Computer auto shutdown. How to set up automatic computer shutdown

The computer shutdown timer will automatically turn off the computer after a certain predetermined period of time. At the end of the time interval, the personal computer will automatically shut down and turn off.

The Windows computer shutdown timer completely shuts down the computer instead of putting the PC into sleep or hibernation modes. This feature is required in various situations.

Often, the user does not have the opportunity, for various reasons, to complete work on the computer, and he does not want to leave a working PC unattended for a long time. The way out of this situation is to use a timer to turn off the computer after a certain time set by the user.

Turning off a Windows 7 computer automatically using a timer is carried out by system tools, or using third-party software. In this article, you will find instructions that tell you how to set a timer to turn off a Windows 7 computer using the system's built-in tools, without using third-party applications.

You can turn off the computer by timer using the Windows 7 tools. In the article, we will look at 5 ways to automatically turn off the PC using system tools: launching a command in the Run dialog box, creating a shortcut to start the shutdown timer, shutting down the system after running the “.bat” file, creating a task in the Windows Task Scheduler, shutting down the system on the command line.

Start the Windows 7 computer shutdown timer in the Run dialog box - 1 way

One of the easiest ways to turn off your computer at a specific time is by using a command entered in the Run dialog box. Read more about the commands that you can use in the Run window.

Press the "Win" + "R" keys on your keyboard.
In the "Run" window, in the "Open" field, enter the command: "shutdown -s -t X" (without quotes), and then click on the "OK" button. "X" is the time in seconds until the computer automatically shuts down.

A window will appear on the screen warning you that Windows will shut down after a certain amount of time, in this case 10 minutes. Close the message window.

At the appointed time, Windows 7 will shut down the computer.

How to turn off the Windows 7 computer shutdown timer in the Run window

If the user's plans have changed and the shutdown of Windows needs to be undone, a command will be required to override the previous shutdown command.

You can cancel the shutdown of Windows 7 only while waiting for the automatic shutdown of the computer:

Press the "Win" + "R" keys.
In the "Run" dialog box, enter the command: "shutdown -a" (without quotes), click on the "OK" button.

Automatic shutdown of the computer in Windows 7 will be canceled.

How to turn off the computer on a timer using a shortcut on the desktop - 2 way

To quickly start a timer that will shut down the system after a specified period of time, create a special shortcut on the desktop of your computer.

Right click on the desktop.
From the context menu, select New and then Shortcut.
In the "Specify the location of the object" field, enter the path: "C:\Windows\System32\shutdown.exe -s -t X" (without quotes), and then click on the "Next" button. "X" is the time in seconds until the system shuts down.

In the window "What to name the shortcut?" enter any name convenient for you, click on the "Finish" button.

A shortcut will appear on the desktop to start the computer shutdown timer.

Choose the appropriate icon for the shortcut:

Right-click on the shortcut, select "Properties".
In the "Properties" window, in the "Shortcut" tab, click on the "Change Icon" button.
In the "Change Icon" window, select the appropriate icon, and then click on the "OK" button.

A timer start icon with a clear picture will appear on the Desktop.

To start the countdown to shut down the operating system, double-click on the shortcut with the left mouse button.

Starting a timer to shut down Windows 7 using a bat file - 3 way

Another quick way to turn on the countdown timer until the end of the operating system is to use an executable (batch) file with the “.bat” extension.

This file can be created using the Notepad program included with Windows.

Open Notepad, type one of the following commands:

Shutdown.exe -s -t X -c "message text" shutdown.exe -s -t X

The commands differ in that after the first command is executed, a message will appear on the screen stating that the computer will be turned off. Instead of the phrases "message text" write in English, something like "computer off timer". "X" is the time in seconds before the system shuts down.

In the save file window, in the "File type" field, select "All files", and in the "File name" field, enter any name with the ".bat" extension, for example, "PC.bat".

To start the timer, click on the ".bat" file.

