An old question

drjackool

Distinguished
Dec 5, 2013
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Hi
I have an old question, In Windows XP or older when Shutting down the system by the power button is faster than using shutdown menu item in the Start menu as some seconds. WHY?
I don't think the mouse and shutdown dialog box processing is the answer.
 
Solution


3 different ways to shut down
Short press on the power button:
Mostly the same as via the shutdown menu, IF the OS supports that

Shutdown menu:
The OS has a chance to do whatever cleanup it needs to do

Hold the power button for x secs:
Power off NOW. Ignoring whatever the OS wants to do.

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator


Shutting down via the power button is simply turning it off.

Shutting down via the menu allows the OS to do some cleanup operations, and then turn off. The drive may be doing some transient write operations that needs to be completed.

Shut down via the menu. Just the power button will eventually result in some corrupted data.
 
There should be little to no difference since both go through the same code path. The power button (unless otherwise configured in BIOS) sends an ACPI shutdown message same as going through <Start>-<Shutdown>. A difference will come when you have configured Windows power options to treat the message from the power button as either a sleep command or do nothing.
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator


3 different ways to shut down
Short press on the power button:
Mostly the same as via the shutdown menu, IF the OS supports that

Shutdown menu:
The OS has a chance to do whatever cleanup it needs to do

Hold the power button for x secs:
Power off NOW. Ignoring whatever the OS wants to do.
 
Solution