How to Restart an HP Laptop

Jon Martindale has been a feature tech writer for more than 10 years. He's written for publications such as Digital Trends, KitGuru, and ITProPortal.

Updated on October 17, 2023 Reviewed by

Western Governors University

Ryan Perian is a certified IT specialist who holds numerous IT certifications and has 12+ years' experience working in the IT industry support and management positions.

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What to Know

Select the Start button, then the power symbol. Choose Restart.
If your HP laptop is frozen, press-and-hold the physical power button. Press it again once to power back up.

This guide will walk through the quick steps of restarting your HP laptop, whether it's working just fine and needs an update or is stuck and needs a forced shutdown.

How to Restart an HP Laptop

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

Select the Startbutton.

Windows 10 start menu open with the power icon highlighted

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

Windows 10 power menu with the Restart option highlighted

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.

How to Force-Restart an HP Laptop

If your HP laptop has locked up (frozen), or you can't get it to restart using the above method, then you may need to force a restart. To do this, press and hold the physical power button and wait five to ten seconds. The computer will shut down and turn off entirely.

Wait 30 seconds to allow any onboard memory to completely clear, then press the power button again to boot back into Windows.

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

If your HP laptop's screen is black, you may not need to restart it. Try tapping one of the keys on the keyboard or pressing on the touchpad—it might be hibernating, or the screen may have turned off as a power-saving measure.

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. After powering the computer on again, the screen should return to normal, and your HP laptop will boot back to Windows.

If the screen remains black, you may need to troubleshoot black screen issues in Windows to see if there's another problem you might be able to fix.

How do I restart my HP laptop in Safe Mode?

To enter Safe Mode on your HP laptop running Windows 10 or Windows 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 HP laptop troubleshooting options, reset it from Settings > System > Recovery > Reset PC. Alternatively, hold down Shift while restarting. Learn more about how to factory reset an HP laptop.