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How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time

This wikiHow teaches you how to configure your Mac or PC to safely shut down at a certain time. Make sure you save your files frequently so you don't lose data during a shutdown. Open the Task Scheduler app. If you want your scheduled...
Method 1 of 4:

Scheduling Regular Shutdowns for Windows

  1. How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 1How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 1
    Open the Task Scheduler app. If you want your scheduled shutdown to occur more than once, you'll want to use Task Scheduler. Task Scheduler is available on all versions of Windows. Here's how to find it:
    1. Windows 10: Press ⊞ Win+S to open the search bar, type task scheduler, and then click Task Scheduler in the search results.
    2. Windows 8: Press the ⊞ Win key, type schedule tasks, and then click Schedule tasks in the results.
    3. Windows 7: Click the Start menu, select Control Panel, and then choose System and Security. Click Administrative Tools and then click Task Scheduler.
  2. How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 2How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 2
    Click Create Basic Task in the "Actions" panel. It's at the top of the panel on the right side of the window. This opens the "Create a Basic Task" wizard.
  3. How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 3How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 3
    Type Shutdown timer for the name and click Next.
  4. How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 4How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 4
    Select when you want the task to activate and click Next. For example, if you want the computer to turn off every night at 11:30 PM, select Daily. If this is just a one-time scheduled thing, select One time.
  5. How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 5How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 5
    Enter the time and date and click Next. For example, let's say that beginning on July 19, 2019, you want your PC to shut down nightly at 11:30 PM. You'd enter 7/19/2019 into the date field, and 11:30:00 PM into the time field.
    1. Leave the "Recur ever: X days" setting to "1" if you want the action to occur every day.
  6. How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 6How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 6
    Select "Start a program" and click Next.
  7. How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 7How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 7
    Type the path to the shutdown.exe app into the "Program/script" box. The location should be C:WindowsSystem32shutdown.exe unless you've changed the letter for your Windows drive.
  8. How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 8How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 8
    Type /s into the "Add arguments" field and click Next.
  9. How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 9How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 9
    Review your shutdown task and click Finish. The summary screen gives you a chance to review the scheduled date(s) and time(s) for the shutdown. Once you save your task, the computer will shut down at the scheduled time.
    1. If you need to edit or delete your task, open Task Scheduler and click the Task Scheduler Library folder in the left panel. When you find your task in the center panel, right-click it to find the option to edit Properties or Delete the task.
Method 2 of 4:

Scheduling Regular Shutdowns for macOS

  1. How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 10How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 10
    Click the Apple
    How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 11How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 11
    menu. It's at the top-left corner of the screen. A menu will expand.
  2. How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 12How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 12
    Click System Preferences on the menu.
  3. How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 13How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 13
    Click the Energy Saver icon. It looks like a lightbulb.
  4. How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 14How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 14
    Click Schedule at the bottom-right corner of the window.
  5. How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 15How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 15
    Check the box next to the second drop-down menu. It's the one that says either Sleep, Shut Down, or Restart.
  6. How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 16How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 16
    Select Shut Down from the second menu.
  7. How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 17How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 17
    Enter the time and frequency. For example, if you want the computer to shut down nightly at 11:30 PM, you'd choose Every Day from the bottom-center drop-down menu, and then enter 11:30 into the "at" box.
  8. How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 18How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 18
    Click OK. As long as your Mac is awake at the scheduled time, it will shut down automatically.[1]
Method 3 of 4:

Scheduling a One-Time Shutdown for Windows

  1. How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 19How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 19
    Right-click the Start
    How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 20How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 20
    menu. It's usually at the bottom-left corner of the screen.
  2. How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 21How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 21
    Click Command prompt (Admin) or Windows PowerShell (Admin). One or both options will appear in the menu.
    1. If prompted to give permission for the app to run, follow the on-screen instructions to do so.
  3. How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 22How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 22
    Type SHUTDOWN /S /T /F number-in-seconds. Replace number-in-seconds with how long from now (in seconds) you want the computer to shut down.[2]
    1. For example, if you want the computer to turn off in 30 minutes, you'd type SHUTDOWN /S /T 1800.
    2. Check out this Google tool that can help you convert minutes and/or hours to seconds.
  4. How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 23How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 23
    Press ↵ Enter. This runs the command and begins the timer. The PC will automatically shut down once the timer reaches the end.
    1. If you want to cancel the automatic shutdown, return to the prompt and use the command shutdown /a.
Method 4 of 4:

Creating a Shutdown Shortcut for Windows

  1. How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 24How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 24
    Open Notepad on your Windows PC. You write a script that adds a shortcut to your desktop that, when double-clicked, schedules a shutdown. You'll find Notepad in your Windows Start menu in a folder called Windows Accessories or Accessories.
    1. Use this method if you don't want to schedule a recurring shutdown (e.g., nightly at 11:30pm) but would like to quickly schedule such a shut down if necessary.
  2. How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 25How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 25
    Enter the following code into the Notepad file. Let's say you want the script to shut your computer down at 11:30 PM on the day you run it: Type each of the following lines on its own individual line in the file:
    1. @echo off
    2. :W
    3. if %time%==22:30:00.00 goto :X
    4. goto :W
    5. :X
    6. shutdown.exe /s /f /t 60 /c
      1. This script will constantly check the time and, when 11:30 PM rolls around, will shut down the computer (after a 60-second grace period). You can replace that time with the time of your choice (in 24-hour/military time format).
  3. How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 26How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 26
    Click the File menu and select Save As. The Save As window will appear.
  4. How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 27How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 27
    Open the Desktop folder. You can do this by expanding the This PC menu in the left panel and selecting Desktop.
  5. How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 28How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 28
    Select All Files from the "Save as type" drop-down. It's near the bottom of the Save As window.
  6. How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 29How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 29
    Type shutdown-timer.bat into the "File name" field and click Save. Your new script is now saved to your desktop. You should see its icon (some gears) on your desktop.
  7. How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 30How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time Picture 30
    Double-click the shutdown-timer.bat file to schedule a shutdown. A blank command prompt screen should appear. You will need to leave this window open so that the computer will know to shut down at the right time. Once the time comes, you'll have 60 seconds to save your work before the computer shuts down.
    1. If you want to disable the script before it's time to shut down, press ⊞ Win+R to open the Run menu, type shutdown –a, and then click Run.
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