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Tech Tip of the Week: Prevent Windows Update From Automatically Restarting Your PC
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In many cases this isn't a major deal. However, it can be frustrating if you step away from a work session and come back to a freshly rebooted system. You might also be downloading a large file or letting a lengthy operation run while away from your PC, expecting it to be finished upon return.
Fortunately there are various workarounds available. Today we will mention a few that have been tested to work in XP, Vista and Windows 7 systems.
Read our Tech Tip of the Week.
User Comments (15)
Post a comment|
captain828 on December 16, 2009 5:02 AM |
Great tip! I was actually installing an update when I saw the guide lol |
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Docnoq on December 16, 2009 8:02 AM |
Very handy. This very 'feature' is the reason I only let Windows Update notify me when updates are available. I hate when my bandwidth is all of a sudden eaten up by Windows Update when I don't tell it to run, and the automatic restart is even more annoying. |
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mrtraver on December 16, 2009 8:36 AM |
I don't usually mind the bandwidth issue, so I just set mine to download updates but let me choose when to install. |
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ET3D on December 16, 2009 8:45 AM |
I set Windows to download but not install updates. This way I have full control over when they'll be installed, which is typically when I can afford to do a reboot. |
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compdata on December 16, 2009 8:59 AM |
ET3D said: Yeah, that is typically what i do as well. I think this probably should have been included in the article as option as well.
I set Windows to download but not install updates. This way I have full control over when they'll be installed, which is typically when I can afford to do a reboot. |
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foreverzero89 on December 16, 2009 3:50 PM |
i have never had a problem with this. i doesn't restart until you click on restart. otherwise it hangs there waiting for you to tell it what to do. that box is just a reminder. |
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tengeta on December 16, 2009 4:42 PM |
This is why I set up a Windows Domain server in my house. It forces all kinds of settings that knock these annoying things right out of the way as soon as I add a new system to the domain. Plus I'm a big fan of universal accounts. |
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saintbodhisatva on December 16, 2009 7:29 PM |
Cool, someone told me this tip before in passing, thanks for making it into an article. I'd definitely remember it more now. tengeta said: I should start setting one up too, sounds like a good workaround.
This is why I set up a Windows Domain server in my house. It forces all kinds of settings that knock these annoying things right out of the way as soon as I add a new system to the domain. Plus I'm a big fan of universal accounts. |
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Guest on December 17, 2009 3:30 AM |
Sometimes we see ourselves in the middle of so many tweaks and tips we got lost. Just restart your system; it won't hurt anybody. And it's good to your system's health. Greetings! |
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compdata on December 17, 2009 8:14 AM |
Guest said: Obviously you haven't had any users of systems you manage complain about having to restart during the middle of a presentation, church service or other special function. We had this issue at our church where i am one of the IT guys where we had set the updates to run on Friday, but no one was using the computers between Friday and Sunday morning, so by the time they booted them, and windows was done downloading updates and wanted to restart they were in the middle of something important (like checking kids into the nursery or doing worship team practice). Needless to say we learned our lesson and made some changes to make sure that didn't happen again. :-)
Sometimes we see ourselves in the middle of so many tweaks and tips we got lost. Just restart your system; it won't hurt anybody. And it's good to your system's health. Greetings! |
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Guest on December 17, 2009 8:26 AM |
With all due respect, God bless Windows (and the possibility to turn off automatic restarting)! Cheers! |
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Guest on June 28, 2010 7:00 AM |
Thank you. Thank you thank you thank you! I've had my windows 7 computer for 2 days now and am in the process of a 100 gig file transfer but Win Update has decided it is time to shut down. I'm sorry, I'm in the middle of the second attempt at the download, updater killed it last time about 1/3 the way through. Now I can sleep without worry. |
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Guest on July 14, 2010 9:59 PM |
That's ok if you're going to be near the computer, but say you leave a large download downloading over night, you're not going to be able to keep clicking 'reset later' so these work arounds are good for that. |
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Guest on April 1, 2011 12:09 AM |
hw do you do it when you're in school and that you are not the admin? |
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Guest on July 26, 2011 10:20 PM |
My own laptop tells me "access denied" when I try to do the net stop thingy on Windows 7. How do I get access? I should be admin of my own laptop right? |
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