You all know that Microsoft has released the consumer preview (beta version) of their latest version of Windows operating system, the Microsoft Windows 8 Consumer Preview. May be most of you have downloaded and installed the Windows 8 on your system to take a feel of it. The new OS will bring many UI changes and improvements with it, it also have supports for touch friendly screens. It also have borrowed the tiles from Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango). But if you have spend some time with this OS, you will definitely miss the traditional start menu for Shutdown, Restart and Log Off buttons in Windows. Because for a newbie in Windows 8, it is quite annoying to find Shutdown, Restart and Log Off options in Windows and Microsoft has removed these shortcuts in the latest version of Windows. So either you have to use shortcut keys (Alt+F4 in desktop mode or Win+C in Merto UI to bring shutdown or power off option) for shutdown or create shortcuts or tiles for Shutdown, Restart and Log Off in Windows 8.

How to Create Metro Tiles for Shutdown, Restart and Log Off in Windows 8

1. Switch to desktop mode in Microsoft Windows 8
2. Now create a shortcut by right clicking on desktop and then click on New >> Shortcut as shown in figure below.
3. Now type below mentioned command path for Shutdown, Restart and Log Off as shown in figure below
   • Shutdown –  C:\Windows\System32\shutdown.exe /s /t 0
   • Restart –        C:\Windows\System32\shutdown.exe /r /t 0
   • Log Off  –        C:\Windows\System32\shutdown.exe /l

4. And make 3 different shortcuts for Shutdown, Restart and Log Off with above mentioned command path
5. Now after creating above shortcuts on desktop, you should add Icons to your shortcuts to look them well, You can download good looking Icons from internet or use your own Icons.
6. Just Select the Shortcut and Right Click on it and then click on Properties
7. Now Select Shortcut Tab and Click on Change Icon Tab
8. Now you can change your Icons from Icons available on your computer or downloaded from internet
9. After creating the shortcut just rename your shortcut for better understanding. i.e. Shutdown instead of Shutdown.exe
10. After creating all three shortcuts, move or copy and paste your shortcuts to “C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs”. Sometimes ProgramData folder is hidden, so you have to unhide it, to properly view it. To unhide you have to visit contol panel
11. When you copy anything on the folder mentioned in the above path, it will automatically appear on Windows 8 Metro Wall.

So from Metro Wall you can use these shortcuts to save your time during shutdown, restart, and logoff process.