4 Ways to Restart your Windows 365 Cloud PC

This blog post will explore various methods for restarting a Windows 365 Cloud PC. There may be several reasons to restart the Cloud PC, such as troubleshooting, patching, app installation, or addressing any other errors.

IT administrators or end-users can initiate a restart of the Windows 365 Cloud PC remotely or from the Cloud PC itself.

Different Ways to Restart a Windows 365 Cloud PC

There are various ways to restart a Windows 365 Cloud PC. Let’s review the list of options available:

1. Restart Windows 365 Cloud PC using Intune admin center
2. Restart Windows 365 Cloud PC using Windows 365 Home Page.
3. Restart the Cloud PC via Taskbar
4. Restart the Cloud PC using Powershell.

Method 1 – Restart Windows 365 Cloud PC using Intune

When an IT administrator needs to restart a Cloud PC assigned to a user, they can log in to the Intune admin center and manage the device through remote actions, including initiating a restart. Please inform the user about the restart well so they will have enough time to save all their work.

Please follow the steps below to initiate a restart of your Cloud PC.

• Sign in to the Intune admin center.
• Navigate to Devices > Windows 365 > All Cloud PCs.
• Click on the one you want to restart from a Cloud PC list.
• Use the Restart remote device actions to restart the Cloud PC.

When you click on Restart action, it will prompt for your confirmation with a message: “Are you sure you want to restart this device? Users will not be automatically notified of the restart, and might lose unsaved work.“

Click on Yes to proceed with the restart.

The user will see the following window in a few seconds, confirming that the PC is shutting down. The message reads: You were disconnected because the remote PC is shutting down. After waiting a couple of minutes, you can click on the Reconnect button to try to connect to your Cloud PC again.

The Device action status also confirms that the Restart of the Cloud PC is completed.

Method 2 – Restart Cloud PC using Windows 365 Home Page

If you cannot access the Intune admin center, you can use the Windows 365 Home page to restart your Cloud PC. Since end-users typically do not access the Intune admin center, this option is ideal for users to restart their PCs whenever needed. Let’s check the steps:

• Sign in to Windows 365 web client (https://windows365.microsoft.com).
• Click on three vertical dots on your Cloud PC.
• Click on the Restart option to begin the restart process.

• A pop-up will appear to confirm if you want to proceed with the restart. The message on the pop-up reads, If you restart your Cloud PC, you might lose any unsaved changes. Make sure to save your work before you restart your Cloud PC.

Click on the Restart button to proceed.

• You will notice that the message on top of your Cloud PC updates the progress of the restart. As you can see in the screenshot below, the message reads: Restarting Cloud PC.

• A message Cloud PC was restarted confirms that the restart is completed successfully. Users can now access Cloud PC.

Method 3 – Restart the Cloud PC via Taskbar

This option requires you to connect to your Windows 365 PC and use the Taskbar action menu to initiate a restart. To restart your Cloud PC via the taskbar, follow the steps below:

• Connect and log in to your Cloud PC.
• Right-click on the Windows Icon to open the taskbar actions menu.
• Click on Shutdown or sign out > Restart to Initiate the restart process.

Please note that if you are not an administrator on your Cloud PC, you may not see the Restart option in the list. In that case, you can use the Windows 365 Home page through a browser to restart your Cloud PC.

Note

Method 4 – Restart the Cloud PC using Powershell

You could also use PowerShell to initiate a restart of your Cloud PC. Please note that this will require local administrator rights on the PC; otherwise, you will encounter an Access denied error.

• Search for Powershell in the Start menu and right-click on it. Then click on Run as administrator.

• Type the command shutdown -r -t 0 Press Enter to restart your Cloud PC. Since we have set the shutdown timer to 0, it will immediately restart the PC. You can adjust this value according to your requirements.