I can't find a dialogue anywhere on the desktop (like on Windows Start/shutdown) to shut down Ubuntu. I downloaded and ran the Ubuntu live CD and after I ran it, I couldn't shut it down. I had to hold the on/off key on my computer for 4 seconds to shut down my computer to get back into Windows. If there is a button somewhere, why is it not obvious?
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6 Answers
9
Go to the upper right corner and use the gear menu to select Shut Down.

Kris Harper
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depending on the theme you are using the icon can change (a small computer for example) but it's located on the same position (upper right) – laurent Jan 16 '12 at 01:37
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If you have access to a terminal and have root access how about the shutdown command:
shutdown -h now
man shutdown for more detail

Kemin Zhou
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Here are 3 ways:
- You can type
Ctl+Alt+T
to bring up the Terminal. Then you can type either halt, or shutdown. With the shutdown command you need to specify a time. If you type shutdown 1, it will shutdown in one minute, if you type shutdown 5 it will wait 5 minutes and so on. - The final option I know of is to add a keyboard shortcut by going to
the top right corner and entering the System
Settings>Keyboard>Shortcuts, then you'll click on the Custom
Shortcuts text and click the + icon to add a custom shortcut. Just
type in Shutdown or whatever you wish for the name. In the command
dialog box type:
/usr/lib/indicator-session/gtk-logout-helper -s
and click save. Now you'll need to click where it says disabled, and you'll see the text change from disabled to New Shortcut. Now type a key command like Ctrl+Alt+End and save it. - Or as the others have pointed out, you can use the power button.

Jeremy Jared
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Ctrl+Shift+T brings up a new terminal tab only if you already are in gnome-terminal. – psusi Jan 15 '12 at 22:21
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Opening a terminal window with Ctrl+Alt+T and running
shutdown 0
worked for me in Ubuntu 16.04

Fabby
- 34,259
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You have to log in first. Press Esc, then log in, following that shut down via the top right corner.
I believe it's intended to keep unauthorized users from getting into the bios settings easily.