Frustrating how it is so non-obvious to find when a Windows system has rebooted! I should just have to click a couple of buttons and have that information easily browsable.
The following setup, once complete, will make this info only a couple of mouse clicks away. On Windows 11: (the first and last steps are slightly different on earlier versions of Windows, but you should not have any trouble figuring it out):
- open
Event Viewer
(which you can find via the Search box or magnifying glass in Windows menu) - expand the
Windows Logs
, right-click theSystem
item, selectCreate Custom View
- where it says
<All Event IDs>
, enter41,1074,6006,6008
and click OK - A
Save Filter to Custom View
dialog will appear; name the view something likeSystem Restarts
and click OK. - (Optional) To group by day (very handy), right-click the new view in
Custom Views
, thenView
->Group by
->Date and Time
- On the desktop Task bar, while the
Event Viewer
window is still open, right-click theEvent Viewer
icon and selectPin to Taskbar
.
Now seeing these restart-related events is a couple of clicks: click the Event Viewer
in task bar, expand Custom Views
, click System Restarts
.
My Event Viewer
now looks like this:
Eg, my last restart shows a User32
event type (1074):
for the following reason: Operating System: Service pack (Planned)
Reason Code: 0x80020010
Shutdown Type: restart
Whereas the previous event shows a Kernel-Power
event marked Critical
:
The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.
Have fun!
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