Shutting down a Windows 7 computer in the Task Scheduler - 4 way

Using the Windows Task Scheduler, you can specify the time when the computer should be turned off.

On the computer.

In the main scheduler window, in the right column "Actions", select "Create a simple task ...".

In the "Create a simple task" window, give the task a name, for example, "Turn off the computer" (without quotes), and then click on the "Next" button.

In the "Task Trigger" window, select the "One time" task launch, click the "Next" button.

In the next window, set the time for the task to complete, and then click on the "Next" button.

In the Action window, select Run a program.

In the "Start the program" window, in the "Program or script" field, enter the path to the file:

C:\Windows\System32\shutdown.exe

In the "Add arguments (optional)" field, enter "-s" (without quotes), click on the "Next" button.

In the "Summary" window, review the settings, click on the "Finish" button.

Disabling the shutdown computer task in the Task Scheduler

In case of changing plans, the user can disable the task in the Task Scheduler.

In the main Task Scheduler window, in the left column, click on the "Task Scheduler Library" option. Find the task, right-click on it, select "Disable" from the context menu.

How to turn off the computer through the command line on a timer - 5 way

You can turn off the computer using the Windows 7 timer at the command line.

Launch Command Prompt.

In the command line interpreter window, enter the command, and then press the "Enter" key:

Shutdown -s -t X

"X" is the time until Windows shuts down in seconds.

Windows 7 shutdown timer is running.

The user can choose the exact time to turn off the computer. In this case, you need to run the following command:

At XX:XX shutdown /s /f

"XX:XX" - the time when you should automatically turn off the computer.

How to cancel computer shutdown via command line

If necessary, the user can disable the timer function to turn off the computer, launched in the command line.

In the command prompt window, enter the command, and after entering the command, press "Enter":

Shutdown -a

The system shutdown will be cancelled.

Article Conclusions

With the computer shutdown timer, the user can shut down the Windows 7 operating system at a specified time. The PC will automatically shut down. You can run a command to shut down the system in the Task Scheduler, in the "Run" window, on the command line, using a specially created shortcut, using the executable ".bat" file.

Users often face the task of auto-shutdown. It occurs when you need to download large files at night, when it is profitable to do this, since providers provide unlimited traffic at this time. If the download ends at three in the morning, then the computer is uselessly idle until the morning.

You may also need to turn off your computer when you are at work, such as at 11 pm or later. It may well be that you want to watch a movie in the evening, but it needs to be converted to another format. This task may take time. Then, before leaving for work, you run the converter and a program that somehow instructs the computer to turn off after a certain time.

Some programs that run for a long time have the option to turn off the computer, but unfortunately not all. Here we will look at how to solve this problem, first using the operating system itself. It's very simple.

How to set a sleep timer using Windows

Windows 10 has a shutdown utility that can be run from the command line. This program is in the system "out of the box", you do not need to search and install it. You can use this method at any time if you have admin rights, and for any home user this is always the case. The command itself in this case looks like this:

shutdown -s -t 3600

shutdown /s /t 3600

and means shutting down the computer in an hour (the time is indicated in seconds. To make it clearer, let's look at a practical example of shutting down using shutdown. You don't have to rack your brains, everything is very simple.

Let's say that in the evening you gave your computer the task of downloading large files. Knowing the size of the files and the speed of your network, you confidently expect that at three in the morning everything will be ready. Someone has to turn off the computer. But at this time you will be asleep and do not want to be disturbed. Then you need to do the following.

Look at the clock:

Since the shutdown utility requires time in seconds, there is a small inconvenience. We need to solve a small arithmetic problem. It's a quarter past ten, or twenty-two-fifteen in the military way. Until three o'clock in the morning four full hours and another forty-five minutes. You need to calculate the number of minutes and convert it to seconds:

We set the shutdown after the calculated number of seconds. To do this, in the Start menu, find the command processor cmd.exe and run this program. A command prompt window will appear and we are ready to start the timer. Let's type the command name and specify the keys. The /s switch (or -s as in Unix) tells the computer to shut down. If you want to put it into hibernation mode while saving the session, then it is enough to use h (from the word hibernate) instead of s.

