Prevent W11 from update & restart?

[Velvis]

Is it possible to prevent W11 from automatically restarting from updates? I have a client that uses a VM and leaves it running on a Win11 host. W11 sometimes restarts overnight after an update and it messes with the VM shares between itself and W11.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Here we go again...

It's never a good idea to muck with updates, it happens once a month. Address the process that's causing the problem, leave updates enabled.

 

[GTP]

I've used this on Windows 10 a few times.
Should work ok on Win 11

Open Regedit and go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU

Right-click on Windows and go to New > Key

Name the key WindowsUpdate (no space)

Right-click on the WindowsUpdate key and go to New > Key again

Name the new key inside WindowsUpdate AU

Open the AU key.

Right-click in the right-pane and go to New > DWORD (32-bit) Value

Name the new DWORD NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers.

Double-click on the DWORD and change the 0 value to 1. (Leave it as Hexadecimal.)

Reboot.

 

[britechguy]

It's never a good idea to muck with updates

I wouldn't call wanting the option for a manual restart "mucking" with updates. Windows 10 gives you this option for all practical intents and purposes, and I'd presume Windows 11 does, too.

I just got one of my occasional first thing in the morning messages that my machine would start outside of active hours or I could restart now to apply an update messages. My active hours have been 8 AM to 12 AM for ages, and I don't get overnight restarts, which has surprised me.

I haven't had an automatic restart in I can't say how long, whether for a patch, cumulative, or Feature Update.

 

[Sky-Knight]

@britechguy That's because you reboot on time. Windows 10 will force the restart, but only after it's been bugging you for a couple of weeks.

Windows 11 hasn't as far as my testing has shown changed this behavior.

 

[britechguy]

Windows 10 will force the restart, but only after it's been bugging you for a couple of weeks.

And I presumed, apparently correctly, that Windows 11 behaves similarly. But if it's not doing so for whoever is having this issue, there's got to be some setting they can tweak.

I'm certainly not proposing that you either don't update or don't restart at a time that you manage.

I really have no sympathy for those who claim that there is, literally, never a good time to do an update. We've had to manage updates with restarts for decades now. It's part of using Windows.

 

[Sky-Knight]

@britechguy Part of using any OS, though Windows requires reboots more frequently than other options.

 

[Porthos]

I haven't had an automatic restart in I can't say how long, whether for a patch, cumulative, or Feature Update.

That is most likely because this setting is not enabled.

 

[sapphirescales]

Use gpedit.msc to turn off automatic restarts after a successful update. That way you can restart it when YOU choose to and it will install updates only when restarting. You can also completely disable Windows Update via gpedit.msc. I only recommend doing this if you have an offline machine so Windows Update doesn't nag you about updates.

Another solution is to simply paused updates for a week. You can do this in the settings app. This is useful if you just don't want the computer to restart overnight when you're doing a huge render or something.

 

[britechguy]

That is most likely because this setting is not enabled.
View attachment 13613

Thanks. That would be it.

The screenshot you gave is precisely how I have my machines configured, including having the update notifications on. That way I do get nagged, but unless I ignore those nags and relinquish restart control as a result, the machine doesn't restart itself.