When I choose "Shut Down" from the Start Menu, my computer hangs at the "Please Wait" screen Intended For Windows XP Windows 2000 Windows Me Windows 98 Windows 95 Most likely, one or more of your drivers is not allowing itself to be unloaded. This, supposedly, is less of a problem in Windows 98 and Windows Me than in Windows 95 (most drivers are no longer unloaded when you shut down), but it still seems to trip up Windows from time to time. Try hitting Enter when it hangs to "wake it up." Try holding Shift while clicking Ok in the "Shut Down" dialog - this might allow you to shut down faster, and bypass whatever is causing your system to hang. This can also happen if the sound file for Shutdown becomes corrupted. Double-click on the Sounds icon in Control Panel and remove or change the sound event for Shutdown. Written by: Annoyances.org Last updated: Thursday, August 9, 2001 Care to discuss this article with other Windows users? Select your operating system here, and click Continue to post your question. - Choose your OS -Windows 7Windows VistaWindows Server 2003Windows XPWindows 2000Windows MeWindows 98Windows 95 Previous discussions about this article: (open a message to see applicable responses, if any) [Windows 98] Question about 'When I choose (Roger Keeny: Monday, August 27, 2001) [Windows 98] Shut down never complete.... (Budi: Sunday, September 2, 2001) [Windows 98] Question about 'When I choose SHUT DOWN I GET AN ERROR MESSAGE (MIKE DONAGHUE: Friday, September 7, 2001) [Windows 98] Shutting The Computer Completely Off (Lyndell: Saturday, October 27, 2001) [Windows 98] Question about 'When I choose (Gene Goldstein: Saturday, November 17, 2001) [Windows 98] Question about Shut-down (RonMacDonald: Wednesday, January 2, 2002) [Windows 98] Question about 'When I choose (Roger: Sunday, January 6, 2002) [Windows XP] ''Shut Down'' from the Start Menu, my computer always restarts (Scott: Saturday, January 12, 2002) [Windows 98] Question about 'When I choose ''Shut Down'' from the Start Menu, my computer hangs at the ''Please Wait'' screen' (leonie: Friday, January 18, 2002) [Windows 95] Question about 'When I choose ''Shut Down'' from the Start Menu, my computer hangs at the ''Please Wait'' screen' (Randy: Sunday, February 17, 2002) [Windows 98] Question about 'When I choose ''Shut Down'' from the Start Menu, my computer hangs at the ''Please Wait'' screen' (Michael Paine: Tuesday, May 7, 2002) [Windows 2000] Question about 'When I choose ''Shut Down'' from the Start Menu, my computer hangs at the ''Please Wait'' screen' (Tristan: Monday, July 8, 2002) [Windows Me] Question about 'When I choose ''Shut Down'' from the Start Menu, my computer hangs at the ''Please Wait'' screen' (Jonathan Barbara: Monday, August 26, 2002) [Windows XP] Question about 'When I choose ''Shut Down'' from the Start Menu, my computer hangs at the ''Please Wait'' screen' (Sergio: Sunday, September 8, 2002) [Windows 95] Question about 'When I choose ''Shut Down'' from the Start Menu, my computer hangs at the ''Please Wait'' screen' (kam: Friday, October 11, 2002) [Windows 98] woDown'' from the Start Menu, my computer hangs at the ''Please Wait'' screen' (petra hatscher: Monday, October 14, 2002) [Windows 95] Question about 'When I choose ''Shut Down'' from the Start Menu, my computer hangs at the ''Please Wait'' screen' (S. 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Ho: Wednesday, November 27, 2002) [Windows 98] Question about 'When I choose ''Shut Down'' from the Start Menu, my computer hangs at the ''Please Wait'' screen' (Lew: Sunday, December 15, 2002) [Windows 98] Question about 'When I choose ''Shut Down'' from the Start Menu, my computer hangs at the ''Please Wait'' screen' (Nobody: Sunday, December 22, 2002) [Windows 98] Problem with hardware when I'm usin Win98 SE (Carlos Blondet: Wednesday, January 8, 2003) [Windows XP] Restarting and Shutdown (John: Friday, January 17, 2003) [Windows 98] Question about 'When I choose ''Shut Down'' from the Start Menu, my computer hangs at the ''Please Wait'' screen' (Peter: Thursday, February 6, 2003) [Windows 98] Question about 'When I choose ''Shut Down'' from the Start Menu, my computer hangs at the ''Please Wait'' screen' (Evelyne Gambaro: Sunday, February 9, 2003) [Windows Me] Me doesn't shut down completely on command (George Logan: Sunday, February 16, 2003) [Windows XP] Question about 'When I choose ''Shut Down'' from the Start Menu, my computer hangs at the ''Please Wait'' screen' (Paul H: Saturday, February 22, 2003) [Windows 2000] Question about 'When I choose ''Shut Down'' from the Start Menu, my computer hangs at the ''Please Wait'' screen' (pete fabian: Thursday, March 6, 2003) [Windows XP] Question about 'When I choose ''Shut Down'' from the Start Menu, my computer hangs at the ''Please Wait'' screen' (amitay: Wednesday, May 21, 2003) [Windows 2000] When, shuting down my computer hangs at the (Walter Rozanski: Monday, July 7, 2003) [Windows 98] Question about 'When I choose ''Shut Down'' from the Start Menu, my computer hangs at the ''Please Wait'' screen' (toy: Saturday, September 6, 2003) [Windows XP] Question about 'When I choose ''Shut Down'' from the Start Menu, my computer hangs at the ''Shutting Down'' screen' (Rob: Thursday, January 1, 2004) [Windows 98] Question about 'When I choose ''Shut Down'' from the Start Menu, my computer hangs at the ''Please Wait'' screen' (mohd minhaj: Saturday, February 21, 2004) [Windows 98] Question about 'When I choose "Shut Down" from the Start Menu, my computer hangs at the "Please Wait" screen' (Wolfgang Wiebach: Sunday, April 25, 2004) [Windows XP] When I choose "Shut Down" from the Start Menu my computer doesnt display the windows with the options (Harsh Nanda: Friday, January 14, 2005) [Windows XP] Laptop won't shut down (Chick Copp: Tuesday, June 28, 2005) [Windows XP] Question about 'When I choose "Shut Down" from the Start Menu, my computer hangs at the "Please Wait" screen' (Sandeep Poduval: Sunday, November 6, 2005) [Windows XP] Question about 'When I choose "Shut Down" from the Start Menu, my computer hangs at the "Please Wait" screen' (Paul: Sunday, February 19, 2006) [Windows XP] WinXP doesn't turn off power after shutting down (manlovefox: Wednesday, May 24, 2006) [Windows XP] Question about 'When I choose "Shut Down" from the Start Menu, my computer hangs at the "Please Wait" screen' (pratik: Sunday, November 19, 2006) [Windows XP] Question about 'When I choose "Shut Down" from the Start Menu, my computer hangs at the "Please Wait" screen' (Maureen Nagle: Wednesday, December 12, 2007) Return to "Troubleshooting"