poweroff

Additional Notes

poweroff shuts down the system and powers it off. It sends a signal to the init system (systemd or SysV init) to begin an orderly shutdown sequence: running shutdown scripts, stopping services, unmounting filesystems, and finally powering off the hardware.

On modern Linux distributions using systemd, poweroff is equivalent to systemctl poweroff. On SysV init systems, it calls the halt or shutdown commands to perform the shutdown. The command requires root privileges or systemd-logind session permissions.

Syntax

poweroff [options]

Parameters

• options: Flags that change how poweroff behaves.
• target: Optional file, device, interface, user, service, or command target when the command supports one.

Common Options

• --help: Show help and exit.
• --version: Show version information.
• --no-wall: Do not send a wall message before shutdown.
• -f, --force: Force immediate poweroff without calling shutdown scripts.
• -i, --init: Shut down using the init system (SysV compatibility).
• -w, --wtmp-only: Write wtmp record only; do not actually power off.

Examples

poweroff

Power off the system immediately.

sudo poweroff

Power off as root (or via sudo for non-root users).

poweroff --no-wall

Power off without notifying logged-in users.

poweroff -f

Force immediate poweroff without service shutdown.

Practical Notes

• Non-root users may need to be in the wheel or sudo group to run poweroff.
• On systemd systems, poweroff is the same as systemctl poweroff.
• To schedule a shutdown, use shutdown -h +5 (shutdown in 5 minutes) instead of poweroff.
• Running poweroff from an SSH session may hang if the system does not handle the session properly; use shutdown or systemctl for cleaner remote shutdowns.
• The -f flag skips the shutdown process and forces immediate poweroff. Use it only if the system is unresponsive to normal shutdown.
• Use reboot instead of poweroff to restart the system.