Q: How can I add Shutdown and Restart tiles directly to the Windows 8 Start screen?
Learn how to create a shortcut in Windows 8 to the shutdown.exe command to add Shutdown and Restart tiles to the Start screen.
September 29, 2012
A: The easiest way to add Shutdown and Restart tiles to the Windows 8 Start menu is to create a shortcut to the shutdown.exe command in the C:ProgramDataMicrosoftWindowsStart MenuPrograms. To create the shortcut, first create it on the desktop, then copy it over:
Right-click the desktop and select New - Shortcut.
Enter the shortcut as the following:
c:windowssystem32shutdown.exe /s /t 0
and click Next
For the shortcut name, change to Shutdown and click Finish.
Right-click the shortcut and select Properties.
Click Change Icon... (ignore the error that no icons are available and click OK).
The icon file for %SystemRoot%system32SHELL32.dll will open; select the Shutdown icon, then click OK (see screen shot below).
Click OK to the main properties dialog box.
Copy the shortcut to C:ProgramDataMicrosoftWindowsStart MenuPrograms.
You can now copy the shortcut in-place, rename it to Reboot, and change the properties so the command is "C:WindowsSystem32shutdown.exe /r /t 0" and pick an alternate icon. Here are other shortcuts you might want to create:
Lock Workstation - rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation
Hibernate Computer - rundll32.exe powrProf.dll,SetSuspendState
Sleep Computer - rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState 0,1,0
Learn more about the Windows 8 Start screen and how to force a full shutdown of a Windows 8 machine.
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