How to Create Shutdown, Reboot and Log Off Icon on Desktop

On this article, i will show how to create shutdown, reboot and log off icon on your desktop. By creating those icon, you have an alternative way to shutdown, reboot, and log off your computer. How it works? Windows has a program called SHUTDOWN.EXE. The function of this program is to turn off your computer. Not only to turn off the computer, shutdown.exe also used to bring the computer in standby mode or log off an active user. Therefore, to create shutdown, reboot and log off icon on your desktop, we will use this program.

This tip works on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. Here's the steps:

1. Right click on an open area of the desktop and select New »» Shortcut
2. Enter in "shutdown -s -t 00" - no quotes then press the Next button
3. Named your shortcut on the next windows. E.g: Shutdown.
4. Click on Finish button to close it and your Shutdown icon is complete.

Now, you have a shutdown button on your desktop. You can also create reboot icon on the desktop with the same steps. To do so, enter "shutdown -r -t 00" on create shortcut windows. And for a log off icon, enter "shutdown -l -t 00"

Here's the parameters you can use to change the way of those icon work:
Shutdown [{-l|-s|-r|-a}] [-f] [-m [\\Computer Name]] [-t xx] [-c "message"] [-d[u][p]:xx:yy]

Parameters:

• -l - Logs off the current user, this is also the default. -m Computer Name takes precedence.
• -s - Shuts down the local computer.
• -r - Reboots after shutdown.
• -a - Aborts shutdown. Ignores other parameters, except -l and Computer Name. You can only use -a during the time-out period.
• -f - Forces running applications to close.
• -m [\\Computer Name] - Specifies the computer that you want to shut down.
• -t xx - Sets the timer for system shutdown in xx seconds. The default is 20 seconds.
• -c "message" - Specifies a message to be displayed in the Message area of the System Shutdown window. You can use a maximum of 127 characters. You must enclose the message in quotation marks.