W11 began to shut down more slowly
W11 began to shut down more slowly
The system boots quickly and starts promptly. When I powered down the PC, the process was almost instant. Now, when shutting down, it takes several seconds longer, around 20 or more. I sometimes turn off the power strip when I’m in a hurry, and it doesn’t seem to affect performance. There’s minimal hardware installed—just a few drives and remote access tools. The main issue appears to be software updates that may have slowed down the shutdown process. Regarding safety, it’s generally fine to power off while the screen displays "shutting down," but ensure no critical processes are running.
The issue might stem from numerous programs launching automatically. Open Task Manager and check the startup items. Press Win + Shift + S to capture a screenshot. The interface should appear as shown. This could also be due to an update; I’m using a Core 2 Duo with Windows 11, which shuts down faster than your setup, while mine runs on an older Windows 11 version. The Windows login tool is called Event Viewer.
Nothing really should start. but for some reason the Citrix software stills tarts up despite being disabled. hat is a software my wife uses to remote in and she has a different account on this PC. so this may impact startup. I'm not sure if there was an option for her to install it for just her, or "all users"and if that can be changed after the fact. Same for the NEG software she uses. but that dent's to start up but it seems to be running: i looked into task scheduler, but thee was no citrix i found some other items i deleted or modified to only run daily, though. Where exactly in event viewer can i see what runs during shit down? I followed this procedure , and got these events. the critical one seems to be me cutting power due to impatience
I changed the Citrix settings in "Services" to manual and it stopped working properly, but it’s not showing up in processes either. That should improve the startup issue. I also updated the chip driver, which makes the PC function a bit better. Still, it takes a long time to shut down now. Most users probably don’t mind slow shutdowns as long as it starts up correctly. But this setup feels like a major drop from when the machine was new.
Shutdown is a normal process that doesn’t happen instantly. It begins when Windows sends a notification to all active programs and services, letting them know the system is about to power down. This can cause applications to pause and say things like “Wait Windows! I need a moment to close” or “WAAAAIIT!!! Stop the shutdown!”—often indicating an unsaved document or project. This stage usually takes the longest on systems using SSDs, especially when performance drops during shutdown. At this point, the screen stays visible, then Windows enters a partial hibernation mode for a quicker restart. That’s why shutdown starts faster than a full reboot. Essentially, Windows saves drivers and settings before shutting down, so it doesn’t have to wait for them to load. During this time, the display turns black, and a shutdown command is sent to hardware to disconnect safely and prevent data loss. Microsoft offers tools for troubleshooting, though they’re mainly aimed at developers. A helpful guide was found on SuperUser (2011), but it may not reflect current practices.
Thanks for clarifying. The explanation is helpful. At one point closing was quite quick—around three seconds or less. I mainly use Chrome and don’t have any office software installed. I discovered a W11 SDK version, and the performance recorder worked well. Initially, I thought a VMWare process (remote software provided by my employer) might be the issue, but that wasn’t the case once I switched to manual services. I noticed Malwarebytes and NisSrv.exe running; the latter appears to be Microsoft Security Essentials. I couldn’t disable Malwarebytes without removing it first, and I didn’t want to turn off Security Essentials. I’m unsure how to interpret the performance logs better. The “generic events” section shows many entries when I hover over them. If you can point out what to look for in more detail, I’d be happy to help further. Edit: I uninstalled Malwarebytes to test. Shutdown now takes about 15 seconds. Now logonui.exe is the slowest. I’m not sure if I’m viewing the right data... Edit 2: After reinstalling Malwarebytes, shutdown time increased to 30 seconds. So it seems the main problem is still there. But since I need to keep using Malwarebytes, I’m worried about long shutdowns.
Just circling back to this. shutdown time is back at 9s from the original 30s!!!! Besides the typical trouble-shooting, I think these 2 things contributed the most I de-installed Malwarebytes . that brought it to 15 seconds I fixed a slow SSD write speed issue. Thanks to everyone who chimed in. I hope this helps someone.