Windows 10: Windows 10/11 - Program Manager preventing [normal] shutdown Lenovo Laptop

This is a continuation from the below link. Effectively, I have a Program Manager message preventing me from having a "clean" shutdown. It causes my laptop to hang for several seconds. At other times it's in conjunction with Task Host Window appear. And other times it's with an unidentified. I try to click on the item or cancel the shutdown but Windows is just too fast here. And when I think I am able to click on the message, the system reboots. And I can't slow down the shut down process. The Event viewer makes no mention of any shutdown errors, at least not anywhere I have noticed. I have sp

:)

 

"Program Manager This App is preventing shutdown"

Hi all, lately when trying to shut down a blue screen shows up displaying: "Program Manager: This App is preventing shutdown", and I'm given the option of "Shut down anyways" or "Cancel". If I choose shut down it will do it without issues, and if I click Cancel it will go back to the Desktop. I checked Task Manager and there's no "Program Manager" listed, also the CPU usage at idle is 0%, so everything looks normal. Additionally I checked Task Scheduler and Services, and nothing unusual. Thanks for any feedback,

 

Windows 10 - Program Manager preventing shutdown. Solutions?

Sammy,

Program manager

Is anything running called Program manager or similar in
Task manager, Processes tab
or the response to this command in a Cmd / PS window
Code:

You might find it more convenient to search a text file so you could use something like this with a path of your own instead of my example path
Code:

Is there any further info in the message you see when it prevents shutdown? Such as an icon? Perhaps you could post a photo of it.

The mystery little box

To find out more about this, use the above steps then close the mystery box then repeat the steps then compare the results.
In addition, check Task manager, Startup tab for anything with that default icon [probably just called Program]. Right click on any column name then select Command line to be able to see what was running it [it would probably be a relic of an uninstalled application].


Denis

 

Windows 10 - Program Manager preventing shutdown. Solutions?

This recently started happening.

I have let this issue go on for a few months now and System Restore is not a viable option.

Additionally, coming from Windows 7 to 10 (different PC) there is this window that always appears on the Task View to the right with the small Task View image (pic attached below). I don't know if that's related or not. But it's annoying and more often than not, if I manually close that blank window I don't (usually) get the Program Manager error, but it's not a constant.

As such, what are the fixes that are non-invasive such as going into the Group Police Editor and finding out which apps might be impacting shutdowns?