Start and Power Button Issue

Hello

Just want to make sure this is your own computer, if it is a work computer or if the computer is enrolled with a work/school account, you may or may not be able to change this.

Otherwise, type "control panel" in the search on the taskbar to launch it, then go to Power Options.

On the left, click on "choose what the power buttons do".

Next screen, click on "change settings that are currently unavailable".

Then check the boxes for this section for options you want to show up.

The missing Restart/Sleep/Shut down options indicate a policy is hiding those power commands from the Start menu.

On Windows 11 this is controlled by the “Remove and prevent access to the Shut Down, Restart, Sleep, and Hibernate commands” policy. When enabled, it removes those commands (and the Power button) from the Start menu, Windows Security (Ctrl+Alt+Delete), and the sign-in screen.

To restore the full power menu, this policy must be disabled (or set to Not configured) in Group Policy, or the corresponding MDM/Start policies must be cleared if the device is managed:

1. In Group Policy (for non‑MDM, Pro/Enterprise editions)
   • Open Local Group Policy Editor.
   • Go to:
     • Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar, and
     • User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar.
   • Find Remove and prevent access to the Shut Down, Restart, Sleep, and Hibernate commands.
   • Set it to Disabled or Not configured.
   • Apply the change and sign out/sign in (or restart) to refresh the Start menu.
2. On MDM‑managed devices (Intune or similar)
   • Check if any Start menu power CSP settings are deployed, such as:
     • ./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/Start/HideShutDown
     • ./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/Start/HideRestart
     • ./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/Start/HideSleep
     • ./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/Start/HideHibernate
   • Remove or set these policies so they no longer hide the corresponding commands.

After these policies are cleared, the Power button in Start should again show Lock, Restart, Sleep, Shut down, and other available options.

References:

• Start menu policy settings (windows-11)
• Start menu policy settings (windows-10)