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Wondering how easy it is to restart or shut down Windows 11? As you will see in this guide, it is very easy to restart windows 11!
Method 1: Restart with the Mouse or Keyboard Shortcuts
The easiest and most common way to restart Windows is by using your mouse. In addition to using your mouse, you can also use multiple keyboard shortcuts to shut down or restart Windows.
Option 1: Restart from Start Menu
You can restart or shut down Windows by either left-clicking or right-clicking the Start menu.
To restart by right-clicking the Start menu:
Right-click the Start menu and point to Shut down or sign out. Then, from the displayed options, select Restart.
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If you plan to Shut down Windows, select Shut down instead of Restart. You can also select any of the options in the Shut down or sign out sub-menu.
Alternatively, you can restart Windows 11 by left-clicking the Start menu. Then, on the far right of the Start menu, left-click the Power button.
Finally, from the displayed options, click Restart.
Option 2: Restart Windows 11 with Keyboard Shortcuts
To restart Windows with the Alt + F4 keyboard shortcuts:
- Close or minimize all active windows.
- Press Alt + F4. When you press this keyboard shortcut, Windows 11 will display the Shut Down Windows screen.
- Click the Shut down drop-down and select Restart.
- Finally, to restart Windows 11 by pressing the keyboard Alt + F4, click the OK button.
There is another keyboard shortcut that you can use to restart Windows 11 – Ctrl + Alt + Delete. When you press these 3 keys simultaneously, Windows 11 will display the Lock, Switch user, Sign out, and Task Manager.
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In addition to these, Windows 11 will also display some icons at the bottom right of the screen. One of the keys displayed at the bottom right is the power button.
To restart Windows 11, click the Power button, then select Restart.
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- Click the Windows 11 search and type cmd.
- Then, right-click Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.
- Windows 11 will display User Account Control, requesting you to allow Command Prompt to make changes to your computer. Select Yes.
Command Prompt will open. - At the Command Prompt, enter the command below and press Enter.
shutdown -r
Your computer will display a shutdown notification, then restart.
You can also restart Windows using PowerShell, by following the steps below:
- Click the Windows 11 search and type powershell.
- Then, right-click Windows PowerShell and select Run as administrator.
- Windows 11 will display User Account Control, requesting you to allow PowerShell to make changes to your computer. Select Yes.
- When the Windows PowerShell prompt opens, to restart Windows 11, type the command below and press Enter.
Restart-Computer
Method 3: Restart from Windows Update
If there are pending updates, you can restart Windows from Windows Update. Follow the steps below to restart Windows using this method.
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- Right-click the Windows 11 Start menu and select Settings.
- Then, at the bottom of Windows Settings left pane, click Windows Update.
- Finally, there will be a restart now button if there are pending Windows updates. Click the button to restart Windows.
Method 4: Schedule Windows 11 Shutdown or Restart
With all the methods discussed so far, you have to restart Windows physically. However, there is a way to automate Windows restart.
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If you want to schedule Windows to shut down or restart daily, weekly, or monthly, use the steps below:
- Open the Windows 11 search and search task scheduler. Then, click Task Scheduler from the displayed search results.
- On the left pane of Task Scheduler, right-click Task Scheduler (Local), then select Create Task…
- On the first screen of the Create Task wizard, enter Restart Windows 11 as the name. Alternatively, you can use any name you like.
Then, click the Triggers tab.
- When the Triggers tab opens, to add a new trigger (what triggers the shutdown), click New…
- Then, select Daily, Weekly, or Monthly on the New Trigger window. Moreover, depending on your selection, make additional selections.
For the purpose of this demo, I selected Weekly, then chose the first restart to happen on Sunday 15th May 2022. Finally, I set the restart time.
When you finish setting your new trigger, click OK (2), bottom right. Task Scheduler will return you to the Create Task window.
- In the Create Task window, click the Actions tab.
- When the Actions tab opens, click New…
- When the New Action window opens, in the Program/script field, enter…
C:\Windows\System32\shutdown.exe
Then, in the Add augment (optional) field, enter…
-r
Finally, when you’re done, click OK. Windows Task Scheduler will return you to the New Task window.
- Finally, to schedule Windows 11 restart, click OK on the New Task window.
- To confirm that your Windows 11 restart scheduled task is set up, right-click Task Scheduler Library and select refresh. Once you’ve done this, the new scheduled task will be displayed in the middle pane.
Frequently Asked Questions
One method to find the Restart button in Windows 11 is by left-clicking the Start menu, then clicking the Power bottom (far right). Finally, you will find the Restart button above the Power button.
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There are two ways you can restart your laptop with Windows 11 keyboard – by pressing Alt + F4 or Ctrl + Alt + Del.
The most likely reason Alt F4 is not working is that you have an active window of another application. For example, if you have a browser open and press Alt + F4, the browser window will close instead of opening the Windows shutdown window.
To ensure that Alt + F4 opens the Windows shutdown window, close all active windows before pressing Alt + F4 keys.
To restart a frozen computer, press and hold the power button until the computer powers down. Then, press the power button again to restart the computer.
Yes, Alt + F4 work on Windows 11. When you press Alt + F4 keys simultaneously, Windows 11 displays the Shut Down Windows screen.
If Alt + F4 does not open this window, ensure that all active windows (like an open browser) are closed before you press Alt + F4 keys. 
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Conclusion
You have numerous options, whether you want to restart Windows 11 during a workday or schedule a restart. I have shared six methods to restart Microsoft’s latest Windows in this guide.
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Firstly, you can restart Windows from the Start menu. In addition to that, you can also restart Windows with Command Prompt or Windows PowerShell.
Finally, you can even schedule Windows 11 to restart daily, weekly, or monthly.
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