Say you are copying a very large file on your Windows 10 PC. The copying process would have been finished within half an hour. At the same time, your friend has been waiting at the coffee shop and you can make him wait any longer. In such a case, you can use Task Scheduler to schedule an auto shutdown in Windows 10 so that you don’t have to wait for the copying process to get done to shutdown your PC.

Or, you probably have a different case that leads you to want to schedule an auto shutdown? Whatever your reason, here is how to schedule an auto shutdown in Windows 10 using Task Scheduler.

Task Scheduler itself is a Windows 10 feature (also available on the older Windows versions) that allows you to set scheduled tasks, including auto shutdown. To start scheduling an auto shutdown with Task Scheduler, open the Task Scheduler window by typing taskschd.msc on the Run box (Windows+R). Alternatively, you can also open the Task Scheduler window from the start menu. You can find Task Scheduler under the Windows Administrative Tools folder.

Once the Task Scheduler window opens, create a new basic task. To do so, click the Action menu and select Create Basic Task.

A wizard will appear. Give your task a name and description (optional) and click the Next button. For example, you can name your task “Auto-Shutdown at 12.30 PM” to make it easy for you to identify it later.

On the next step, select a frequency of how often you want Windows 10 to run the task automatically. In our case, you can select One time since we only need to schedule the auto shutdown once. Click the Next button to continue.

Set the start time (date and time) you want Windows 10 to execute the task and click the Next button.

There are three kinds of actions you can choose from. To schedule an auto shutdown, you can select Start a program. Click the Next button.

On the next window, click the Browse button and navigate to the C:\Windows\System32 folder to look for the shutdown command (the shutdown.exe file).

Or simply copy the following path and click the Next button.

C:\Windows\System32\shutdown.exe

Add “-s” (without quote) on the Add argument (optional) field to force Windows to shut down your PC. Windows won’t shut down your PC if you leave this field empty.

Click the Finish button to tell Windows 10 to run the command you have specified on the steps above.

Editing an existing scheduled task

If you want to edit the scheduled task you have added, you can go to the Task Scheduler library by clicking Task Scheduler Library on the left panel. Double-click the task you want to edit.

To change the time, you can go to the Triggers tab. To change the command, you can go to the Actions tab. There is an Edit button you can find on each tab window. Click the OK button once you are done making the changes.