'Stuck' program message when shutting down

andyross · 04 Feb 2012

I recently updated from Vista to Win 7 (both 32-bit Home Premium). It was a simple upgrade, not a new install.

I've noticed with Win7 that when I go to do a shutdown, while the desktop is shutting down, it grays the screen and says a program is is not shutting down in a timely matter. I never saw that with Vista. It doesn't appear to tell me WHAT program is the issue. Also, it usually clears itself within a second or two, barely giving me time to check anything.

I've seen various WaitToKillApp and HungApp notes about speeding up shutdown. I'm not all that worried about making it shut down fast, but would like to know how I could find out WHICH program it is. If anything, I'd increase the time before it complains so it shuts down cleanly. I think older Windows would list the name of the program in a standard dialog box, but not this full-screen thing.

PS: I'm mixed on Win7. I've had to 'undo' alot of things and rely on 3rd party software like ShellFolderFix to get back 'power user' abilities. Stupidification is the keyword.

**cluberti** · 04 Feb 2012

Hmm - if it was an upgrade, I would strongly suggest you make sure all of your drivers had been updated to the latest versions that supported Windows 7 (either before or after the upgrade), make sure your BIOS was at the latest version, and removed any OEM applications (if they were preinstalled on a purchased machine) before re-testing.

Ztruker · 04 Feb 2012

I see that occasionally with my cleanly installed Win 7 Pro X64 system. I think Win 7 is better at showing you what is going on during shutdown than Vista was. Since it clears in a few seconds I don't think it indicates a problem.

HammerHead · 04 Feb 2012

I get the same message once in a while. It has never caused any problem so I have never really tracked it down. But the place to start looking is in event viewer. It is probably logged there. Here is a link which applies to Vista but you can apply the logic to Win 7.

Analyzing Windows Shutdown Performance

andyross · 05 Feb 2012

I looked in the Event viewer for the shutdown diagnostics, and nothing really obvious. A few random programs listed as degrading shutdown. But, interestingly, I see just as many listed from before the upgrade.

I think Microsoft may have simply reduced the default time it waits for a program to end.

Maybe if I see it again, I may click on the option to kill it, and see if that logs something in the Event Viewer.

**cluberti** · 05 Feb 2012

They have indeed reduced the timers for program end and service shutdown. It's just more agressive :).