---
title: Stop Winlogbeat
description: An orderly shutdown of Winlogbeat ensures that it has a chance to clean up and close outstanding resources. You can help ensure an orderly shutdown by...
url: https://www.elastic.co/docs/reference/beats/winlogbeat/shutdown
products:
  - Beats
  - Winlogbeat
applies_to:
  - Elastic Stack: Generally available
---

# Stop Winlogbeat
An orderly shutdown of Winlogbeat ensures that it has a chance to clean up and close outstanding resources. You can help ensure an orderly shutdown by stopping Winlogbeat properly.
If you’re running Winlogbeat as a service, you can stop it via the service management functionality provided by your installation.
If you’re running Winlogbeat directly in the console, you can stop it by entering **Ctrl-C**. Alternatively, send SIGTERM to the Winlogbeat process on a POSIX system.