The /t (time) key indicates the delay time, in our case it is 17100 seconds. If we hesitated a little, then the computer will turn off a little later, but this does not matter in this case.

It must be said that the same could be done using the Windows Task Scheduler by adding a new task to its schedule. But this way is unlikely to be better, even if it saves us from counting time. You will have to click the mouse several times more, and in the end, everything will end up in the call to the same shutdown -s, only without specifying the time (it is already known to the scheduler).

Another way to solve the problem on the command line:

at 3:00 shutdown -s

The task will appear in the scheduler. What could be easier? Unfortunately, the at command is not considered safe because it can be used to schedule unexpected actions. But a home user has nothing to worry about if his system is protected by a firewall and antiviruses.

How to disable auto power off

If for some reason you decide to do without auto-shutdown, then this is also very simple. Cancel the existing task with the command:

shutdown -a

shutdown /a

We act similarly to the previous section, run cmd.exe and issue the appropriate command in its window. The task is canceled and the computer will not turn off, but will continue to work as if nothing had happened.

Overview of programs for auto shutdown of the computer

Surprisingly, many users still have some superstitious fear of the command line. For them, software developers create window applications that do the same thing, but from a graphical interface. Such utilities can also have a number of conveniences, for example, not just set the number of seconds, but indicate the time, which, of course, is much more convenient for users.

Ultimately, they also need to be configured to turn off the PC in the desired way and at the right time. The PowerOff program is quite popular, but not among lovers of simplicity. This program has many functions, but also a rather confusing interface with seven tabs.

If your task is only to turn off the computer at a specified time, then this can be easily done using uSleepTimer. This very simple program requires you to specify the time IN which you want to turn off the computer. Again, an inconvenience.

The OffTimer program is very simple and requires you to specify the time At which the computer should be turned off. It is very comfortable. Unfortunately, it turns off the machine without saving application data. But it is better for the user to decide for himself. If he is sure that his task will be solved by the specified time, then he can be calm.

The SM Timer utility does the same as the previous one, but allows you to choose between IN and THROUGH. Time can be set by sliders or by clicking on the up or down buttons. This and the two previous utilities do not need to be installed because of their simplicity. There are a lot of such programs on the net. They help users who want to use computers but are not at all interested in them and want to get their problems solved in the simplest ways.

In various cases, it becomes possible to turn off the computer at a specified time. For example, in the evening before going to bed, when watching a movie, automatically turning off the computer will help you not to worry about it if you fall asleep.

Setting up automatic shutdown of the computer is very simple, besides, everything can be done using standard Windows tools, using the Task Scheduler, or in some other ways, which we will discuss below.

"Task Scheduler" is located in the "Administration" section of the Control Panel. Run it and create a simple task. Following the instructions of the wizard for creating tasks, specify the name of the task, select the frequency of the task launch, for example, daily. Next, you should specify the time and day from which our task of turning off the computer will be performed. In the "Action" section, select an action for the "Run the program" task. At the next step, you will need to specify the program to be launched, or rather, the script (command) to turn off the computer. Type SHUTDOWN on the "Program or Script" line, and -s -f on the "Add Arguments (Optional)" line. At the last stage, the wizard will offer to check all the parameters of the created task, and if everything is correct, then finish the creation by clicking the "Finish" button. The images below show the steps in order.

You can also configure automatic shutdown of the computer using the command line. This method is of course much simpler, though if you have ever worked with the command line. To do this, go to the menu (Start - All Programs - Accessories - Command Prompt) and write the command "shutdown /?" and press the Enter key.

After that, the parameters of our utility will appear in the command line window. In this window, we are interested in the main three parameters that are shown in the image.

What do we have and how can we use these commands?

