Implement a Shutdown Confirmation?

Question

How do I configure Windows 10 so that it displays a confirmation dialog every time I press the Shut down button?

Sometimes I would shutdown my computer accidentally, as the sleep button is just above shutdown button, and lose my unsaved work:

Solution

One way to get a confirmation dialog upon hitting the shutdown button is to enable Shutdown Event Tracker:

Configure Shutdown Event Tracker on the Local Computer

Since the link above is not up-to-date for Windows 10, the following are step-by-step instructions for Windows 10 (verified with version 21H1):

• Start gpedit.msc
• In the Local Computer Policy navigation pane, expand Computer Configuration, expand Administrative Templates, and click All Settings
• In the console pane, scroll down to the list of objects and double-click Display Shutdown Event Tracker
• Click Enabled
• Verify that in Options, Shutdown Event Tracker should be displayed: is set to Always
• Click OK

You will have to select a reason for the shutdown, like so:

Comments

[user]

If such a feature exists, it can most likely be found in the power settings in the control panel.

[Jeremy]

I cannot find it. Are there alternative solutions?

[user]

I don't have any Windows 10 system handy, which is why I only left a comment that I hoped would be helpful. (Seems it wasn't, but that's how it goes at times. Can't be right every time.) Unless I stumble across something helpful, I'll leave actually answering this to others.

[Jeremy]

I guess the solution will apply to all modern Windows(7, 8, 10) OSes.

[SimonS]

Did you use google? there are tons of entries for your problem. I guess this should work, please try it: winaero.com/blog/…

[Jeremy]

@SimonS Yes I did. I've seen that post but it has nothing to do with my question.

[SimonS]

@Jeremy how about the answer with 6 upvotes in this thread (even though it's windows 7?) superuser.com/questions/89957/…

[Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007]

Disable the keyboard button.

[Jeremy]

@SimonS All I want is a simple confirmation dialog with yes/no buttons.

[SimonS]

@Jeremy And all I want is love, seems like we're both not getting what we want :-). No seriously, seems like Microsoft removed this option. I guess you'll have to live with a workaround as I posted in my last comment.

[Jeremy]

@Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 How?

[Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007]

There's plenty of info out there on ways to do it. IE: Disable shutdown key on my keyboard?, Disabling Power button on keyboard, etc.

[Jeremy]

@Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 Ah. What I actually mean is the buttons on screen. i.imgur.com/2Iph8RQ.png

[Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007]

Ahh gotcha! When you said you were accidentally hitting the power button because it was right above the sleep button, I thought you were talking about a physical keyboard button (as that's come up lots in the past ;) ).

[ths]

wait, does that mean that win 10 doesn't have a default shutdown button action anymore, like win 7? and then they put the options so close you have trouble selecting one? that's... i don't even.

[ths]

do they at least offer keyboard shortcuts? we can't see them anymore of course, since, in their infinite wisdom, they decided not to show the underlined characters anymore per default.

[Jeremy]

@ths As you can see from the image in my post. I don't have problem selecting those buttons but, when I'm in a rush I may click the wrong button.

[Chris Peacock]

I can't believe this was removed from Windows. It's one of the things that really infuriates me about it, along with Windows automatically restarting itself to appy updates with no warning, when left for a period. It's far too easy, as the OP says, to accidentally press the Shutdown button; there's no way to cancel the shutdown, neither does it seem to allow running applications (e.g. with unsaved documents) to halt the shutdown, as it used to.

[Jeremy]

I'm not asking how to code the confirmation dialog. It'd be nice if the bat file can be ran when I click the shutdown button.

[Canadian Luke]

Why would you pause before exiting? Why have the exit statements? The script would close anyways

[Narzard]

@CanadianLuke you're right, it was a copy paste from something else i had and I didn't remove them. I have edited to reflect the correct script.

[Narzard]

@Jeremy I cannot find any information on editing the button for anything custom. Only making it perform different built-in functions.

[Jeremy]

@Narzard ahh.. I hope Windows will implement this feature.

[Jeremy]

This is same as SimonS' answer in comment. I don't want to choose a reason every time I shutdown my computer.

[Nassbirne]

Well you can just click "Continue" without changing the default reason.

[Jeremy]

I am looking for a better sulution. If there is none, I'll accept your answer. Btw, what are the uses to provide a reason before shutting down?

[Nassbirne]

This is mainly a feature of the server versions of Windows which have it enabled by default. It generates entries in the event log which can be useful for system administrators.

[Bort]

This does exactly what you asked for: Confirmation on shutdown. You don't even have to select a reason from the reason box.

[xtian]

@Jeremy, I want to use confirmation to avoid acidentally shutting down my work system after telecommuting from home--also using Windows 10. In two years of telecommuting, I've just done this for the first time yesterday, and on Friday there was no one left to turn it back on.

[xtian]

The option Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Display Shutdown Event Tracker isn't available on Windows 10 Pro v1809

[Tydaeus]

@xtian and others noticing the option isn't available: mine was semi-hidden. gpedit.msc > Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > All Settings > Display Shutdown Event Tracker worked for me.