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I use Windows for about 21 years and never encountered such a behavior.

A few days ago I formatted my PC and reinstalled Win10. I get automatic updates as I wished but instead of waiting for me to restart or shut down my computer once a while, Win10 now seem to decide for me when to restart after update.

It gave me several notifications in the last days, and each time I clicked "Try later" but now suddenly it restarted without asking my permission while I was on a work and lost data.

Maybe I clicked enter while typing in the second it poped up and it wasn't automatic but that's unlikely and outrageous anyway as it shouldn't be clicked so easily.

Given I didn't find a way to disable automatic restarts (Microsoft forces you to use "Comfortable hours" for resetting your PC, and given I didn't find any option to disable all automatic updates in Win10, I ask for any informal tweak how to disable these.

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4 Answers 4

Reset to default
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Short answer

You may activate the group policy No auto-restart with logged on users for scheduled automatic updates installations using gpedit.msc.

The group policy is a way to modify the registry, but Windows Home doesn't have group policies, in this case the feature must be activated directly in the registry using regedit. The related key is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ Policies \ Microsoft \ Windows \ WindowsUpdate \ AU \ NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers, the value must be set to 1 (enabled).

Both methods lead to the same result.

Details

No auto-restart with logged on users for scheduled automatic updates installations effect is:

Specifies that to complete a scheduled installation, Automatic Updates will wait for the computer to be restarted by any user who is logged on, instead of causing the computer to restart automatically.

If the status is set to Enabled, Automatic Updates will not restart a computer automatically during a scheduled installation if a user is logged in to the computer. Instead, Automatic Updates will notify the user to restart the computer.

Read more about this policy which existed since XP. Note this policy applies to scheduled automatic updates, so the computer must be configured to use them.

When it's time to reboot, a notification is displayed, but reboot doesn't occur (unless clicking the related option) until logging out:

enter image description here

Consent

Win10 now seems to decide for me when to restart after update.

The vast majority of users don't mind or don't understand what is security and programs complexity make them security flaws nests. This gives the excuse to companies for not explaining, not providing simple choices (e.g. I don't want to let Windows decide when to shutdown my computer -- Whatever the reason) and bypassing everybody's consent to improve security.

The quality/security aspect has shifted to encompass "improving user's experience" and telemetry, the new wording for spying our use of the software, most often to monetize our behavior, without our consent. As users are not technically knowledgeable, consent is basically a thing of the past.

enter image description here

Source

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  • Please remove portions of your answer that are not relevant for answering the question.
    – StarCat
    Commented May 18, 2022 at 13:58
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    @StarCat: My opinion about forced updates becoming casual is part of the answer, and being part of IT industry you well know about data seen as the new oil to be extracted. What is the problem?
    – mins
    Commented May 18, 2022 at 15:29
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    This is infuriating.
    – ThomasMcLeod
    Commented Dec 7, 2023 at 4:19
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Quick and dirty methode, Disable the windows update Service. this way it wont even search for updates.

Downside would be that your system would be outdated. so i would suggest turning the service on again when you have the time to updates, because no matter how annoying the update process is, the updates ARE important.

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    This is terrible advice. Please nobody ever do this.
    – seagull
    Commented May 18, 2022 at 12:24
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Updates are supposed to be "scheduled" when the PC is idle for X minutes.

It seems this is causing issues for you, since you don't have auto-save enabled every, say, 5 minutes in your program, so enable auto save if possible.

You have three options to cope with this:

Option1:

  • change Scheduler >find "Scheduled Tasks"> Microsoft>Windows Updates> change options to disable auto updates to notify.

Option2:

  • Find Windows Updates> configure as above. if not working ...

    • Press Windows+R, type gpedit.msc, press Enter.  This brings up the Local Group Policy Editor.
  • Navigate the left pane as if it were File Explorer, to Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Update.
  • Find and double-click Configure Automatic Updates
  • configure as above

Option3:

Also try adding this enter image description here

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  • 2
    That configuration is gone with the Anniversary edition, @TonyStewart. There is no known fix to avoid the automatic reboot.
    – Aganju
    Commented Sep 17, 2016 at 17:02
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    @Aganju what's the code of the update (KBxxxx)? I would like to check if my computer got the update too. By the way that's very unfortunate.
    – Marco Bonelli
    Commented Sep 18, 2016 at 13:36
  • I don't know the kb code, and I had multiple updates after it, so hard to find which one now. But you can google 'Windows 10 Anniversary Edition' to find about it. - there are many people with this issue, and I have been looking for a solution for a while. It is a really nasty issue; once every week I find in the morning that Windows has rebooted - killing (and damaging) all running virtual machines in the process. You can only set an 'activtity window' of a max of 12 hours, and outside this window, it reboots when idle.
    – Aganju
    Commented Sep 18, 2016 at 14:46
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    I wont ever install Win10 but you can check this out howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/image74.png
    – Tony Stewart EE75
    Commented Sep 18, 2016 at 15:13
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Try this

  1. Go to Windows 10, download page www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

  2. Download "Media Creation Tool" - it is the second download option

  3. Run tool: It will reinstall Windows 10. Follow the download instructions Be patient with the download. It takes a while like when you first uodated to Windows 10. If it freezes during update, try again. This reinstall will not kill your Apps or Folders, but if you get a question make certain you select save Apps and Folders. I can't remember exactly if the option pops up.

  4. After reinstall, auto-boots should stop....Really.

  5. Note that the System Restore function will be disabled after the re-installation. You can enable it if you like, by going to System Restore- Configure-Select System Protection. Might also be a good idea to set a Restore point at this time.

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