Solve Turn off Button Missing in Welcome Screen in Windows XP, Vista and 7

A common problem for most of the Windows XP home edition users is that Turn off Button is missing from their welcome screen or their log on page. Most of us do not notice this problem as we do not care about it. But speaking the truth Turn off button is really necessary in the log on screen as we should be able to shut down the computer without knowing the password. Otherwise you will not be able to shutdown the computer safely without knowing the password. This problem of missing shutdown button from the welcome screen or the log on page may be a result of some registry change by some of the software you install. But this problem has a very simple solution. You just need to change a registry value.

In Windows XP Home Edition or Vista Basic unlike the professional or ultimate editions which doesn’t support gpedit.msc or secpol.msc this problem can be solved by using only the registry.

I am presenting two methods here. Both the methods need your registry registry to be enabled. While performing the steps if you get an error message like Registry Editor has been disabled by your Administrator" then you have to enable the regedit command..

Method 1: By using Command Prompt
Step 1: Open a command prompt (Press Start+R, Type cmd and Enter)
Step 2: Copy the command below and paste it in the command prompt. Note that for pasting in command prompt right click in the black screen and select paste.

REG ADD HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v ShutdownWithoutLogon /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

Step 3: After executing the command Press Start+L and see if you can see the Turn off button. If yes ok, else restart.

Method 2: By using Registry Editor
Step 1: Open a command prompt (Press Start+R, Type regedit and Enter)
Step 2: In the Left side of the Registry Editor Navigate to the key given below:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
It is shown in the image below:

Step 3: In the right side find the key ShutdownWithoutLogon. Double click on it and change the value to 1.

Note: If you are not able to find the key then you have to create it. Right click on the right side and select new DWORD 32 bit. Keep the Name as ShutdownWithoutLogon and set the value as 1.
Step 4: Now press Start+L and see if you can see the start button. If not Restart.

Important:
1. If your turn off button goes missing again after some time then some process is changing the value. You need to repeat the steps again.

2. If you cannot find the root key System under Policies then create a key with the same name in the left side pane of the registry editor and continue.