Question

Why does Windows 7's Virtual PC running Win XP Professional has no "Shut down" button -- if clicking on START, there is only "Log off".

To shut down, we need to press CTRL-ALT-END on the keyboard and then choose from a list of options... I used XP Professional before on a real PC and it had a Shut Down option from the START menu.

Answer 1

On the top of the Virtual PC window, you have a Action menu. Select the Close item. Use this to shut down or hibernate the Virtual Machine.

You can change the default behavior in the settings for the XP Virtual Machine.

I suppose the "Shutdown" command in XP is removed by the Integration Features. I don't know what they did it, maybe it's better or faster VirtualPC controls itself the shutdown of the virtualized XP.

The Windows Virtual PC blog has an article on how to shut down a virtual machine.

Answer 2

the shutdown command in XP isn't really removed, just hidden.

use the Group Policy editor (Gpedit.msc) under the following location to configure Start menu features:

User Configuration \ Administrative Templates \ Start Menu and Taskbar

Policy:Disable and remove the Turn Off Computer button Description:Removes the "Turn Off Computer" button from the Start Menu and prevents shutting down Windows using the standard shutdown user interface.

or check this registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

Registry Value (DWORD):"NoClose" (1 = no Shutdown)

if you're not comfy with either option, you may create a shortcut to shutdown.exe and pin it to the start menu.

for possible switches, run this from a command prompt:

shutdown.exe /?