When shutting down a computer and the “X app is preventing the computer from shutting down” prompt appears along with a “Shut Down Anyway” button, why does the computer shut down anyway without pressing said button?

Question

Clearly, the app *isn’t* preventing the shut down or, at the very least, the user’s authority is not needed to “shut down anyway.” What’s happening?

Edit: thanks everyone!

In: 13

Answer 1

It could be that a process was in the middle of something, like logging or cleaning up other background processes. A lot of these will lock files so nothing else can interfere with it.

When you restart it’s saying “hey wait a minute. I need to finish up first or you’re going to lose this log.” Not too dissimilar to when video games tell you not to turn off the game when you see the auto-save symbol. You’re likely going to lose that save file.

Thats just one example. It could just be a background program that is having a bad day and failed to close properly. These weird things happen sometimes.