Have you ever left your computer on just because some app or task needed more time to finish? Well, no need to do this anymore. Thanks to this clever reddit user, you can easily create a shutdown timer shortcut on your Windows desktop.
Double-clicking on this shortcut will schedule a system shutdown after the period of time you entered while creating it. And I’ll show you how to make one in a moment.
The best part is, there are no additional apps or extensions needed – this simple trick lets you create a shutdown timer shortcut on your Windows desktop using the system’s capabilities.
Create a shutdown timer
Creating a shutdown timer without a desktop shortcut is a manual process and you will need to use Command Prompt for this purpose which you can access by right-clicking on the Start button. Then type the following:
-s -t XXXX
‘XXXX’ is the time in seconds after which the Windows will initiate the shutdown. So, if you want your PC to shut down after an hour type ‘3600’ instead of ‘XXXX’, ‘7200’ if you want it closed after two hours and so on.
Create a shutdown timer shortcut on your Windows desktop
If you need to use this command often, it’s better to create a shutdown timer desktop shortcut. In this case, you’ll need to right-click on the desktop and in the context menu select New -> Shortcut.
Now you will need to type the following command into the text field:
shutdown.exe -s -t XXXX
Needless to say, ‘XXXX’ is the elapsed time in seconds just like when using the Command Prompt. Then press Next and give your shortcut a relevant name.
Cancel the shutdown timer
Regardless if you’re using the Command Prompt or a shortcut to initiate a shutdown timer, there may be times when you change your mind and no longer wish your PC to turn off. In this case, you can cancel the timer by entering ‘shutdown -a’ in Command Prompt or by creating another shortcut via the desktop context menu by entering ‘shutdown.exe -a’ in the text field.
