There are several ways to restart, hibernate, sleep, or shutdown Windows 8, but none of them are exactly intuitive. Microsoft has brought back the Start button in Windows 8.1, now in public preview, and it allows shutting down your computer much easier.
Shutdown Windows 8.1 from Start Button
Right click the Start Button and it will display the power user menu. You can also bring up the power user menu by hitting Windows Key + X on the keyboard. Then just go to Shut down then you can select between Sleep, Shut down, or Restart. Here’s an example of the Start button on the desktop.
The Start button is also available from Start Screen. Just hover your mouse in the lower left corner to display it. In this example I have it pulled up while in the App Switcher.
To get the Hibernate option, simply follow my article: How To Enable Hibernate Mode in Windows 8
If you’re waiting until the final version of Windows 8.1 to upgrade, here’s a few ways to make shutting it down easier:
- Windows 8 Shutdown, Restart, Sleep or Hibernate Roundup
- Program the Power Button to Shutdown Windows 8
Wow! The great new improvement is to shutdown easier! How underwhelming. Hard to believe a once great company like Microsoft produces a flagship OS disaster like Window 8, and it so difficult to shutdown that the GIGANTIC new improved version, get this, can NOW be shutdown easier! That’s like Honda releasing a new car with the brake pedal in the trunk and then for next year’s model they tout that they’ve now moved the brake pedal to the backseat to make the car easier to stop!
Amen Asok.
The team that engineered where to put the shutdown, sleep and restart features for Windows 8 need to be beaten senseless. I thought that the first time I installed Win8 and had to actually SEARCH for how to restart my PC.
Just insane that we have to write tips on how to find this most basic feature…
-S
The first thing I did after installing Win 8 was slap a shutdown & restart shortcut on the desktop – the 3 step shutdown option is crazy; still love Win 8’s speed boost though