Change how long Windows waits before closing apps at Shutdown or Restart

If you want to change the time interval for which Windows waits before closing apps at Shutdown or Restart, you need to edit the value of HungAppTimeout. Although the default value is set to 5 seconds, you can increase or decrease this timeout as per your requirement. All you need to do is to change the value data of HungAppTimeout in Registry Editor.

Let’s assume that one or two apps (eg SnagIt, Chrome, Outlook, etc.) are open, and you click on the Restart or Shutdown button. In such a case, Windows may display a message saying that those apps are open and are preventing your system from shutting down.

Although it is possible to disable This app is preventing shutdown message in Windows 11/10, you can change the timeout for closing those apps manually as well. By default, it shows a Shut down anyway button that allows users to shut down the computer without closing those apps.

Change how long Windows waits before closing apps at Shutdown

To change the time Windows waits before closing apps at shutdown or restart, follow these steps-

1. Press Win+R to open the Run prompt.
2. Type regedit and hit the Enter button.
3. Click Yes in the UAC prompt.
4. Navigate to Desktop folder in HKEY_CURRENT_USER.
5. Double-click on HungAppTimeout.
6. Set a value in milliseconds.
7. Click OK and close Registry Editor.

Since you will change values in Registry Editor, it is better to back up Registry files or create a System Restore point.

Press the Win+R buttons together to open the Run prompt. Here, you need to type regedit and hit the Enter button. You should see the UAC prompt. If so, click the Yes button to open Registry Editor on your computer.

After opening Registry Editor, navigate to the following path-

Current user:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

All users:

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop

Here, you will find a DWORD value called HungAppTimeout. If you cannot see this DOWRD value in the Desktop key, you need to create it manually.

For that, right-click on Desktop, select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value and name it as HungAppTimeout. Next, double-click on this DWORD value.

By default, it is set to 5000 (5 seconds). You need to enter a value as per your requirement. If you want to make it 7 seconds, enter 7000. If you’re going to make it 3 seconds, enter 3000 and so on.

At last, click the OK button to save the change and close the Registry Editor.

From now on, Windows 11/10 will wait for the recently changed time before killing the app.

You can also use our freeware Ultimate Windows Tweaker to make this change easily.

Open the Performance section and change the slider against Waiting time to kill applications timeout during shutdown and Waiting time to end services at shutdown sliders to your desired values.

Related read: Stop Windows from automatically reopening apps or programs after a restart.