Grant Restart Permission on Windows 365 or VM

If you run into a situation where you need to restart your (like ) for update or any other task and you or your user find out that the restart is grayed out or just plain missing. This is a common "feature" in enterprise environments, where standard users are often locked down.

Users do have sometimes other option to restart but that restart is slightly different that what you do from the OS level. That restart if from the Hypervisor level and does not propely restart your vm and hence something like os upgrade does not work.

So, let's fix it. This guide will walk you through exactly how to grant standard users restart permission on their cloud PC using a simple Group Policy tweak. It's fast, secure, and will save you (and your users) a lot of headaches.

Prerequisites: What You'll Need

Before we dive in, make sure you have the following ready:

Administrator Access: You must be able to log in to the cloud PC as an administrator to make these changes.
User/Group Name: Know the exact username or group name you want to grant permission to (e.g., Domain\CloudPCUsers).
Target Machine: Access to the specific cloud PC you need to configure.

Step-by-Step Guide: Granting Restart Rights

Ready? Let's get this done.

Step 1: Open the Local Group Policy Editor (As Admin)

First, we need to launch the Local Group Policy Editor with elevated privileges. You've got two easy ways to do this:

Option 1: Via the Start Menu
1. Click the Start menu and type gpedit.msc.
2. You'll see "Edit group policy" appear. Right-click it and choose Run as administrator.
Option 2: Via the Command Line (My preferred method!)
1. Search for cmd, right-click on Command Prompt, and select Run as administrator.
2. In the terminal window, type gpedit.msc and press Enter.

Step 2: Navigate to User Rights Assignment

Once the Local Group Policy Editor loads, you'll see a navigation pane on the left. We need to drill down to the right spot.

Carefully expand the folders in this exact order:
Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > User Rights Assignment

Why This Matters: This User Rights Assignment section is the master control panel for defining who can perform specific privileged actions on the system, from logging in remotely to, you guessed it, shutting things down.

Step 3: Modify the "Shut down the system" Policy

Now, look at the list of policies in the main window on the right. Scroll down and find the policy named Shut down the system.

A quick clarification: I know we're talking about restarting, not shutting down. In the world of Windows permissions, this single policy conveniently controls both actions.

Double-click Shut down the system to open its properties.
Click the Add User or Group... button.
In the text box, enter the name of the standard user or security group you want to grant access to.
Important: If the user is on your company domain, make sure you add the full domain-qualified account, like YourDomain\UserName or YourDomain\HelpfulUsersGroup, eg: techfixerlab.com\Bhashkar.
Click Check Names to verify Windows finds the account, then click OK.

Step 4: Apply and Force the Policy Update

Your user or group should now be in the list.

Click Apply and then OK to close the policy window.
We're not quite done! Windows doesn't check for local policy changes instantly. We need to give it a nudge.
Go back to your administrator Command Prompt and type the following command:
```
gpupdate /force
```
Press Enter. You'll see a message that the policy is updating.

And that's it! Once the policy update is complete, the standard user you specified will now have the ability to restart their cloud PC as needed.

😅 Troubleshooting: "Because even superheroes trip sometimes"

What if it still doesn't work? Here are a couple of quick checks.

Policy is Grayed Out?
If you found the Shut down the system policy but all the buttons were grayed out, it means a higher-level Group Policy (from your Domain Controller) is overriding your local setting. You'll need to ask your domain admin to make this change at the domain GPO level instead.
User Still Can't Restart?
Sometimes, gpupdate /force isn't enough for a rights assignment. Have the user log off and log back in. If that fails, a full restart of the cloud PC (by you, the admin, one last time!) will definitely lock in the new permissions.

Conclusion: Empowerment Achieved

See? That wasn't so bad. In just a few minutes, you've fixed an annoying lockdown, empowered your user to self-service a common issue, and cut down on future support tickets for yourself. That's what I call a tech win-win!

Did this quick fix work for you? Do you use other methods to manage permissions on your cloud PCs? I'm always curious to hear what's working for other pros out there. Drop your thoughts or any follow-up questions in the comments below!