Windows 8: Add Shut Down, Restart, Sign Out Shortcuts to the Start Screen

Following are quite a few shortcuts for handy commands such as Shut Down, Restart, Sign Out, Sleep, Lock - Switch User, and Stop Shut Down.


Each shortcut does what its name says, and all shortcuts work on all editions of Windows 8.

There are a few things to keep in mind, though.

The Shut Down shortcut won’t shut down your system immediately. It initiates the shutdown procedure, which takes a few seconds to finish.

The Stop Shut Down shortcut works only if you have used the Shut Down shortcut to shut down your system. If you have started the shutdown procedure by other means, running this shortcut probably won’t have any effect on your system.

In this article, you’ll learn how to add each of these shortcuts to the Start screen.

Step 1. Right-click or press and hold one of the shortcuts you want to pin to the Start screen.


Step 2. Click or tap Pin to Start.

Step 3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for all the shortcuts you want pinned to the Start screen and then open the Start screen.


Step 4. Drag and drop the shortcuts on the Start screen so that they are in the same group and placed in the order you want.

Close File Explorer

Make sure you don’t delete the shortcuts from the location to which you downloaded them. If you do, they will stop working because the Start screen will point to files that no longer exist.