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I have win 10 pro. The past week or so when I boot down my laptop, it stays on the "shutting down" screen. Eventually, it completes the shut down process. Last night, it stayed on that screen. I had to disconnect my laptop from my internet connection to turn off my laptop. What is causing this?
Could be a number of things. One relatively common one is a reboot following a software update not working properly and Microsoft's updates are near top of the list for those problems. Try uninstalling the latest Windows 10 update and see if that helps.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...3-fdec12e59fb0
Also think back to when the problem started and if you had recently installed a program, a large one in particular like an antivirus.
You could also disable the fast startup feature and see if that helps...
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...9-8581d9e49096
Checking Task Manager to see what is running before shutting down might give you some clues as to what is holding up the shutdown process.
I forgot to mention in my original post that I did check task manager/startup and everything is disabled except for windows security notification icon and my vpn.
I went into installed updates and there the last windows update was performed on 10/08/24. There are 3 listed. Should I uninstall them?
I would try uninstalling them one at a time. If one is causing the problem then you'll know the other two are ok. Problem could be if there is one causing problems and it's a security related update then not installing it could be leaving your system open to a future malware issue.
Here are instructions from Microsoft on dealing with problematic updates:
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...4-e598d3b0e7a5
There may still be other things running at shutdown.
However, you could also try shutting down the VPN first, and then try a system shutdown. If that works, then you know the cause.
I disabled my 2 vpn startup listings and it still stuck at that screen for a bit then did shut down. I rebooted and enabled them both again and tried to shut down and it shut down somewhat quickly. I will monitor it for a few days and see how it goes. Also, to comment on fink's post, I do not have fast startup feature enabled.