[Fix] Windows Automatically Restarts Computer to Install New Updates

PROBLEM SYMPTOM:

You are working on your computer and suddenly you computer restarts itself without giving you any choice or option to save your work, close running programs, etc. You lose important documents which you were creating, you lose tabs which you opened in your browser, etc.

In fact sometimes you take a break and when you come back, you notice that your computer was restarted automatically and you see configuring updates for Windows, do not turn off your computer message:

Now you can’t do anything except wait and watch Windows completing the updates installation.

PROBLEM REASON:

This problem occurs due to Windows Updates. When Windows downloads new updates, sometimes it needs to restart the computer to install and apply the updates. Although it shows a message that your PC needs to restart to finish installing important updates and Windows is going to restart your computer within 10 or 15 minutes to install and apply new updates but sometimes you ignore the message or the message is not displayed at all. After a few minutes, your computer is automatically restarted by Windows to start the installation of downloaded updates.

This problems exists since the good ol’ days of Windows XP and Windows 2000. So all Windows versions including Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1 and Windows 10 can cause this issue to you.

If you are working on some important work and can’t afford a restart, this automatic restart problem might annoy you a lot.

Actually this is a feature by design which was implemented so that Windows can be patched via security updates as soon as possible. Sometimes users can forget to restart their computers and their computers may become vulnerable to security risks. I know many people hibernate their computers instead of restart. That’s why Windows automatically restarts your computer to install and apply new updates as soon as possible to make your PC safe and secure.

PROBLEM SOLUTION:

Windows provides a feature called Active Hours which can be used to tell Windows the time period during which you use your computer and Windows will never restart your computer during those hours. But for me it doesn’t work always. Many times Windows has restarted many of my computer machines during active hours.

Related: Fixing Windows 10 Automatic Updates Installation Problem

Fortunately, Windows comes with a built-in option to completely disable this automatic restart feature to install scheduled updates. So you can prevent/restrict/stop Windows from restarting your computer automatically to install updates. Once you block Windows using this method, it’ll no longer restart your computer without your permission. You’ll have complete control and you’ll be able to decide when to restart your computer.

We shared this trick ling time back in 2012 as a Bonus Tip in this topic but some people are unable to find this trick and ask us via emails for solutions. So we decided to create a separate tutorial for this trick.

If you also want to fix this irritating problem and want to prevent Windows from automatically restarting your PC to install updates, following methods will help you:

NOTE: This method will work in all Windows versions.

There are 2 ways to block Windows from automatically restarting your computer:

• METHOD 1: Using Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc)
• METHOD 2: Using Registry Editor (regedit.exe)

Let’s discuss both methods in detail:

METHOD 1: Using Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc)

1. Press WIN+R keys together to launch RUN dialog box. Now type gpedit.msc and press Enter. It’ll open Group Policy Editor.

2. Now go to:

3. In right-side pane, look for following option:

The option is set to Not Configured by default. Double-click on the option and set it to Enabled. Click on Apply button and then OK button to exit.

That’s it. Now Windows and automatic updates will wait for the computer to be restarted by any user who is logged on to complete a scheduled installation, instead of causing the computer to restart automatically.

PS: If you want to restore default settings in future, simply set the option in Group Policy Editor to “Not Configured” again.

METHOD 2: Using Registry Editor (regedit.exe)

If you are using Home edition of Windows, you’ll not be able to run gpedit.msc command because this edition doesn’t come with Group Policy Editor.

If you can’t use or don’t want to use Group Policy Editor, you can take help of Registry Editor for the same task. Just follow these simple steps:

1. Press WIN+R keys together to launch RUN dialog box. Now type regedit and press Enter. It’ll open Registry Editor.

2. Now go to following key:

3. Create a new key under Windows key and set its name as WindowsUpdate

4. Create another new key under WindowsUpdate key and set its name as AU

5. Now select AU key and in right-side pane create a new DWORD NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers and set its value to 1

That’s it. Close Registry Editor and restart your computer to take effects.

Now Windows will never restart your computer automatically during a scheduled installation if a user is logged in to the computer.

PS: In future if you want to restore default settings, simply delete the DWORD created in above steps.

NOTE: If you are not familiar with Registry editing tasks, we are also providing ready-made Registry script to do the task automatically. Download following ZIP file, extract it and run Disable.REG file. It’ll ask for confirmation, accept it. Restart your computer to take effects:

Also Check:

[Fix] Windows 7 Keeps Checking for Updates for Hours

[Fix] Windows 8/8.1 Keeps Checking for Updates Forever

Fix Windows Updates Problems and Issues Using Automatic Reset Script