For example, to turn off the computer after 2 hours, we need to write the command like this (shutdown -s -t 7200), and then press the Enter key. To set the right time, we need to convert hours and minutes to seconds. 7200 seconds equals 2 hours.

To cancel the specified shutdown of the computer, we need to enter the command "shutdown with the -a option". That is, we enter "shutdown -a" like this.

Also, this action can be done through the "Run" command. The image shows where this item is located.

To cancel the task, we write in the same way as in the command line "shutdown -a"

Now you know how to create an automatic computer shutdown. In conclusion, I would like to say that some programs have the ability to automatically turn off the computer upon completion of some action. These are antivirus scanners, torrent clients, defragmentation programs and others.

You could get acquainted with several simple, and not very, programs for these purposes. Programs are good because they do not require installation. Unpacked, launched, configured once and everything works. Yesterday, that's how my computer turned off. Usually in the evening, like this, you need to look on the Internet and this. Things are not important and not urgent, but they take a decent amount of time. Because of this, you go to bed late, you don’t get enough sleep in the morning and the whole day is messed up. Here, what would stop this works great. But, you can do without programs. Built-in operating system tools. Read on or watch the video at the end of the article.

Task Scheduler is a great tool for automating computer shutdown

To be honest, I rarely use this utility. However, in this case, its use is an excellent solution to our problem. Let's start the task scheduler. Open the main Start menu and select Control Panel. In Windows 8, select System and Security > Administrative Tools. In the list that appears, select Task Scheduler. In Windows 7, you can use the search in the Start menu

The Task Scheduler window opens. We pay attention to the right side. Action section. Select Create a simple task...

In the opened window, in the Name field, name the task to be created. For example Shutdown. If you want, you can briefly describe the task you are creating. Click Next >

Set the frequency of starting the task to automatically shut down the computer. I'll put it daily, Discipline is everything). Click Next >

After that, you need to set the task execution time. I’ll put it on earlier, so that every day I get up with my right foot. Click Next >

Choose to run the program (that is, do not touch anything) and click Next>

In the Program or script field, write "shutdown". In the Add arguments: field, write "/s". Click Next >

In the Finish section, click Finish

The task to automatically turn off the computer at a specified time has been created. Now, in order to edit it, you need to start the Task Scheduler again and select the Task Scheduler Library on the left side. In the middle part at the top you will see a table in which you will find the task you created. If you need to delete a task, then in the right column Actions select Delete

To edit the selected task, select Properties (above the Delete function). Go to the Triggers tab, select an entry in the table and click Edit…

Now you can schedule automatic computer shutdown at any time without the use of third-party programs.

Shutting down the computer automatically using the command line or the Run utility

If you need to perform a one-time shutdown of the computer, then this procedure can be made even easier. Using the Run utility. Open the Start menu in Windows 7 and select Run. You can find out how to make a Start button in Windows 8. In Windows 8, the Run utility can be found through Search, just like in Windows 7

In the Run window that opens, we write the already known command “shutdown / s / t 600”. Instead of 600, write the desired time in seconds before turning off the computer. And click OK

At the same time, you will immediately see a warning that your session will be terminated after the time you have selected. Click the Close button

If you need to cancel the automatic shutdown of the computer, then call the Run utility again, Enter the command "shutdown / a" and click OK

In the notification area, you will see the message "Logout canceled"

In this way, you can schedule the computer to turn off at the desired time. There is only one inconvenience - you need to calculate the number of minutes before turning off. If the time can be calculated approximately, then this is a great option for automatically shutting down the computer.

Conclusion

In this article, you learned how to auto shutdown computer using the built-in tools of the Windows operating system. These are the Task Scheduler and the built-in Run utility. Before writing this article, I thought about the Scheduler as something complicated and unnecessary. Now you can easily schedule any task, including automatic computer shutdown. The same is true for the Run utility. Previously used to call the command line.

There is another easy way to automatically turn off your computer. This is the use of gadgets. How to do it in Windows 7, see the video below

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