windows 11 Settings app for advanced startup. You can use this restart option to enable/disable debugging, boot logging, safe mode, etc. One important thing you can do from here is to disable automatic restart on system failure. This will prevent your PC from automatically restarting whenever there are system issues. In such cases, you can manually check the errors and restart if needed.
- Right-click on Start icon and select “Settings” or search and open Settings app.
- Go to “System > Recovery” section and click on “Restart now” button showing against “Advanced startup” option.
- Confirm the pop-up by clicking on “Restart now” button again.
- System will restart and show you few options. Navigate to “Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings”.
- Click “Restart” button to boot the system to enable or disable advanced settings as listed.
Final Words
You can choose from one of the above listed methods to restart your Windows 11 PC. If required, you can create desktop shortcut for restart and pin to taskbar for quicker access.
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