How do I modify the shutdown grace period timer on a Windows system?

[VunderBob]

I have a PC at work I take care of, and the management wants something changed on it. In normal operation, a particular application will cause the PC to shutdown Windows, causing a grace period dialog box to appear with a 30 second countdown. TPTB want this changed to 5 seconds.

I found a registry entry called ShutdownTime with data entered, but none of it appeared to have any relation to 30 or 30.0, even when I manipulated it with a hex editor (nothing was changed, BTW).

Anyone have insights and advice for me?

[astro]

@VunderBob

I have a PC at work I take care of, and the management wants something changed on it. In normal operation, a particular application will cause the PC to shutdown Windows, causing a grace period dialog box to appear with a 30 second countdown. TPTB want this changed to 5 seconds.

I found a registry entry called with data entered, but none of it appeared to have any relation to 30 or 30.0, even when I manipulated it with a hex editor (nothing was changed, BTW).

Anyone have insights and advice for me?

There are several different versions of windows so knowing your OS would be useful. Is this countdown box the actual windows OS closing box or is it part of the applicaiton that caused the closing?

[VunderBob]

@astro

There are several different versions of windows so knowing your OS would be useful. Is this countdown box the actual windows OS closing box or is it part of the applicaiton that caused the closing?

It’s the system shutdown box that’s the problem. The platform is XP Pro V5.1, FWIW.

[astro]

Below is a way to control the shutdown timing.

As a side note the amount of time it takes to shut down is not (so far as I know) just arbitrary, and there several housekeeping and cleanup procedures that go on. Regardless of what you set the shutdown timer to, the OS may have to complete these tasks before it closes and these may take more than 5 seconds.

Windows XP Shutdown Shortcut

Windows XP Shutdown Shortcut
04.23.02

By Neil J. Rubenking
Before I upgraded to Windows XP Professional, I had a little shortcut that would shut down Windows. When I upgraded, the shortcut disappeared. How do I get it back?

James Cone

In Windows XP, restoring the shortcut is amazingly easy. Right-click on the Desktop and choose New | Shortcut from the pop-up menu. Browse to the file C:\Windows\ System32\Shutdown.exe, click Next, name the shortcut, and click Finish. Now right-click on the new shortcut and choose Properties. In the Target box, append the command line switch -l (to log off), -s (to shut down), or -r (to reboot).

Windows 2000 Shutdown
New Tips for Windows XP
If you also add the switch –t xx (where xx is a number of seconds), Shutdown.exe will display a warning and count down the specified number of seconds before activating. You can specify a comment to be displayed with the warning by adding the switch -c “Your text”. The countdown behavior is particularly useful if the shutdown program is launched through the Scheduled Tasks applet. For example, a library computer might be scheduled to shut down 10 minutes before closing, with a 60-second warning. Once the countdown has begun, the only way to stop it is to launch the program again with the -a (for abort) switch on its command line.

Shutdown.exe is included with Windows XP, and you can add it to Windows NT 4.0 or 2000 via the corresponding Resource Kit.

[FatBaldGuy]

If shutdown.exe is called directly by the application program, it more than likely has the parameters (30 seconds) hardcoded as part of the program. In this case, unless you have the ability to make changes to that application you are probably SOL.