Fast Shutdown Registry For Windows 10 (Solution)

A fast shutdown on a computer should be a normal thing. If your PC needs longer than you’d expect, you might be dealing with a slow shutdown. Most users who complain about this problem are usually running a Windows 10 operating system. So questions like “how to speed up the Windows 10 shutdown process” are rather common in our community, as well as over the web. Below we’ll explain how to get a fast shutdown registry for Windows 10.

If you want to discover the easiest way to accelerate this process, you’ve come to the right place. We actually have two solutions for you on how to complete a fast shutdown registry for Windows 10. Before we detail them, however, let us briefly explain what causes this delay in shutting down your computer.

Basically, when you click on the Shut down menu, the system will start closing all the running services and applications. You might not have software opened on your desktop, but there are definitely plenty of things happening in the background. Those things are actually causing a slow shut down.

If you want to speed up Windows 10 shutdown process, you need to adjust the system’s response time to these running applications and services. And you can do that from the Windows registry, where you control not just the processes from the background, but also the applications that run in active user sessions.

Are you a bit reluctant to the idea of accessing and editing the registries? It might sound intimidating, but we have prepared a step by step guide for you to follow on how to get a fast shutdown registry for Windows 10. If you’re doing it by the book, there’s really nothing to worry about.

Solution #1 – How to speed up Windows 10 slow shutdown from background processes

Like mentioned, your computer is slow because it needs time to close everything. But that time is adjustable and you can tweak it from the Windows Registry. In there, there’s a special section where you can type in a specific time value. That value is expressed in seconds and will determine the amount of time that once exceeded, will lead to a forced shut down of all applications and processes.

The exact value that you want to set will be your choice. Here are the steps you need to follow in order to get there:

Simultaneously press the Windows key and the R key from your keyboard, to launch the Registry editor;
In the newly opened box type regedit and then press enter, to launch the editor;
Once inside the editor, identify the following path:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control
Now look on the right side and identify the value WaitToKillServiceTimeout REG_SZ
Modify the value of this option with your desired timeframe – you can choose anything between 1000 and 20000 and then hit enter (this value is expressed in milliseconds, meaning from 1 to 20 seconds);
After you have performed this setting, you can close the registry and restart your computer for the changes to take place.

From now on, when you shut down your computer, it shouldn’t take that long anymore and a fast shutdown registry for Windows 10.

Solution #2 – How to speed up Windows 10 slow shutdown from active user session applications

The first solution was only targeting the background processes. Now, do you want to hurry up a bit the applications that run in active user sessions, such as Word, Notepad, and others alike? You’ll need to do some extra editing.

After you have modified the value of WaitToKillServiceTimeout REG_SZ:

Identify the following path:HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Look on the right side of the editor and create 2 new REG_SZ values: name one HungAppTimeout and the other one WaitToKillAppTimeout.
Just like you did with the previous solution, adjust their values upon your own desire;
Close the registry and, again, restart your computer for the changes to take place.

As a short final explanation, the HungAppTimeout setup you created will consider the running apps at the time of the shut down as unresponsive. The computer will show a notification asking you to terminate it and then will shut down. WaitToKillAppTImeout setup, on the other hand, will instantly kill whatever apps are running at the time of shutting down, considerably shortening the entire process. Hopefully after reading the guide above, you’ll be able to complete a fast shutdown registry for Windows 10.