How to restart a computer with keyboard

If you’re in a situation where you can only use your keyboard to operate your computer and you need to shutdown or restart your PC, this short tutorial will show you 3 methods on how to shutdown or restart Windows 10 PC using only keyboard.

All the methods below to shutdown or restart Windows 10 with keyboard (without mouse) should work on both Windows 10 desktop and laptop PC as long as the required keyboard keys are functioning.

Restart or Shutdown Windows 10 via Start Menu (with ⊞ Win, TAB, Enter and Arrow keys)

This method only works when you have access to your desktop screen. If you’re stuck in a not responding program or blue screen, try other methods below. To shutdown or restart Windows 10 via Start menu using only keyboard, follow the steps below.

  1. Press ⊞ Win key to open Windows 10 Start menu.
  2. In the Start menu, press TAB key until it selects the left most menu icon as shown in the screenshot below.
    How to restart a computer with keyboard
  3. Next, press ↓ Down Arrow key to move through the options until you reach to the “Power” button.
    How to restart a computer with keyboard
  4. Press Enter key to expand the power button. Then, use the arrow keys to select “Shut down” or “Restart” as per your preference.

How to restart a computer with keyboard

Restart or Shutdown Windows 10 using ALT + F4 on keyboard

The easiest way to reboot or shutdown your Windows 10 PC with only keyboard is by using the ALT + F4 shortcut keys.

On your desktop screen, while holding ALT key, press on F4 key. This should bring up the “Shut Down Windows” dialog window.

By default, the “Shut down” option is selected. If you want to proceed shutdown Windows 10, press Enter key.

How to restart a computer with keyboard

To restart Windows 10 instead, in the “Shut Down Windows” dialog, press TAB key until it highlights the drop down menu. Then, press ↓ Down Arrow key to select “Restart“. Press Enter key to proceed restarting your PC.

How to restart a computer with keyboard

In order for this method to work, you have to be on your Windows desktop screen, otherwise the ALT + F4 keys will close whatever that is currently on your screen. If you don’t mind closing all the programs currently on your screen, you can press the ALT + F4 keys repeatedly until everything is closed and the “Shut Down Windows” dialog is brought up.

Restart or Shutdown Windows 10 using CTRL + ALT + DEL

If you’re in a critical situation where none of the above methods is executable, you can try to do a force CTRL + ALT + DEL keys to see if Windows is able to bring up the Windows 10 lock screen (where you can open task manager, sign out, shutdown or restart your computer).

How to restart a computer with keyboard

To do this, press and hold CTRL + ALT keys, then press DEL key. If you can open the Windows 10 lock screen as shown in the screenshot below, press TAB key to navigate through the options until it reaches to the “Power” button at the bottom of the screen.

How to restart a computer with keyboard

Once the “Power” button is highlighted, press Enter key to expand its options. Next, use the Arrow keys to select “Shutdown” or “Restart” and then press Enter to proceed.

“Ctrl-Alt-Delete”

Press and hold the “Ctrl” and “Alt” keys on the keyboard, and then press the “Delete” key. If Windows is functioning properly, you’ll see a dialog box with several options. If you don’t see the dialog box after a few seconds, press “Ctrl-Alt-Delete” again to restart.

While many people are familiar with the last-resort “Crtl-Alt-Delete” shortcut, XP includes other keyboard shortcuts that allow you to restart the system normally.

How to restart a Windows computer in 3 different ways :

  1. Use the on-screen Start button

This is the most standard method for shutting down or restarting a Windows computer. Using the Start button, you can choose to restart your entire computer, effectively closing all your running apps, or shut your computer down and turn it back on. Selecting shut down will do all of the above outside of powering back up again. Here’s how to do both.

 

  1. Click the Start button in the lower-left corner of your You can also press the Windows key on your keyboard to open the Start menu.
  2. Choose the Power
  1. When you click the power button, you will have the option to put your computer to sleep, restart it, or power it

2. Use Ctrl + Alt + Delete

This method only requires using the keyboard. It’s likely your best option if your applications freeze or your computer’s processing speeds take a sudden dip.

