# How long do you need to hold down the power button to turn off a PC?

Home Windows How long do you need to hold down the power button to turn off a PC? Raymond Chen published another story from the Windows development trenches, this time about what happens when you hold down the power button. If you hold a PC’s power button for 12 seconds, it will turn off at the hardware level without notifying the operating system. This is a safety feature so that you can turn of the computer even if the operating system’s “Shut down” command isn’t working. After eight seconds of the power button being held down, the Windows kernel realizes that the user is trying to

https://www.osnews.com/story/146273/how-long-do-you-need-to-hold-down-the-power-button-to-turn-off-a-pc/

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Created: 2026-10-31T08:09:51.039604+00:00

Last edited: 2026-10-31T08:09:51.039604+00:00

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Origin: Syndicated

Original source: https://www.osnews.com/story/146273/how-long-do-you-need-to-hold-down-the-power-button-to-turn-off-a-pc/