You weren’t imagining it: Windows 11’s slow shutdowns are finally fixed

If you’ve been a Windows user for many years and always shut down your PC properly, you’ll no doubt have a sense of how quickly this process should actually take. Recently, however, some Windows 11 users have noticed that shutting down takes a few seconds longer than usual.

This isn’t an individual problem with your system, but a bug that can affect many users. Microsoft has now officially confirmed the issue, with June’s optional update KB5095093 intended to fix it.

According to the update’s support page, Microsoft has identified a fault in the Windows BITS service, which transfers files in the background and automatically resumes downloads if they’re interrupted. The exact note on the support page says this:

[General performance] Improves the time to shut down Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) when you turn off your PC.

In this instance, the BITS service appears to have taken too long to check for unfinished updates, which delayed the operating system’s shutdown. This problem has apparently been present for some time, but has only now been patched by Microsoft.

This doesn’t necessarily mean your PC will suddenly shut down in a flash after installing this update. However, the update should mean you no longer experience unexpected freezes caused by BITS.

Update KB5095093 includes various other benefits, including some big Bluetooth improvements and fixes. However, it’s an optional update, which means you’ll need to manually install it if you want those benefits now (instead of waiting for them to arrive in July’s main update). You can do so via Windows Update or via the Microsoft Update Catalog.

By the way: If you’re using Windows 11 Home, you’re missing out on the many benefits of Windows 11 Pro. To learn more, see our comparison of Windows 11 Home and Pro. If you want to upgrade, snag it for cheap in the PCWorld Software Store: now just $59 instead of $99.