How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time

October 2022 · 2 minute read

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

  • Picture 1 of How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time 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:
  • Windows 10: Press ⊞ Win+S to open the search bar, type task scheduler, and then click Task Scheduler in the search results.
  • Windows 8: Press the ⊞ Win key, type schedule tasks, and then click Schedule tasks in the results.
  • Windows 7: Click the Start menu, select Control Panel, and then choose System and Security. Click Administrative Tools and then click Task Scheduler.
  • Picture 2 of How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time

    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.

  • Picture 3 of How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time

    Type Shutdown timer for the name and click Next.

  • Picture 4 of How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time

    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.

  • Picture 5 of How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time 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.
  • Leave the "Recur ever: X days" setting to "1" if you want the action to occur every day.
  • Picture 6 of How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time

    Select "Start a program" and click Next.

  • Picture 7 of How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time

    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.

  • Picture 8 of How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time

    Type /s into the "Add arguments" field and click Next.

  • Picture 9 of How to Automatically Shut Down Your Computer at a Specified Time 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.
  • 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.
    • Marvin Fry Marvin Fry

    Update 04 March 2020

    ncG1vNJzZmismaXArq3KnmWcp51ktbDDjK2mZpmlqbyurdOimpqknK56tLTUrWSdp6ejerq71KtknKedpcK1sdFmmK1lkWLAsbHCop2inZRiwaq5xA%3D%3D