Policy

Turn off automatic termination of applications that block or cancel shutdown

Microsoft Windows

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Turn off automatic termination of applications that block or cancel shutdown
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Policy overview

Key metadata and intent for this policy.

Computer
Category
System > Shutdown Options
Supported on
At least Windows Vista

Supported OS tags: Windows10, Windows10RT, Windows11, Windows7, Windows8, Windows81, WindowsRT, WindowsRT81, WindowsServer2008, WindowsServer2012, WindowsServer2012R2, WindowsServer2016, WindowsVista

This policy setting specifies whether Windows will allow console applications and GUI applications without visible top-level windows to block or cancel shutdown. By default, such applications are automatically terminated if they attempt to cancel shutdown or block it indefinitely. If you enable this setting, console applications or GUI applications without visible top-level windows that block or cancel shutdown will not be automatically terminated during shutdown. If you disable or do not configure this setting, these applications will be automatically terminated during shutdown, helping to ensure that Windows can shut down faster and more smoothly.

Internal name
AllowBlockingAppsAtShutdown
Policy ID
943bd9ef15b3
Elements
0

Registry values

How enabled and disabled states update the registry.

ScopeRegistry locationTypeEnabled valueDisabled valueCopy
Computer
Path
Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System
Value name
AllowBlockingAppsAtShutdown
REG_DWORD
HKLM
1
HKLM
0
Registry location
Type REG_DWORD · Computer
Path
Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System
Value name
AllowBlockingAppsAtShutdown
Hive
HKLM
Enabled value
1
Disabled value
0

Policy elements

Inputs and configuration options exposed by this policy.

This policy has no additional user input fields.