How to Reboot Your HP Laptop: A Complete Step-by-Step Guide

What to Know

• Normal: Select the Start button, then the power symbol. Choose Restart.
• Forced: If it's frozen, hold down the physical power button for 10 seconds. Press it again once to power it back up.

This guide details two easy ways to restart your HP laptop.

How to Reboot an HP Laptop

Like most laptops and desktop PCs, restarting/rebooting an HP laptop is done through the Start menu.

1. Select the Start button.

2. Select the Power icon—it looks like a circle with a vertical line through the top half.

3. Select Restart, or Update and restart if Windows updates are pending.

   

   You can also reboot to the Advanced Startup Options to gain some additional insight into what's going on with your computer (especially if you're restarting to solve a problem). To do that, hold the Shift key while you press Restart.

4. You may need to close some applications or agree for them to be forced to shut down before the restart completes.

How to Force-Restart an HP Laptop

If your HP laptop is frozen and so you can't restart it using the above method, then you may need to force a restart. This might corrupt some of your files and could easily cause unsaved work to be lost, but sometimes it's the only option.

To do this, press and hold the physical power button for about ten seconds. The computer will shut down and turn off entirely. 

Wait 30 seconds to allow the memory to clear, then press the power button again (just a single, quick press) to turn the HP laptop back on and boot back into Windows. 

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How Do I Restart My HP Laptop When the Screen is Black?

A black screen doesn't always spell trouble. The laptop might be hibernating or asleep. In those cases, just tap a key or press the touchpad to wake it up and resume using the laptop.

You can also try pressing Win+Ctrl+Shift+B to restart the graphics driver. If the graphics driver has failed, this will sometimes turn the screen on again.

If none of that works, see the force-restart directions above. The black screen should go away once the computer is powered on. If it doesn't, there's probably a different problem that needs to be fixed.

How to Fix a Black Screen in Windows 10

FAQ

• How do I restart my HP laptop in Safe Mode?

  To enter Safe Mode on your HP laptop running Windows 11, 10, or 8, access Startup Settings from the Advanced Startup Options. If you’re unable to reach Startup Settings, force restart Windows in Safe Mode. 

• How do I restart an HP laptop by returning it to factory settings?

  If your computer is unresponsive to various restarting methods and you’ve exhausted your other troubleshooting options, reset it from Settings > System > Recovery > Reset PC. Learn more about how to factory reset an HP laptop.