how to prevent windows from shutting down with power button?

Is there a way to prevent Windows 2000 from shutting down when the power button is pressed? Does a regtweak exists for this?

I would like an extra possibility in the power options where you can choose the action for "When I press the power button on my computer ". But there is no "None" option.

However I still want to be able the use Start - Shutdown, so I
guess that this has nothing to do with policies or what so ever...

You may wonder Why I want to do this? Well, just because the kids like playing with the power button.

Trying to disable the "ACPI Power Button" system device does not work. Disconnecting the power button is not a sullution as I still would like to start up PC my off course. Does anyone know a simple trick or any advise for this?

Thanks.

 

I don't know of a registry tweak - there may be one.

However, I would point you towards the BIOS. There is often an option in the BIOS that allows you to set up the power button so that the system will only shutdown if the button is held down for a number of seconds. I don't recall one for disabling the button completely.

Which options are available depends on the motherboard (and possibly the BIOS revision). I expect any tweak in the registry is only going to expose a BIOS setting to Windows, rather than offering alternatives to the BIOS. So I think the BIOS is the place to start.

 

If all else fails you can probably open the case and figure out how to stop the button from doing anything when pressed.

I'm not a hardware guy at all so not familiar with the newer variations but I seem to remember that depending on the specific case, it was either a mechanical thing where the button would trigger a switch or else a single wire attached to the button and that wire could easily be unplugged.

Have you tried death threats toward the child/children involved? That can sometimes work too.

 

Ah! well - if you want to be that drastic....

If you open the case you'll find that the wires on the switch go back to a pair of pins on the motherboard. Disconnect the wires from the pins and the power button will no longer work. The only problem then is how do you switch on!!!

To switch on the PC, all the power switch does is effectively short the connection between the two pins. {Slap dash PC builders (not me of course ..... honest, well perhaps I have) use a screwdriver to short the two pins, to check the motherboard boots up prior to connecting all the drives and peripherals. You can also use this "technique" to test if power up problems are due to a fault power switch - more common than you might imagine.} So you could run a pair of wires from these pins, out of the case elsewhere and use a switch connected to the ends of the wire to start the PC - that is a splendid bodgers solution.

You may be lucky and have a PC that will boot as soon as the power to the computer is switched on (most PC power unit/motherboards don't work this way). So disconnecting the button on the front of the PC won't leave you without a way to boot the PC.

Unless you are a hopeless tinkerer, I really think the best option is to change the BIOS settings.

A last thought. On some cases the reset switch is resessed and difficult to press. The reset switch connects into the same bank of pins on the motherboard - just a different pair of pins to the power switch. If you have a resessed reset button, you could disconnect the power button and then move the reset button connectors to the pins the power button was connected to. You lose the reset option (no big deal) but you can then use the reset button to start and switch off the PC.

 

I'm not much of a hardware guy eather. putting PC's together is one thing but starting to mess with wires, switches and stuff, ... naaah

I'll have a look at the available options in the BIOS and if that all doesn't work I think I might give the dead threats a try . Therefor I should have the agreement of my wife first and that might be the biggest problem of all

thanks for the advise anyway!

 

did you mean to say your wife first or your first wife?????