Windows 7 users don’t have permission to shut down their PCs

• A “You don’t have permission to shut down this computer” error is preventing users from shutting off their Windows 7.

The users of Microsoft’s recently killed Operating System Windows 7 are facing an odd problem, after hundreds of users reported that they can’t shut down their computers.

A “You don’t have permission to shut down this computer” error is preventing users from shutting off their Windows 7 OS, causing headaches among the OS users.

“We are aware of some Windows 7 customers reporting that they are unable to shut down without first logging off and are actively investigating”, a Microsoft spokesperson told BleepingComputer. With no solution provided by the OS maker, users have found their own way of dealing with the bug.

As per the QuickHeal, these steps can help a user in getting their systems shut down.

• Open the Run dialog by clicking Windows+R combo, type gpedit.msc and click OK.
• Go to Computer Settings > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options
• Search User Account Control: Run all administrators in Admin approval and set it to ENABLE
• Open Run again and do a gpupdate /force
• Restart the system by opening the Run dialog again, type shutdown -r and press OK.

Back in August 2019, researchers reported that "all modern versions of Microsoft Windows" may be at risk for "critical" system compromise due to design flaws of hardware device drivers from multiple providers.

As of January 2020, 24.9pc of traditional PCs running Windows are running Windows 7, which still has over 60pc market share in some countries, revealed statcounter. Meanwhile, in Pakistan, Windows 7 is still running on some 39.79pc desktops using Windows as of January 2020.