How do I stop automatic restart after windows updates? - Overclock.net

Xeijin · 07-15-06

Ever gone away to let windows get on with updating, and then found that your computer had suddenly restarted? This can be a nightmare especially if you frequently have alot of stuff open like documents etc. Short of disabling automatic updates (leaving yourself more prone to security vulnerabilities) what can you do? Read on...

Onto the fix:

1. Open up the Start menu and hit 'Run'.

2. Type "gpedit.msc" (without the quotation marks) into the drop-down box and click on OK.

3. The Group Policy Manager will now appear. NOTE: I don't recommend messing around with anything else in here if you don't know what your doing.

4. In the left pane, click on 'Local Computer Policy' then expand 'Computer Configuration' then 'Administrative Templates' then 'Windows Components' and finally click on 'Windows Update'. Whew!

5. A few options should have now appeared in the right-hand pane. Find the one that says 'No auto-restart for scheduled Automatic Updates installations' double click on it to bring up it's properties.

6. Change the radio button set on 'Not Configured' to 'Enabled' then hit OK.

7. That's it, all done!

NOTE: Although this does stop the computer automatically restarting, it won't stop the annoying dialog box which periodically pops-up reminding you to restart.