Two ways to make Windows 10 shut down at a specified time

If you want your Windows 10 PC to shut down at a specific time, you don't need fancy apps, the ones you already have will do.

Although you can automatically shut down your system after a set amount of time with just a few commands at the command prompt, there are apps available to do the heavy lifting for you.

Whichever method you choose (this article covers both), having your PC turn off after a set amount of time is a handy trick in a pinch.

For example, let's say you copy a lot of files or download a large game. If you leave your desk or go to bed in the middle of the day, you don't want the system running for hours after you're done.

Of course, you can set your PC to go to sleep or turn off your monitor at a set time, but that's not the case.

After a few tries myself, I found that it didn't even bother putting the system to sleep.

Show Command Prompt and Shut Down

Let's start with the basic method.

Open a normal 'Command Prompt' and type shutdown -s -t [seconds].

Replace [seconds] with the number of seconds you want the system to wait before shutting down. Let's convert minutes to seconds as follows:

If you make a mistake or don't want the shutdown timer anymore, you can always cancel it by typing shutdown -a.

If you want to restart your PC instead of shutting it down, replace the '-s' flag with the '-r' flag.

Creating Command Shortcuts

Also, you can copy this command to a Windows shortcut if you find it difficult to operate at the command prompt.

If you want more options, you can create multiple shortcuts with different time settings.

Use the App to Set a Timer

Or you might want a simple app that does these tricks for you.

In that case, I recommend checking out the open source Shutdown Timer Classic, available on both GitHub and the Windows Store.

When you open this app on your system, you will find a small UI to set the countdown conveniently (not just seconds, but also hours/minutes/seconds).

You can also lock the shutdown timer with a password if you want to use this as a really effective way to discourage your child from playing Minecraft when it's time to go to bed.

But what I like the most is this countdown timer. You can't miss this.

Unlike the Command Prompt method of silently closing the system, having a countdown timer will give you a good idea of ​​when to reboot the system.

When you get Shutdown Timer Classic from GitHub, you can choose between a standalone version and an installer-based version of the app. I recommend the former.

This is the kind of app that only runs "when needed", so you don't have to install it on your system, just pull it out and set a timer when you want to use it.

That said, the Windows Store always offers the latest version of the app, so either version is fine.

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Source: GitHub / Windows Store
David Murphy – Lifehacker US [original]