Is there any way to prevent a scheduled Windows shutdown?

Some software has options to shutdown the computer after it completes a lengthy task. Video rendering is an example. You can start Handbrake and have several rendering jobs in the queue. It’ll shutdown the PC long after you’re in bed snoozing.

Once in awhile, I don’t go to bed. Got busy washing dishes and watching tv. Handbrake finished last night and I wanted to look at the finished videos. I get a pop up saying Windows will shutdown in one minute. Handbrake is doing what I asked it to do. I quickly closed handbrake.

I went into task manager searching for a scheduler service or process to kill. I couldn’t find any way to prevent that scheduled shutdown. 1 min later (as promised) Windows starts the shutdown,

Is there any way to prevent a scheduled shutdown?

Usually my warning message has options to delay for 1 hour or delay for a selectable length of time in hours.

In Windows 7, you can open a command line (cmd) and type shutdown /a to terminate a scheduled shutdown.

I’ll give that a try. I’ll set up a Icon that runs the command from my desktop. Something that I can quickly click.

Thanks!

This is the answer, and it works on any version of Windows from XP up. Although, you don’t need to launch cmd - you can type it right into the “Run” box (Start->Run or press Windows+R).