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MetroDolphin153's avatar
MetroDolphin153
Copper Contributor
Aug 04, 2026

Windows does not shut down when pressing enter

Windows 11 does not shut down when I select the shut down option with my mouse and press the enter button to confirm; instead, it only goes into stand-by mode. I either have to use my mouse to confirm shutting down, or select the option for shutting down with my keyboard. I just noticed this bug today after I wondered many times why my PC has been going in stand-by mode instead of shutting down for days. I have always been selecting said option with my mouse while confirming it via the enter key and never experienced this inconvenience, so this must have been introduced with a recent Windows update.

Am I the only one having this issue? Is it a bug or intended (the latter wouldn't make any sense IMHO)?

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2 Replies

  • Fabrum's avatar
    Fabrum
    Iron Contributor
    Aug 05, 2026

    Scroll down and click on Additional power settings under Related Settings.

  • Eric_Brooks's avatar
    Eric_Brooks
    Brass Contributor
    Aug 04, 2026

    This is most likely intended keyboard-focus behaviour, although it can feel like a regression. The Power menu does not have a separate confirmation step: moving the mouse over Shut down does not necessarily move keyboard focus to it. Pressing Enter activates whichever command still has keyboard focus, which may be Sleep.

    So using the mouse to hover or visually select Shut down, then pressing Enter, is not a reliable input sequence in the current menu. There is no Windows setting that makes mouse hover over Shut down transfer keyboard focus to it. If this definitely worked differently before, restart File Explorer from Task Manager, install pending Windows updates, and test again. If directly clicking Shut down with the mouse also puts the PC to sleep, that would be a bug. Otherwise, this is a confusing design choice rather than a shutdown failure.