Windows 10 shutdown bug makes powering down take over a minute

Windows 10 has a fresh bug with the October 2018 Update, whereby shutting down a PC can take an incredibly long time to complete – potentially over a minute – if a USB Type-C device is unplugged (or indeed plugged in) during the process.

In a support document, Microsoft explains that the USB Type-C Connector System Software Interface (UCSI) is bugged in the October 2018 Update, and if you’re shutting down your PC, or it’s going to sleep, the problem occurs if the UCSI software has to handle a new disconnection (or connection) event during the power-down operation.

• Here’s how to fix any other October 2018 Update problems
• This is what you get with the Windows 10 May 2019 Update
• Tips and tricks on how to best use Windows 10

If that occurs, you’ll have to potentially wait for a 60 second delay (on top of the normal shutdown time) while the UCSI software gets its act together, and manages to process the Type-C device being unplugged or plugged in.

Microsoft notes: “Apart from the extra one minute the sleep or shutdown process takes in this circumstance, this bug does not affect normal functionality of USB Type-C on your machine. The system and the USB Type-C ports should continue to function properly after the next wake or restart of the system.”

So this bug isn’t a huge issue, by all accounts, but could certainly be a puzzling and annoying one. And if you’re running the October 2018 Update, and have recently encountered a shutdown that seemed to take forever, well, at least now you know why it happened. You probably yanked out a USB stick at the last-second.

No patch – just upgrade

Interestingly, Microsoft doesn’t mention any potential resolution for this bug, instead advising that the gremlin has been ironed out in the latest May 2019 Update, and that you should upgrade to this (Windows 10 version 1903).

That’s all well and good, except if there are other potential hardware or software compatibility issues with your PC and the May 2019 Update, you may find the upgrade is blocked, and you can’t get it yet.

If that’s the case, then obviously you can simply sidestep the issue by avoiding unplugging USB Type-C devices at shutdown time.

On a side note, it’s interesting to see that even though the October 2018 Update is now being skipped over – with the majority of users being sent straight to the new May 2019 Update – the bugs still keep coming with it.

• Some of the best laptops of 2019 run Windows 10

Via Windows Latest