[SOLVED] How can I stop win10 from auto restarting after update

SoulOfDerp

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Jun 7, 2017
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Basically I left my PC be and went to sleep and multiple times I wake up to a login screen. I know it is not system crashes because reliability monitor did not show a crash but shows updates.

And in the advanced options in windows update, all the options are off.

But it still restarts in my sleep from time to time.
 
Solution
You do know about "Update Tuesday"? On the 2nd Tuesday of each month, Microsoft usually releases cumulative updates. Those updates usually require a reboot. So it's once a month. This month it was on the 12th, a few days ago. Sometimes they release a 2nd cumulative update a few weeks early too, but it's rare.

If you've made the backup as I suggested, you can create the WindowsUpdate key, the AU key, then create a DWORD in it as described above. I'm assuming AlwaysAutoRebootAtScheduledTime suppose to be a DWORD as I have not looked it up.

Editing the registry is one of those things you should be very careful about, as I said above. If you're not comfortable with it, look for another method.
Basically I left my PC be and went to sleep and multiple times I wake up to a login screen. I know it is not system crashes because reliability monitor did not show a crash but shows updates.

And in the advanced options in windows update, all the options are off.

But it still restarts in my sleep from time to time.
You could disable Auto-Restart from Task Scheduler

Click the Windows key + R, type taskschd.msc and hit Enter, to open Task Scheduler
In Task Scheduler left pane, navigate to Task Scheduler Library -> Microsoft -> Windows -> UpdateOchestrator
In the middle pane, right-click Reboot_AC and click Disable.
Then right-click Reboot_Battery and click Disable.

The computer will not longer restart without user input.
 
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SoulOfDerp

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Jun 7, 2017
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You could disable Auto-Restart from Task Scheduler

Click the Windows key + R, type taskschd.msc and hit Enter, to open Task Scheduler
In Task Scheduler left pane, navigate to Task Scheduler Library -> Microsoft -> Windows -> UpdateOchestrator
In the middle pane, right-click Reboot_AC and click Disable.
Then right-click Reboot_Battery and click Disable.

The computer will not longer restart without user input.
They are both disabled already??

It shows it triggers on 4:03 am while reliability monitor shows an windows update was installed on 4:05 AM.
 
On Windows Home you might need to edit the registry to stop Windows Update from rebooting.

Open the Windows Registry Editor
Navigate to
HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU
Select the AU folder.
On the right pane right click AlwaysAutoRebootAtScheduledTime, change Value data to 0
Click OK and exit Registry Editor
Reboot

0: disable automatic restart after updates outside of active hours
1: enable automatic restart after updates outside of active hours
 

SoulOfDerp

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Jun 7, 2017
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On Windows Home you might need to edit the registry to stop Windows Update from rebooting.

Open the Windows Registry Editor
Navigate to
HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU
Select the AU folder.
On the right pane right click AlwaysAutoRebootAtScheduledTime, change Value data to 0
Click OK and exit Registry Editor
Reboot

0: disable automatic restart after updates outside of active hours
1: enable automatic restart after updates outside of active hours
When I open registry editor it only has a few folders starts with HKRY_

CLASSES_ROOT
CURRENT_USER
LOCAL_MACHINE
USERS
CURRENT_CONFIG
 

gardenman

Splendid
Moderator

SoulOfDerp

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Jun 7, 2017
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"HKLM" is the same thing as "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE".

If you're not sure about what you're doing, you might want to pause. Editing the wrong thing in the Registry can bring the whole operating system down requiring a complete re-install.

At a minimum, at least backup the registry key, or the whole registry before editing it. Instructions are here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/322756/how-to-back-up-and-restore-the-registry-in-windows
There's no WindowsUpdate under
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows
anyway so I guess I have to live with the random win update restarting in my sleep....at least its kind of rare. Still annoying.
 

gardenman

Splendid
Moderator
You do know about "Update Tuesday"? On the 2nd Tuesday of each month, Microsoft usually releases cumulative updates. Those updates usually require a reboot. So it's once a month. This month it was on the 12th, a few days ago. Sometimes they release a 2nd cumulative update a few weeks early too, but it's rare.

If you've made the backup as I suggested, you can create the WindowsUpdate key, the AU key, then create a DWORD in it as described above. I'm assuming AlwaysAutoRebootAtScheduledTime suppose to be a DWORD as I have not looked it up.

Editing the registry is one of those things you should be very careful about, as I said above. If you're not comfortable with it, look for another method.
 
Solution
You do know about "Update Tuesday"? On the 2nd Tuesday of each month, Microsoft usually releases cumulative updates. Those updates usually require a reboot. So it's once a month.
It isn't just Windows Update that could send reboot commands to Windows.
There are many other apps and utilities (Adobe, Intel Antivirus, etc) that could send a reboot command when they perform updates. It is very simple to control it on Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, Education versions...but on the Home edition this reboot will happen at any time pass Active Hours.
 
You do know about "Update Tuesday"? On the 2nd Tuesday of each month, Microsoft usually releases cumulative updates. Those updates usually require a reboot. So it's once a month. This month it was on the 12th, a few days ago. Sometimes they release a 2nd cumulative update a few weeks early too, but it's rare.

If you've made the backup as I suggested, you can create the WindowsUpdate key, the AU key, then create a DWORD in it as described above. I'm assuming AlwaysAutoRebootAtScheduledTime suppose to be a DWORD as I have not looked it up.

Editing the registry is one of those things you should be very careful about, as I said above. If you're not comfortable with it, look for another method.
I looked at several WIndows 10 Home computers and they all have that entry on the Registry.

If you do not know how to create the key, as suggested by gardenman, then PM me so I could send you a reg file that will enter the key values automatically.
Just extract the file and run it.

Also you could set your Internet connection as a metered connection and Windows won't download, and consequently install any updates.
You will have to do it manually.
 
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