

On laptop and tablet PCs, the power button can be anywhere-on the surface near a keyboard, a key on the keyboard itself, on a side edge, or on the back. On many all-in one desktop PCs (that incorporate a display into the rest of the computer), the power button might be on the side edge of back side of the display, possibly near where the power cord plugs into the unit. That symbol is a circle with a vertical line passing through its top portion, and it represents the binary concept of “1” and “0” for “on” and “off.” Olivier Le Moal / On desktop PCs, the power button is usually larger than other buttons on the device, and it will usually have the international standard symbol for a power button on or beside it. But it’s not always obvious which button it is. The first step to powering up your PC sounds really obvious: Find and push the power button. How you fix it varies based on the type of PC you have, and we’ll show you how to do it.

Sometimes your PC won’t turn on when you expect it. It may seem silly, but turning on a Windows 10 or Windows 11 PC is a necessary step to using your machine.
