Win10 Shutdown versus Restart

[ChrisGreaves]

I found this article interesting.
I am still wading through Win10 reading material.and to clarify my mind wrote up the differences between recover/reset/restart/restore.
The article linked above indicates that Shutdown saves a live copy of the kernel for a fast startup, whereas the Restart command flushes everything.

This is contrary to everything I ever believed about Windows from 3.1 or whenever.

Until this morning, I thought of "Shutdown" in Windows as the equivalent of literally pulling the plug on a DOS system. Memory flushed, everything is just a pile of plastic and silicon. I thought of Restart as a faster way of "Press the Power button; wait a few seconds; then press the Power button".
The Power button was effective as a Shutdown, which was a back-to-cold-silicon state. Restart merely automated the process of pressing the Power button twice; off, then on.

Now I believe I have to use Restart to flush everything, and Shutdown if I just want an automated way of re-booting the system.

Thanks for any clarification.
Chris

[HansV]

As mentioned in that article, Windows 10 has a feature called "Fast Startup" that is turned on by default. This prevents Shut Down followed by power up from being equivalent to Restart.
I recommend disabling Fast Startup - in my experience it causes more problems than it's worth. To do so:

Press the Windows key or click the Start button.
Type control panel and press Enter.
Select 'Hardware and Sound'.

S3413.png

Under 'Power Options', select 'Change what the power buttons do'.

S3414.png

Click 'Change settings that are currently unavailable'.

S3415.png

Clear the check box 'Turn on fast startup (Recommended)', then click 'Save changes'.

S3416.png

After this, Shut Down followed by power up will be equivalent to Restart.

[ChrisGreaves]

As mentioned in that article, Windows 10 has a feature called "Fast Startup" ... After this, Shut Down followed by power up will be equivalent to Restart.

Thanks for tjhis, Hans; noted and filed against the day I get to implement it.

In the meantime, is my thinking correct? Win10 "Shutdown" and "Restart", out of the box, are the reverse of what has been the case since about 1990?

Thanks again.
Chris

[HansV]

Well, not quite the reverse, but certainly different than in older versions of Windows.

[stuck]

noted and filed against the day I get to implement it.

UNfile it, do it NOW! It takes seconds to do.

As Hans has already said it causes more trouble than it is worth.

Ken

[stuck]

If you want a simple double click to shutdown, as in completely power down your system, then:
1) look in this folder:
    C:\WINDOWS\system32
2) find this file:
    shutdown.exe
3) copy that file
4) switch to your desktop
5) RIGHT click and choose 'Paste shortcut'

Having done that you can right click on the shortcut and via 'properties', 'change icon', 'OK' pick the red icon that looks like a power button.

Ken

[Rebel]

UNfile it, do it NOW! It takes seconds to do.

As Hans has already said it causes more trouble than it is worth.

Ken

I've noted this opinion several times in various Lounge posts. Can either you or Hans share exactly what problems or troubles (actual as well as potential) have been caused or may be caused by the Fast Startup" option?

Thanks Ken.

[HansV]

For one thing, see https://www.howtogeek.com/243901/the-pr ... rtup-mode/

When I had Fast Startup enabled, I noticed in the Reliability History that a process crashed each time I shut down the computer (I don't remember which one it was). Although that might not be serious, I didn't like it.

[BobH]

I could not find a "Turn on fast start up . . . " option on my old HP laptop. I found several 'sleep' options.

[Rebel]

Thanks for that link Hans. Interesting reading.

[stuck]

I'm sorry, I can't remember the problem it caused for me, nor can I find a post by me that led me to turn it it off but I do know Things Were Better^TM after I turned it off.

My machine boots so fast anyway that I suspect fast startup could at best shorten the boot sequence by only a few seconds. My life is not so pressured I need to gain that time.

Ken

[HansV]

I could not find a "Turn on fast start up . . . " option on my old HP laptop. I found several 'sleep' options.

Do you have Windows 10 on that laptop?
If so, did you follow the instructions that I posted?

[StuartR]

Fast startup doesn't make much difference to startup time, but because it doesn't reload all of the drivers and other system code it can lead to issues when you are shutting down to try and resolve a problem.

[BobH]

I could not find a "Turn on fast start up . . . " option on my old HP laptop. I found several 'sleep' options.

Do you have Windows 10 on that laptop?
If so, did you follow the instructions that I posted?

Yes, and yes.

[HansV]

You may have to enable hibernating for the 'Fast Startup' option to show up. See Fix Hibernate, Fast Startup missing / not showing in Power Options - Windows 10 (that article is from Lenovo, but it applies to Windows 10 in general)

[ChrisGreaves]

UNfile it, do it NOW! It takes seconds to do.

Hi ken.
Actually I did modify the setting, but right now i am in a preliminary look-and-see with Win10 on the new machine, reading as much as i can, saving notes on what to tweak when I start up.

Learning that "shutdown" and "restart" had changed their meanings was an example of part of this learning process.

FWIW I am having problems making a bootable backup, but that's a story for another thread. Until I have resolved the UEFI thing I feel somewhat reluctant to make too many changes.
Cheers
Chris

[ChrisGreaves]

Fast startup doesn't make much difference to startup time, but because it doesn't reload all of the drivers and other system code it can lead to issues when you are shutting down to try and resolve a problem.

Thanks for this, Stuart.
"I wish I'd said that!".
In the past I thought of "shutdown" as a way to restart Windows at a known "cold" state, brought about by a process equivalent to cutting the power.
Of course, even a DOS system could be changed by virtue of the equivalent of INI files.
I think that Shutdown (Win10) does still revert to a cold-state, but the state might change to reflect what was being done in the previous session. For example, files (DLL/drivers etc) which were in use might be left hovering around, whereas in (say) WinXP they would have to be reloaded afresh.
Cheers
Chris

[JoeP]

The way shutdown acts in Windows 10 depends on the Fast Startup setting. If Fast Startup is disabled shutdown acts in the manner most are know - everything is powered off, nothing is saved, requires a cold boot to start. If Fast Startup is enabled all applications are closed and users are logged off. Then the machine state is saved to the hibernation file and the machine is powered off. On a boot the system state is restored from the hibernation file and the boot proceeds to user logon.

See The Pros and Cons of Windows 10’s “Fast Startup” Mode for a more detailed discussion.

[JoeP]

To my knowledge, the restart functionality has not changed. Restart ignores the Fast Startup setting, shuts down all programs/apps, logs off all users, shuts down all system processes, restarts the machine.

Note: the difference between restart and shutdown without fast startup is that restart does not power off the system. The physical connections are not electrically reset as with shutdown.

[ChrisGreaves]

The way shutdown acts in Windows 10 depends on the Fast Startup setting. If Fast Startup is disabled shutdown acts in the manner most are know - everything is powered off, nothing is saved, requires a cold boot to start. If Fast Startup is enabled all applications are closed and users are logged off. Then the machine state is saved to the hibernation file and the machine is powered off. On a boot the system state is restored from the hibernation file and the boot proceeds to user logon.

Hi Joe, and thanks for all the comments.
It might have made more sense if MS had used an existing term "Hibernate" for the shutdown-with-fast-restart condition.

To my knowledge, the restart functionality has not changed. ... Note: the difference between restart and shutdown without fast startup is that restart does not power off the system. The physical connections are not electrically reset as with shutdown.

That was always my understanding. "Restart" was as effective as me manually shutting down ther system, waiting until the vibration noise stopped, then pressing the power-on button. "Restart" was an automated "power off, wait, power-on" procedure.

Cheers
Chris