“Update and Shutdown” Actually Restarts Your PC (but a Solution Is Coming Soon)
Computers should be straightforward. When you select a function, it should do what its name says. So, when you click “Update and Shut Down” on your computer, you expect it to install all available updates and then shut down. Simple.
As you might expect from the title, this isn’t actually the case. For some reason, when you select “Update and Shut Down,” Windows only processes the first half of the command. Sure, updates will download and install, but if you observe your computer, you’ll see that it doesn’t shut down, but rather restarts. This can be surprising, especially if you walked away from your computer, thinking it would completely shut down. After all, that’s what Microsoft and the rest of the computer industry typically means by “shut down.”
The consequences can range from annoying to detrimental. If you don’t want your computer to work, you’ll likely be frustrated to find it still on when you return. But if you have a Windows laptop, this feature could be draining your battery. You assumed the computer would shut down and the battery would remain roughly the same as when you left it. But now you have a dead or dying computer, and you have to worry about how to charge it—all because you trusted a feature that promised to shut it down.
A bug that has been a long time in the making
Interestingly, Microsoft hasn’t fixed this issue for quite some time. According to Windows Latest , the problem is caused by a bug that appeared in Windows 10. Microsoft simply never fixed it, and it migrated to Windows 11. If you’re a long-time Windows user, you’ve probably been experiencing this strange situation for years.
Fortunately, this is changing. Microsoft has added a fix for this issue as part of the optional October 2025 update KB5067036. For the rest of us, the company is including this fix in Microsoft’s November Patch Tuesday update. This update is scheduled to release on November 11, as Patch Tuesday updates are released on the second Tuesday of each month.
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Windows Latest contacted Microsoft to determine the cause of this error but received no response. The publication speculates that the issue likely lies with the Windows servicing stack —the part of the OS responsible for installing updates. For some reason, the “shutdown” task doesn’t persist after Windows updates are installed.
If you want to resolve this issue right now, install the October update or wait for the November 11th update. Either way, you can install updates via Start > Settings > Windows Update or, of course, use the “Update and shutdown” feature. With any luck, this will be the last time your computer restarts before shutting down.