The affected users complained that when they attempted to turn off or restart their computers, they are presented with the following error: "You don't have permission to shut down and restart this computer".
This is the second major Windows 7 bug that has been discovered since Microsoft officially ended support for the operating system on 14 January. The other issue saw users who chose the "Stretch" mode for their wallpaper have their background turn black.
Microsoft issued a fix for that bug despite the system's end-of-life status.
The latest issue, however, has not been patched and going forward, bugs such as this one may not receive official fixes.
Unofficial workarounds
Users currently have two ways to fix the issue themselves.
Firstly, you can modify certain Windows 7 registry entries to sort out the problem. This should only be attempted by advanced users.
To do this, hit the Windows Key + R and type "regedit.exe" to launch the Registry Editor.
Navigate to the following location in the Editor:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Policies\System
Double click on "EnableLUA" to change the value from 0 to 1. You should then be able to reboot the device and save the changes.
The second method only works for Windows 7 versions that feature group policies, which includes Professional, Ultimate, and Enterprise editions.
To use this workaround, hit the Windows Key + R and type "gpedit.msc" to start the Group Policy editor.
Navigate to Computer Settings > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options. Find the "User Account Control: Run all administrators in Admin approval" policy, double-click it, and switch its setting to Enabled.
After this is done, press the Windows Key + R again and type "gpudate/force" into the console.
Finally, restart your device by hitting Windows Key + R and enter "shutdown – r".
