When you shutdown Windows and if some programs are open, then Windows automatically terminates them. Suppose you were working on a document and accidentally try to shutdown, then Windows will forcibly terminate the open document and there is a possibility that the changes will not be saved. You can turn off this default behavior of Windows to automatically terminate programs at shutdown as explained below :
Method 1 :
- Press the key combination Windows Key + R to open the Run dialog. Type gpedit.msc in the Run dialog and press Enter.
- In the Group Policies Editor, navigate to Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → System → Shutdown Options in the left side treeview.
- In the right hand side pane, you will find a value Turn off automatic termination of applications that block or cancel shutdown. Double click on it. Choose Enabled.
- Click OK to save the settings and close the dialog.
Method 2 :
- Click on the Start Menu (blue orb in the bottom-left corner), type regedit.exe in the search field and press Enter. Choose Yes, if the User Account Control dialog pops up.
- In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following registry key :
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwarePoliciesMicrosoftWindowsSystem
- Right-click in the right-side pane, and select New → DWORD (32-bit Value) as shown. Type in the name of the value as AllowBlockingAppsAtShutdown.
- Double-click on the newly created value AllowBlockingAppsAtShutdown and set the value to 1 as shown,
- Restart your computer for the changes to take effect.
Method 3 :
You can also download the registry script from turnoff_autoclose_policy_win7.zip. Extract the contents of the ZIP archive to a folder on your desktop. Double-click on turnoff_autoclose_policy_win7.reg and choose Yes if the User Account Control shows up. Then, you have to restart your computer for the changes to take effect.