 

  1. On your computer keyboard, hold down the control (Ctrl), alternate (Alt), and delete (Del) keys at the same
  1. Release the keys and wait for a new menu or window to appear.
  1. In the bottom right corner of the screen, click the Power
  1. Select between Shut Down and

3. Use the power button

This method is best for when your computer has frozen entirely. A forced shutdown is not always great for your system, but if even Ctrl+Alt+Delete doesn’t work, this will.

When your shutdown and restart is complete, you may be able to open any applications you had open when your computer shut down and recover the files you didn’t get a chance to save. Here’s how to restart your Windows computer using the power button.

  1. Locate your computer’s Power
  1. Press and hold that button until your computer shuts
  1. Wait until you hear the computer’s fans shut off, and your screen goes completely
  1. Wait a few seconds before pressing and holding the power button to initiate your computer’s normal

How to restart the PC from the keyboard in Windows :

If you are interested in restart the pc from the keyboard and you are using a Windows PC, there are solutions you can use, all included “as standard” in the operating system from Microsoft and do not require the installation of program external

Default combination For Windows

For example, for restart the PC from the keyboard in Windows 10, you can use the context menu of the Start button, which you can access by pressing the key combination Win + X keyboard.

If you did not know, the key Win is the one with the Windows flag, usually located in the lower left, between the keys Ctrl / Fn y alt.

As you can easily see, the menu in question contains quick links to some Windows management functions, including shutdown options. So after pressing the Win + X key combination, use the directional arrows to highlight the item Close or disconnect, Press the button Enter To access the next submenu, highlight the item Reboot the system and press the Enter button again to confirm the operation.

Custom shortcut for Windows

If you wish, you can also create a shortcut for the immediate restart of the PC on the Windows desktop and associate a combination of keys.

First, go to the desktop of the PC, right click on an empty place on it and select the items New> Link from the context menu that appears on the screen.

Then, type the command shutdown /r /t 0 inside the text field Enter the route for the link, Click the button siguiente, enter any name to assign to the link you just created (eg. Restart PC ) and click on the

button final, To complete the procedure.

How to restart Mac from keyboard

What is said for Windows is also valid for Mac : this means that macOS also allows you to restart the PC directly from the keyboard, using functions already integrated into the operating system (which do not require the installation of third-party software).

Default combination for Mac

Unless you have a MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, you can restart your Mac with one of the following predefined key combinations. ctrl + cmd + eject – allows you to close all programs and restart your Mac. If there are documents with changes without save, you will be asked if you want to save them.

Ctrl + Cmd + font – allows you to “force” restart your Mac, closing all programs first, without any request to save (previously unsaved work will be lost).

ctrl + power – displays a dialog box that allows you to restart your PC, turn it off or put it to sleep. To reset, use the left and right directional arrows to highlight the button. resume and finally press the

button enter keyboard.

Custom shortcut for Mac

If you use a MacBook with touch bar, or if the Shortcuts macOS defaults are not to your liking, you can create a custom key combination to restart the Mac from the keyboard, using the functionality abbreviations Apple’s operating system.

In order to do it, do this: open them System preferences by clicking on the d-shaped icon gear attached to the dock bar click the icon keyboard resident in the new window that will open and then select the tab abbreviations (above)

Now click on Abbreviation located in the left sidebar and click the button capacitor positive (+) lead to define a new keyboard shortcut. Configure the dropdown menu application en All applications, write the word Restart in the text field Menu title (Don’t forget the ellipsis!),

Click in the text area Keyboard abbreviation and press the key combination you want to use to restart your Mac.

Finally click the button Add and that’s it! Each time you press the key combination defined above, the Mac will close all active applications and restart, and will also ask you to save any documents that are still open.