How to Disable Automatic Reboot After Windows Update

After downloading and installing an update from Windows Update, a window constantly pops up nagging you to restart, and even counting down to an automatic restart. Tired of this? Disable it. Download Find and Run Robot (FARR).

Table of Contents

Using a Third-Party Program
Editing the Registry
Using XP Pro

Method 1 of 3:

Using a Third-Party Program

Download Find and Run Robot (FARR).
Download the Service Control plugin for it located here.
Type in "sctrl autom".^[1] Windows Update will stop nagging you until the next reboot.

Method 2 of 3:

Editing the Registry

Back up your registry.
Open regedit by typing "regedit" into the Start > Run dialog.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Software Policies Microsoft Windows WindowsUpdateAU.
Create or change the DWord value NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers to 1.
Exit and reboot.

Method 3 of 3:

Using XP Pro

Enter gpedit.msc into the Start > Run dialog.
Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Template > Windows Components > Windows Update.
Right click on No auto-restart for scheduled Automatic Updates installations. Enable it.
Exit the Group Policy editor and reboot.
1. Note that using the "No Auto-Restart" feature does not achieve the goal that you want. It will stop the auto-restart but you will continue to get pop-ups asking for a restart until you do. To prevent this, you need to enable "Re-prompt for restart with scheduled installations", found in the same section, and set the interval for reprompts to the max allowed which is 1440. That's 24 hours. You will probably turn off or restart your computer normally during that time. With this option set, you will be asked only once to restart now or later. After you click later, you will not be asked again until the next day if you have left your PC on for 24 hours.

You've just finished reading the article "How to Disable Automatic Reboot After Windows Update" edited by the TipsMake team. You can save how-to-disable-automatic-reboot-after-windows-update.pdf to your computer here to read later or print it out. We hope this article has provided you with many useful tech tips and tricks. You can search for similar articles on tips and guides. Thank you for reading and for following us regularly.

Micah Soto

Update 04 March 2020

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