How to Add or Remove “Power Options” Button from Start Screen in Windows 8.1?

This tutorial will help you in:

  • Removing “Power Options” button from Start Screen in Windows 8.1 PCs
  • Enabling “Power Options” button on Start Screen in Windows 8.1 touch-enabled devices

With the release of Update 1 for Windows 8.1, Microsoft has added the much awaited Power button on Start Screen. Now users can quickly and easily access power options such as shutdown, restart, hibernate, sleep, etc right from the Start Screen.

The power button is shown on Windows 8.1 devices that are not tablets such as Desktop PCs, laptops, All-in-one PCs, etc. But touch-enabled devices such as tablets, Surface, etc don’t show this new Power button because these devices already have a physical power button.

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Now there might be people who want to remove this new Power button from Start Screen in their Windows 8.1 PCs or who want to add the new Power button in their Windows 8.1 tablets. That’s why today in this topic, we are going to share a small Registry tweak which lets you enable/disable Power button on Windows 8.1 Start Screen.

Power_Button_Add_Remove_Windows_Start_Screen.png

So if you also want to show or hide Power button on Windows 8.1 Start Screen, just follow these simple steps:

1. Type regedit in RUN dialog box or Start Screen search box and press Enter. It’ll open Registry Editor.

2. Now go to following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ImmersiveShell

3. Create a new key Launcher under ImmersiveShell key so the final key path would be:

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HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ImmersiveShell\Launcher

4. Now in right-side pane, create a new DWORD Launcher_ShowPowerButtonOnStartScreen and keep its value as 0

Add_Remove_Power_Button_Windows_81_Start_Screen.png

That’s it. Log off or restart Windows Explorer as mentioned here and Power button will no longer present on Start Screen.

5. Similarly if you want to show or add Power button on Windows 8.1 touch-enabled devices such as Surface, etc, simply change the value of Launcher_ShowPowerButtonOnStartScreen to 1 and the Power button will get added on Start Screen upon next login.

PS: If you are not familiar with Registry Editor and don’t want to modify Registry yourself, you can download following ready-made Registry script to do the whole task manually:

After downloading the above mentioned ZIP file, extract it and run the .REG file. It’ll ask for confirmation, accept it and log off or restart Windows Explorer to take effect.

It would have been really great if Microsoft also provided a similar DWORD Launcher_ShowSearchButtonOnStartScreen to add/remove Search button from Start Screen in Windows 8.1, unfortunately it doesn’t exist.

Published in: Windows 8

About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on various TV channels.

Comments

NOTE: Older comments have been removed to reduce database overhead.

  1. I don’t want to remove this because this is what I was waiting for… lol 😉
    Thanks VG ~

  2. Just a curiosity…
    Why anyone would want to remove this button, if this is one of the few claims from users that was attended by Microsoft?

    From an educational standpoint, it’s really interesting to know how it works, but from a practical point of view…

    Thanks for this curious post VG!

  3. thanks VG !
    I am one of those who does not tire to bring up the charm bar, so this button in the homescreen is useless for me.
    Any news about how to remove the search button ?

  4. ^^ Not yet.

    Regarding the trick to remove the power button, there might be people who dont want too much clutter on Start Screen and who use keyboard shortcuts such as Alt+F4 to bring shutdown dialog box, they might want to remove the button. Also the reverse of this tutorial i.e. adding button to tablets will be useful for many. 🙂

  5. ^^ That’s true VG ! 🙂 Devices with smaller display won’t get this button by default but they can now make the button stay at it’s place in case they need it 🙂 Thanks for sharing !

  6. I have an older laptop a HP Pavilion DM3 that i loaded 8.1 on and even with the registry edit it will not show the Power Button or Search. Tried a few times. Win 8.1 Pro 64bit AMD Athlon Neo X2 Dual Core Processor L335 1.6 GHZ 4gb ram

  7. This does NOT work on 64-bit Windows 8.1. I’ve applied all updates, then applied this change and the power button does not display.

    Is there any other method available?

  8. this update seem to have messed my hard button on the side of the tablet. now, when i press the button, it prompts me to shut down, no screen turning off, no sleeping option… all im stuck with is to swipe, touch screen few times where i didnt have to before… very unhappy with it!!

  9. Download and install this update(microsoft.com/en-US/download/details.aspx?id=42335) in the proper order.This is for those who have never downloaded and installed any update for Windows 8.1.If you have internet and your windows 8.1 is activated then run Windows Update and download and install all updates including the optional updates.After installing all the updates restart your system and then the power button should be there.Those who have not activated their windows they should activate it first and then install the update from the above URL(for Offline users) or let the system do it automatically from Windows Update(for Online Users). READ IT COMPLETELY
    THIS UPDATE IS IMPORTANT EVEN IF YOU DONT HAVE THE POWER BUTTON PROBLEM BECAUSE This is a critical update that is required for future updates to Windows. If you prevent it from installing or you uninstall it, you won’t get future bug fixes, security updates, and new features. In some cases, if you uninstall this update from a new PC after signing in with a Microsoft account, OneDrive might not work as expected.

  10. I tried this Registry Edit on my Acer Iconia W4-820 Tablet (64gb version) w/Windows 8.1 32-bit.
    I tried doing the fix manually and it didn’t work.
    I tried it with the Value of 0. I then tried it with a Value of 1, didn’t work either way!

    I did try the Download, again it failed.
    The Download automatically loaded the Value of 1.
    Still hunting for a solution.

    Thanks for trying, can’t always be perfect!

  11. FYI, this also works on Windows Server 2012 R2. For those asking why anyone would want to remove the power options button from the Start screen, this is why.

    Having the power options button right next to the username—both of which require a click to choose their respective interactions—is just asking for disaster on a server. Accidentally rebooting or shutting down a home computer or a tablet isn’t usually too much of an issue. Accidentally rebooting or shutting down a server is a huge problem. So I remove the power options button from the Start screen to eliminate the possibility of accidental reboots or shutdowns.

    Yes, I know that Windows Server pops up a dialog insisting that you provide a reason for the reboot or shutdown. But it’s all too easy to get moving too fast and confirm that dialog when you don’t mean to.

    And yes, I also know that it’s possible to sign off as well as reboot and shut down by right-clicking on the Windows logo on the Desktop. However, I’ve forced myself into the habit of always signing off by going to the Start screen and clicking my username. It’s a much more deliberate move which eliminates the possibility—again—of accidentally clicking something I shouldn’t. If I need to reboot or shut down, I’ll right-click the Windows logo on the Desktop.

    Removing the power options button from the Start screen forces these two actions—signing off vs reboot/shut down—to be very deliberate in the physical actions required to perform them. Better safe than sorry.

  12. Windows 8.1 Update for x64-based Systems (KB2919355)

    Find out whether u have updated or installed this windows update file if not that might be the reason for not showing of power button. this is mainly seen when complete reinstalling the windows software using a DVD.

    hope i resolved for guys who are still looking for solution.

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