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Command Prompt

How Can I Log Off from the Command Prompt?

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At a Windows Command Prompt, type logoff and press Enter. With no additional argument, it signs out the current session. Save your work first: logging off ends the processes running in that session.

Log off the current Windows session

  1. Save open documents and close or pause work. Microsoft warns that logging off without warning can cause data loss.
  2. Open Command Prompt.
  3. Enter logoff and press Enter.

The command signs out the active local session and returns you to the Windows sign-in screen. Microsoft describes logoff without arguments as the simplest way to log off the active session.

Reference: Microsoft’s logoff command documentation.

Log off with shutdown

You can also sign out the current user with:

shutdown /l

The /l option signs out immediately and cannot be combined with other shutdown parameters. It does not power off the computer. To shut down Windows instead, use shutdown /s.

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Command Result Target
logoff Signs out Current session unless a session is specified
shutdown /l Signs out immediately Current user
shutdown /s Shuts down Windows The computer

See Microsoft’s shutdown command reference for the available options.

Log off a Remote Desktop session

The logoff command can target an active Remote Desktop session by name or numeric ID:

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logoff [sessionname | sessionID] [/server:servername] [/v]

Use a session name or ID

Replace sessionname or sessionID with the session you intend to sign out. If you omit /server:servername, Windows uses the current server. Add /v to display information about the actions being performed.

Check the command syntax

Run:

logoff /?

That displays the command’s built-in help.

Permissions and warnings

You can always log off your own current session. Logging off another user’s session requires Full Control permission. Warn that user first—for example, with the msg command—because Microsoft states that logging off without warning can result in loss of data. The documented logoff command cannot log off a user from the console session.

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Does logging off shut down the computer?

No. Logging off closes the user’s Windows session and ends its running processes, but the computer remains powered on at the sign-in screen. Use shutdown /s when you want Windows to power off instead.

Windows versions covered

Microsoft lists the logoff command for Windows 10 and Windows 11, Windows Server 2016, 2019, 2022, and 2025, and Azure Local 2311.2 and later. Availability can vary by edition or configuration; check the current Microsoft reference for your system.

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PowerShell alternatives

These commands are also usable from PowerShell. Microsoft’s PowerShell guidance documents logoff for the active local session and discusses Windows session-state commands in its Changing computer state article. Windows application code can request logoff through the ExitWindowsEx function.

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