How to fix error windows-restart-instead-of-shutdown in Windows 11

Solution Steps

1. 1 Press Windows key + R to open the Run dialog. Type 'control' and press Enter to open the Control Panel. Navigate to 'Hardware and Sound' > 'Power Options'. On the left, click 'Choose what the power buttons do'. Click 'Change settings that are currently unavailable' at the top. Uncheck 'Turn on fast startup (recommended)' and click 'Save changes'. This disables Fast Startup, which is a common cause of the restart issue.
2. 2 Press Windows key + X and select 'Device Manager'. Expand 'Display adapters', right-click your graphics card, and select 'Update driver'. Choose 'Search automatically for drivers'. If no update is found, go to your GPU manufacturer's website (NVIDIA, AMD, Intel) and download the latest driver. Outdated or buggy drivers can cause power state issues.
3. 3 Press Windows key + R, type 'cmd', and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter to open Command Prompt as administrator. Type 'powercfg /h off' and press Enter. This disables hibernation, which is another feature that can interfere with shutdown. It also frees up disk space.
4. 4 Press Windows key + I to open Settings. Go to 'System' > 'Power & battery'. Under 'Power', click 'Additional power settings'. Then click 'Choose what the power buttons do' and 'Change settings that are currently unavailable'. Uncheck 'Turn on fast startup' if it's still enabled. Also, check 'Sleep' settings and set 'Sleep' to 'Never' temporarily to see if that helps.
5. 5 If the issue persists, restart your PC and press the BIOS key (usually Del, F2, or F10) during boot. In the BIOS, look for 'Power Management' or 'ACPI' settings. Ensure 'ACPI' is enabled and 'Wake on LAN' is disabled. Save and exit. This ensures the hardware is configured to shut down properly.