In this article, we will explore four unique ways to restart a Cloud PC. IT administrators can use any of these methods to easily restart a Windows 365 Cloud PC with minimal effort.
When a user encounters issues with a Cloud PC, admins typically recommend restarting it as an initial troubleshooting step. Restarting the Cloud PC is advised, for instance, if you encounter a generic error while using it, during patch installation, and much more.
From our experience, most of the cloud PC errors occur when you attempt to access a cloud PC from windows365.microsoft.com or Remote Desktop. Rebooting is the only fix when an application crashes or a shortage of resources causes a Cloud PC to hang.
Both a user and Windows 365 administrators can start a Cloud PC restart. This gives you the advantage of quickly troubleshooting issues with a Cloud PC. Take a look at how to troubleshoot Cloud PC connection issues.
Ways to Restart Cloud PC
Restarting a cloud PC in Windows 365 allows you to log in again and gain access to all of your files. This process should only take a few seconds, so there’s no reason to panic! In this article, I will cover different methods that you can use to restart the Cloud PCs.
- Restart Windows 365 Cloud PC using Intune Admin Center
- Restart Cloud PC from the Windows 365 web site
- Manually restart the Cloud PC via Taskbar
- Use PowserShell to reboot Cloud PC
There are a few other ways to restart a cloud PC besides using the remote actions offered by Cloud PC in Intune; these methods will be discussed in this post.
If you are new to the concept of cloud PCs, here are some guides you can use to start learning about Windows 365:
- How to Assign Windows 365 License to Cloud PC User
- How to Access Windows 365 Cloud PC Easily
- Quickly Reprovision a Cloud PC and Restore Windows 365 Cloud PC
- Create a Provisioning Policy in Windows 365 for Cloud PC
- Delete provisioning policies from Cloud PCs
- How To End Grace Period for Cloud PCs in Windows 365
1. Restart Windows 365 Cloud PC from Intune Admin Center
The restart option is available as a remote action in Windows 365 for Cloud PCs and is useful while troubleshooting issues with Cloud PCs. The remote actions allow Intune admins to manage Cloud PCs remotely in Windows 365. Windows 365 admins can start all of the remote actions from the Intune console.
Use the following steps to restart a cloud PC from the Intune Admin Center:
- Sign in to the Microsoft Intune admin center.
- Go to Devices > Windows 365 > All Cloud PCs.
- From a list of Cloud PCs, select the device that you want to restart.
- Select Restart remote device action to initiate the Cloud PC restart.
When you trigger a restart remote action for a cloud PC, this remote action causes the device you choose to be restarted (within 5 minutes). The device owner isn’t automatically notified of the restart, and they might lose work.
Note: If you are a Windows 365 admin, inform the user about the Cloud PC restart prior to restarting. As the device owner of the Cloud PC isn’t automatically notified of the restart, they might lose work.
A confirmation box appears, with the following 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 Yes to confirm the Cloud PC restart.
Note: After you trigger a Cloud PC restart from Intune, there is no option to cancel it. Once the Cloud PC gets the remote restart signal, it is restarted in no time.
A notification appears in the top-right corner of the portal confirming the Cloud PC restart has been initiated. After the Cloud PC restart is complete, you will find the result in the device actions status. You can also find who restarted the Cloud PC by reviewing the event logs on the Cloud PC.
2. Restart a Cloud PC from Windows 365 Web Site
The second way to restart a cloud PC is through the Windows 365 web site. If you don’t have access to Intune to restart a cloud PC, this method can be used.
In some cases, when users are logged into their Cloud PC, non-admin users cannot see the Restart button in the power menu. Therefore, they can only restart their cloud PC from the Windows 365 web interface.
A user can restart a cloud PC by following these steps from the Windows 365 web interface.
- Access the https://windows365.microsoft.com/ link in the browser.
- Sign in to your Cloud PC with your credentials.
- Click on the three vertical dots, and from the list of options, select Restart.
A pop up message box appears notifying the user that they might lose any unsaved changes. To proceed with restarting the cloud PC, click Restart.
During the restart of Cloud PC, we see the status “Cloud PC is restarting” on the Windows 365 web site page. A VM running in Azure takes almost the same amount of time to restart as a cloud PC does. After the restart is complete, the status changes to “Cloud PC was restarted“. A user can now access the Cloud PC by signing in with the credentials.
3. Manually Restart a Cloud PC via TaskBar
In this method, you’ll learn how a user can manually restart the cloud PC via the taskbar. You’ll need to connect to your Cloud PC and then initiate a restart from the taskbar. The steps are very similar to restarting a normal PC or home PC.
The steps below can be used to manually restart the cloud PC via the taskbar.
- Connect to your Cloud PC and authenticate with your credentials.
- Once you are logged in, right-click the Start button on your taskbar and select Restart.
- The user will be logged off, and later the user can sign in to Cloud PC.
4. Restart your Cloud PC using PowerShell
Advanced users prefer to use PowerShell commands to do their daily tasks. You can restart or even shut down the Cloud PC using PowerShell. In order to use PowerShell to restart your Cloud PC, you must be logged in as an administrator or use an account with administrator privileges.
First, launch the Windows PowerShell as an administrator. Now enter the command Shutdown -r -t 5 and press enter. This command will restart your Cloud PC after 5 seconds.
- -r is used to restart the system
- -t is a timer before shutdown occurs. By default, it is set to 30 seconds.
You can configure the shutdown timer value in seconds prior to running the restart command.
