How to remove shutdown option in start menu of Windows 10

I have a PC that should always be on. I recently upgraded to Windows 10 from Windows 7. In Windows 7 I changed the default action of the power button in the start menu to log off from my machine so that I could not accidentally shut it off. However in Windows 10 the start menu changed and this doesn't appear to be possible anymore?

I wonder how the shutdown option can be removed from the start menu. I cannot find any information about it but I expect this to be possible.

Windows 10 shutdown option


I found this to work. This is more of a reply so people searching google can find this answer.

open regedit and go to: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\default\Start\HideShutDown

open the key that says value and change it to 1. Your Shutdown option is now removed for everyone, but all other options are still there. This includes the sign on screen, and alt+ctrl+del screen.

Change it to 0 to bring it back.

This just removes the menu options, wont prevent shutdowns from users with the policy to issue the shutdown command via a command or separate program.

To remove from an already configured profile, change the associated keys in: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\current\device\Start


To remove the Shut Down, Restart, Sleep, and Hibernate commands from the Start menu and from the screen that is displayed after pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete:

  1. Open the Local Group Policy Editor (run gpedit in the Command prompt).
  2. Go to: User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar
  3. Set "Remove and prevent access to the Shut Down, Restart, Sleep, and Hibernate commands" to Enabled

It does not prevent users from:

  • running other programs that perform these functions. For example in the Command prompt they can run: shutdown /s to shutdown the computer or shutdown /r to restart the computer.
  • log off from Windows and then shutdown or restart the computer.

The Group Policy Editor is available only in Pro, Enterprise and Education editions of Windows 10, and not in Windows 10 Home.

More info is given on these pages:

  • https://www.thewindowsclub.com/remove-shutdown-power-button-login-start-menu
  • https://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/prevent-shutdown-of-windows/

The answer is based on Paweł Iwaneczko's answer, which unfortunately didn't work for me.