Dell machines with Windows 11 24H2 won't shutdown

Dell laptops and PC's won’t shut down after Windows 11 24H2 install.

So far I have found the issue on Dell Latitude and Precision Laptops and Dell Optiplex PC's so I'm guessing the issue is pretty much universal across the full range of Dell devices.

The latest Windows 11 feature update 24H2 has a fundamental flaw for Dell PC’s and laptops due to the Fast Start-up feature which is no longer compatible with Dell machines.

The excuse given that I’ve seen is something about Dell Encryption, however of the 40 or so devices I’ve come across so far, none are using Dell encryption, and only a couple of them even use Bitlocker. The issue does not effect machines running 23H2, but if installing the feature update to 24H2 where the setting is enabled by the OS update, the problems start pretty much immediately.

What you now find after installing feature update 24H2 is that Dell machines no longer shutdown. They don’t even try, you get a black screen for around 5 – 20 seconds then return to the login screen.

The workaround is simple though.

Open Control Panel and click on Hardware and Sound

Once in Hardware and Sound under Power Options click on “Change what the power buttons do”

You now need to unlock the settings, so click on “Change settings that are currently unavailable” to open up the locked features, then remove the tick from “Turn on fast start-up” and save the changes. Your Dell machine will now be able to shutdown.

You can see how to do this on the video below.