How can I sign out of Windows 10?

Question

I am astonished I have to ask this question. It reminds me about people asking how to exit Vim, the image deeply ingrained in the popular culture.

I found out that in order to exit a desktop session in Windows 10 I have to do the following:

1. Left click on the "Windows Start" button on the task panel
2. In the popup panel Hover over the "Power off" icon to expand the panel
3. In the new popup panel right click on my name
4. In the third popup panel finally I can see an option to "Sign out" of the desktop session. I can left click on it to terminate the session.

This does not seem intuitive at all as only on step 4 I see the option I am looking for.

Is there a simpler more intuitive way to terminate a Windows session? A way that does not require printed instructions and could be communicated to a new user just by shouting over the phone.

Answer 1

Nothing has changed since Windows 3.1 : The quickest way to shutdown or Sign-out is the to press Alt+F4 while the focus is on the desktop (click the desktop if needed).

Whichever option is selected in the drop-down list is remembered for later invocations of this dialog.

Answer 2

There is a lot ways to do it, adding to other answers

1. If you just want to lock your computer press only Win Key+L
2. If you want to Sign out press Ctrl+ALt+Del and click on Sign out

Answer 3

Not exactly more intuitive, but only 3 steps and possibly more easily shoutable over the phone:

1. Right click on the "Windows Start" button on the task panel
2. Left click on "Shutdown or sign out"
3. Left click on "Sign out"

Answer 4

You have included some unnecessary steps in your instructions. A shorter description of the same method is this:

1. Click the Windows logo at the bottom left of the screen
2. Click the icon of a person's head and shoulders (or your Windows "user picture" if you've set one) in the left-hand column
3. Click "Sign out"

This is exactly the same number of steps as shutting down the computer (which could equally be described as "exiting Windows"):

1. Click the Windows logo at the bottom left of the screen
2. Click the power / standby icon in the left-hand column
3. Click "Shut down"

If you like, you can explain that step 1 is called the "Start menu" (mostly for historical reasons, since it hasn't had "Start" on the button since 2007), and step 2 is selecting either the "User" or "Power" sub-menu.

The hover you include in your instructions can be anywhere on the left-hand strip of the menu, not just the power icon, and doesn't change the functionality of those items, just displays some extra help text. It can also be toggled by clicking the three-line "hamburger" icon at the top of the strip.

None of the steps require a right-click.

These instructions mostly apply to Windows 11 as well, except that by default the Windows logo is not anchored to the bottom-left corner of the screen, but floats at the left of a set of icons in the middle. Once you've found it, the icons look the same, they're just arranged along the bottom of the menu rather than the side.

Answer 5

Because of some issues at my office with connecting to remote servers via RDP, I placed an icon on the desktop of the remote server; this icon is a shortcut to C:\Windows\System32\shutdown.exe /l. The /l tells shutdown to log off, not shut down the computer.

Answer 6

You can also use the shutdown.exe command.
Press Windows+r, type shutdown /l, and press Return.

Answer 7

I use this longer keyboard combination that doesn't need a specific focus (like Alt+F4):

Win+x, then ↑ ↑ → ↓ ↓ Enter

Answer 8

I, too, usually first think of Control-Alt-Delete, then sign out from there, before doing so from the right-click Start Button, even though that's where I go for rebooting or shutting down.

All the several Remote Desktop programs I use have functionality included for being able to send C-A-D to the remote computer, and I consider that it's especially less cumbersome to do it using C-A-D when RDP'd into a computer, rather than the fiddly multiple left and right clicks necessary. This can also depend on the size of the screen you're remoting from. I know the OP didn't specifically ask about doing it through remote sessions, but it works for me whether remote or local.

Answer 9

This is what I use: right-click on the bottom left Windows Start button and get all the settings including the device manager.

Tip: Use Alt + F4 combination repeatedly no matter where you are. You will get the Shutdown option pop-up in a few moments.

Answer 10

You can create a one click shutdown button anywhere you want with these steps.

1. Right click desktop
2. Select New -> Shortcut
3. Enter shutdown /s /t 0 as the location
4. Click Continue, pick a name, click Finish

You can place the resulting icon in your taskbar (which is how I use it) or anywhere else you can place shortcuts to other apps.