Now that more Xbox Series X|S units are appearing in stores, we’re starting to see more people running into some of the console’s various idiosyncrasies. This includes how, despite how the UI might make it appear, it’s surprisingly difficult to actually turn a Series X|S off.
If you’re having problems with your unit that a restart ought to fix, which is happening a lot lately, here’s how to force a hard reset on the Xbox Series X|S.
How to Forcibly Reboot Your Xbox Series X|S
While the Xbox Series X and S have some big differences under the hood, both are running the same operating system and basic hardware. As such, this guide will work for both consoles.
If your console is prone to random crashes, slowdowns, or other random issues, it may be something you can fix with a hard restart.
Frequently, this can be an issue caused by how you’ve configured your Xbox’s power settings. If you’ve got it set to Standby in the Sleep mode & Startup menu under General (below), the Xbox never actually shuts down.
Instead, when you turn it “off,” it goes into standby mode, where it can download/install games and it’s still available for features like remote access. As such, if your Xbox has those settings enabled, it may eventually run into the same issues you’d get with a PC that you let run for too long without a restart.
If your Xbox is just sluggish but is still responsive, you can fix this by going into the Apps menu and selecting Settings (below).
In General, under Sleep mode & startup, you can opt to either force a full shutdown or a full restart, depending on what you need at the time.
You can also restart the system remotely with an active controller by holding down the Xbox button and selecting “Restart console” from the onscreen menu (below)
In the event that your console has crashed entirely, where you can’t get it to react to controller inputs, you’re not totally out of luck. In this case, physically get up from where you’re sitting—you know, like the cavemen did—and hold down the button on the front of the Xbox for at least 10 seconds.
Once the unit powers down, unplug it for another 10 seconds, then plug it back in. You’ll know you’ve gotten a full restart if you get the Xbox’s boot screen, as opposed to heading straight back to your dashboard.
