Fix: ‘This App is Preventing Shutdown’ issue in Windows 11/10

In this article we will show you how to Fix ‘This App is Preventing Shutdown’ issue in Windows 11/10. When a third-party app is working and its data is not being saved, and the user suddenly tries to shut down Windows, the user gets the “This app is preventing shutdown” error. You might get this error if you haven’t saved the app’s info or if the system settings are set up wrong. But from a technical point of view, all apps and tasks must be closed before Windows can be shut down.

“This app is keeping me from shutting down” isn’t a very odd thing to see in Windows. You may have seen this message when you tried to turn off your computer while an app was still running. Most of the time, clicking the “Shut down anyway” button stops all open programs. But it gets old when you have to listen to the same word over and over. Most of the time, harmful programs are also to blame when Windows won’t shut down.

Also, the icon that shows up on the screen might be something you don’t know, which makes it harder to figure out what’s wrong. In any case, this piece will help you figure out what’s wrong and how to fix ‘This App is Preventing Shutdown’ issue in Windows 11/10. If you want to know more information about this visit official Microsoft support site.

Ending the task via Task Manager

Some users have said that the problem can also happen when an app is running in the background. This is hard because there doesn’t seem to be a way to deal with data that hasn’t been saved to make the error message go away.

There are a few common villains that are known to cause this behavior, mostly Brother Printer & Fax Machine drivers and other printer drivers that only run in the background. Some people who were affected have been able to fix the problem by closing the process that was causing it with the Task Manager. Here’s a quick explanation of how to Fix ‘This App is Preventing Shutdown’ issue in Windows 11/10:

1. To open Task Manager, press Ctrl + Shift + Esc. Then, go to the Processes tab and look for the process with the same picture as the one in the alert.
2. Right-click on the process you want to end and select “End Task.”
3. Once the response process has been turned off, you should be able to shut down without getting the “This app is preventing shutdown” message.

Using Registry Editor to prevent the alert

There is one way to get rid of the “This app is preventing shutdown” warning message for good. Using a hack in the Registry Editor, you can program your OS so that all open programs with unsaved data will close immediately as soon as you start the Windows shutdown process.

Before you go any further, you should make a copy of your data just in case something goes wrong and you can’t fix it. This will make sure that you never get the alert again, but it could also cause you to lose some data you haven’t saved yet if you start the stop process before you’re ready.

1. Press the Windows key and the letter R to bring up the Run box. Then press Enter after typing “regedit” to open Registry Editor.
2. Using the left side of Registry Editor, go to the following location:
   • Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
3. Once you’re in the right place, move to the right pane and right-click somewhere empty. Then, go to File > New > String value and give it the name AutoEndTasks.
4. Double-click on the newly made String value (AutoEndTasks) and change the value data to 1. Then, click OK to save your changes.
5. Close Registry Editor, and then restart your computer for the changes to take effect.
6. At the next startup, the newly created string value (AutoEndTask) will make sure that all programs stop automatically as soon as you click the Shutdown button, even if they have data that hasn’t been saved.

Using Event Viewer to find the process responsible for the warning message

If you think an application process is causing the delay but can’t figure out which one, there is a way to find out which one. Some users who were in the same situation have said that they were able to use the Event Viewer to find out which program was sending the warning message. Here’s a quick guide on how to use the Event Viewer to figure out which process is causing the “This app is preventing shutdown” message:

1. Do what you would normally do to shut down.
2. When you see the “This app is preventing shutdown” message, click the “Cancel” button to stop the shutdown process.
3. Press the Windows key and the letter R to bring up the Run box. Then, press Enter after typing “eventvwr.msc” to open the Event Viewer tool.
4. Use the menu on the left side of the Event Viewer tool to choose Windows Logs. Then, double-click on Application to bring up the Application events in the right-hand bar.
5. Under the list of events, in the Application area, look for an event that says “The following application tried to stop the shutdown.” It will be in the General tab. Since you just made the warning message show up, it should be one of the first items since the default order is by date/time.
6. After the colon, you can find the executable that is causing the warning sign. If you don’t know what it is, you can Google it and find out what tool it goes with.
7. Once you figure out which program is causing the problem, press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open the Task Manager. Then, click on the Processes tab and close the app that was causing the problem.

Closing all applications with unsaved data

If you can find the program that the shutdown warning refers to, you can get rid of the warning message by opening the program that deals with the data that hasn’t been saved and stopping it. To do this, just click “Cancel,” open the program that needs to be changed, and save the changes before trying to shut down again.

Obviously, these steps won’t work if the problem is caused by a background app or if you can’t figure out which process is at fault. If this method doesn’t work for you or you want to find a way to get rid of the warning message fully, move on to the next method.

Why Does This Error Message Appear?

This usually happens when there are background apps that need to be shut down properly. Before shutting down or turning off, it’s best to close all apps that are open. You might also see the “app is preventing Windows shutdown” error if Windows files are damaged or if a Windows update is still downloading. This mistake can also be caused by the way Windows is set up.