Windows 11 shut down bug is one of the more bizarre glitches we've ever seen

Windows 11 has an 'update and shut down' option, as you're doubtless aware, but apparently this isn't working as it should - and the same is true on Windows 10.

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Windows 10 is also suffering from this apparent bug, as well as Windows 11 (Image Credit: Microsoft)

Windows Latest stumbled on this rather odd problem, and explains that instead of downloading and installing the update, then shutting down the PC, as this option should do - completing the upgrade the next time you turn on the machine - it's rebooting immediately instead.

Of course, the reason you select 'update and shut down' is because you're leaving your PC (most likely), and while you're happy to exit the room and let the system perform the installation, you want it to turn off afterwards, as you're not coming back.

So, if you've gone, and the PC reboots itself instead, that's obviously a bit of an issue. Not a massive one, but it's an annoying quirk nonetheless.

If we tell our Windows 11 (or 10) PC to update and shut down, we expect it to do just that. Windows Latest observes that Microsoft treats the command as more of an 'expression of preference' but that's just not good enough in our books.

The tech site's experience is backed up by complaints about this issue from other Windows 11 users on Microsoft's Feedback Hub and Reddit.

This is a pretty odd one, and it appears to be erratic. For example, one Reddit user notes that it seems to be a 50-50 chance that the PC will shut down as instructed, or reboot.

The good news is that the majority of folks aren't experiencing this strange behavior from Windows, but there are certainly some rather miffed Windows 11 users out there.

One theory is that certain updates could be more problematic than others, namely those that require multiple restarts.

Of course, the workaround is that you can simply shut down, rather than 'update and shut down', and then apply the upgrade first thing the next day - but the point remains that this option should do exactly what it says on the tin, all the time.

Or, if there are scenarios where multiple reboots don't allow this, then the 'update and shut down' choice should be grayed out in some way, so that you know you can't go this route.

Hopefully Microsoft will be looking into this one now the issue is gaining some coverage across news sites - fingers crossed.

Unfortunately, this gremlin in the works has apparently been around for some time - one Redditor notes that they've experienced this wonkiness for the past year or so (and that it's becoming more common, worryingly).

• Read more: Windows 11 is getting a handy new option to fix the OS if it's broken