How to prevent users from shutting down or restarting XP and VIsta

Both Vista and Windows XP let you take control of preventing a user not to shutdown the machine by editing the group policy. For example if your friend is using your computer and you went somewhere ( and you have still some unsaved document left) and he shutdowns the pc without saving them…you loose a good amount of data. ( Trust me I have lost one whole blog post and project code at same time ). This is what you can do

Restrict PC Shutdown

Type gpedit.msc in run dialog box [ WIN KEY + R ]
This will open Group Policy Editor. Now there are two things in it, Computer Configuration and User Configuration
Click on User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Task Bar
Now look for “remove and prevent access to shutdown command”
Double Click and Enable it.
Exit the group policy editor.

This setting removes the Shut Down option from the Start menu and disables the Shut Down button on the Windows Security dialog box, which appears when you press CTRL+ALT+DEL. This setting prevents users from using the Windows user interface to shut down the system.

Now if you try to shutdown by clicking on start , the shutdown button must have disappeared. Moreover check the task manager and you will find all shutdown,restart and others disabled except switch user.UPDATE: New article written on Vista Tricks and Performance ( Click to read)

About The Author of this article:
Ashish is one of the co-author of this blog and writes on various interesting softwares, PC tips and more. You can read more of his articles here.

Enjoyed this article? Download our Toolbar ( for Free ) and read us more quickly or Free Subscribe to the Full RSS Feed or Get Post like this in your Inbox Click to get via Email ( You will have to confirm by checking you Inbox)

Readers Play Ground

Add your Comments or Discuss further in our forums
Enjoyed this article? Subscribe to the Full RSS Feed
(1 votes, average: 1 out of 5)

Loading ...
Email This Post to your friends or somebody who can use it
Tags: disable_shutdown_vista, disable_shutdown_Xp, restrict_user_shutdown
Get Post like this in your Inbox Click to get via Email ( You will have to confirm by checking you Inbox)
Read More Stories from Vista Tweaks, XP Tweaks

13 Comments and Link-Backs to “How to prevent users from shutting down or restarting XP and VIsta”

Click Me and Jump to Add your Comment :)

12 Comments from Friends and Readers

Brown Baron, October 30, 2007:

That’s a very handy tip buddy. I’ll be able to put this to good use to make sure my kids don’t shut down my computer by mistake.
Vijay, October 30, 2007:

Nice tutorial Ashish! However, can the computer be shutdown by pressing the power button on the CPU?

In my system, the computer has been set to shutdown on pressing the button!
Ashish Mohta, October 30, 2007:

@Brown:Haha yes, that can be the best use. But make sure you enable it back when you want to shutdown. Lol I forgot to enable it and after 4 hrs when I was thinking o shutdown…I was just fear strike where my shutdown button wentoff..lol
innovations & Interesting Ramblings, October 30, 2007:

@vijay, that is a brute force way to shutdown and nothing can be done in those cases…
Ashish Mohta, October 30, 2007:

@Vijay: Its hard wired to your cpu. You might ask some hardware person to change the settings. I know some wires need to be re configured.

@Innovations: Its brute forced only when you keep it pressed. But pressing the power button once its like normal shutdown which we do from windows.
Shivaranjan, October 30, 2007:

If you keep on killing the svchost.exe then your system would restart.
Ashish Mohta, October 30, 2007:

@Shiva: That’s Supposed to happen. Most people never even know about those process that runs at background. So this feature can safe guard from users who intentionally want to . However the fact remains that you can always shutdown from power button. But if you can remove the wire settings even that can be stopped
Thilak, October 31, 2007:

Neat and simple, but quite a lengthy procedure. I always have the habit of locking (Win + L) my notebook before leaving it unattended. Nobody can access it, nor shut it down.

Perhaps, Microsoft didn’t realize that many people leave their computers for others to access, but not to shutdown.

I guess, a dumb user would probably shut down the regular way, but if he doesn’t see the option, he’ll probably do the last resort by holding the power button for over 4 sec.
Madhur Kapoor, October 31, 2007:

This is a good tip Ashish sir , very useful in hostels.
Ted, November 3, 2007:

This is cool except for programs like Launchy that can run system shutdowns.
Mag, April 4, 2008:

Is there a way to restrict users from shut down only, but still allow them to restart?
Brian McKnight, April 10, 2008:

Mag makes an excellent point, I would need to keep the ability for users to restart when I want/ask them to. Also, I would need a way to still allow IT Staff to shut down a PC.