Question Win 11 - Prevent auto update & restart due to "active hours" settings?

[Ironarmygeneral]

Hey all, still pretty new to Windows 11. Been a long time user of Windows 10, decided to switch. So far, I actually prefer it over Win10--however, there is a couple things that irritate me beyond irritation, to the point I want to throw this $2000 rig out of the window and burn it.

Anyway, so in Win10, I rarely had an issue with auto/forced updates and subsequent restarts. There were settings you could change that prevented this for the most part, and only once in a while would Microsoft basically force my PC to do it anyway, but it was so uncommon that it only mildly irritated me.

Well, come to find out... Windows 11 doesn't have the same features, or at least they don't work the same. Windows 11 has "active hours" with a max of 18 hours worth of time you can set (you kidding me? I can't disable this, or at least set it to a 24 hour period? SCREW YOU MS! Some of us use our PCs at different times of the day every day, it's not always the same, and for people like me that use it for not only work, but my business, for entertainment, gaming, programming, etc, I could EASILY be on it MORE than 14 hours a day, PLUS, again, I'm not always on it at the same times. Some times I may be on it from late night to early morning, sometimes from midday through midnight, etc etc etc. This is a WORTHLESS feature, IMO.)

Anyway, after that little rant... basically, the issue I have, is that I typically keep my work open. Yes, I always save, but for other things like Chrome/browser tabs, etc, I lose my place and where I was (not that I lose the data). It's extremely annoying when I come downstairs like I did earlier, to find that my computer forced an update and subsequent restart, and I don't remember what exactly I had open (at least not all, there's a reason I leave them OPEN!!!).

Trying to negate this for next time, I went into update settings, to find my "active hours" were set to automatic, set from 11am-5pm daily... okay, for one, not only is this feature STUPID, it's not even accurate--it says the automatic setting is based on common/recent activity, and while yes I usually use my PC at different times of the day, I usually DON'T during week days. Mon-Fri I'm not even HOME from 11a-5p, I work 9a-5p, the only days of the week I AM on during those times is Sat and Sun--not to mention, I'm usually RARELY on it as early as 11a even on the weekends--I usually get up around 9/10, get ready, do some house chores, have lunch, and then get on later. Usually by this time, it could be 2-3pm, and then I'm usually on until LATE, around 11p-1am. Yes I know my lifestyle isn't very healthy but by PC shouldn't be trying to force me to change it, I OWN YOU.

Anyway, sorry, I'm trying not to rant too much in this post but it's hard. ANYWAY, come to find out, I can't set this "Active hours" manual setting for more than 18 hours, it's hard to actually predict WHEN I'll be on, etc.

I do not care that I get Windows updates. In fact, I would like to keep getting them, as they solve many security issues and bug fixes, which Windows 11 seems to definitely have a few of (for example, the taskbar is a bit wonky--if I accidentally move my cursor over an active app on the taskbar, it will bring up a preview, but if it happens when moving my cursor to another point on one of my screens, it will pull up and get stuck. I have to re-hover over the app's tab and THEN click on a blank spot of the taskbar for it to go away.) However, I do NOT want it to pick and choose FOR ME when it installs them, and/or restarts the machine to finish installing them. I could not find any settings for this, I wish I could simply just DISABLE active hours. Why can't we as users just tell it, "Hey, feel free to download any updates in the background, but just tell me when they're ready so I can install them on my own time of MY CHOOSING"??? IMO this was a ridiculous, worthless, annoying "feature" from Microsoft.

So, end of story, does anyone know any fixes or workarounds for this? The occasional forced update/restart like on Win10 is fine, as those usually only got forced upon me every couple of months, the rest I decided when I was ready to install downloaded updates--this is just becoming a daily occurrence for me, I can't figure out how to change or stop it. (PS I did try selecting "download over metered connections" which seemed to at least help on Win10, it does not seem to make a lick of a difference on Win11).

End of rant and thank you for any advice.

 

[USAFRet]

You can pause updates.
Default is 1 week. Or 2,3,4,5 weeks.

So pause, and then do it on a day of your choosing.

 

[Ironarmygeneral]

You can pause updates.
Default is 1 week. Or 2,3,4,5 weeks.

So pause, and then do it on a day of your choosing.

I did actually just find that after I made this post, however is there not a better solution? In 3 weeks I will have completely forgot I set this, and it will just happen again.

Also, I would assume this also blocks the downloading of updates, which isn't ideal either.

Why is it so freaking difficult to just let us as users have it download as it wants/needs and then CHOOSE to install when we want. No offense to you, it's a great answer, but it's also inconvenient, as I'll either forget, or when it finally unpauses, I'll have to re-pause it again after it finishes updating/installing. Are there any other/better solutions to this?

P.S. I want to mention that "Keep me up to date" feature is also basically useless. It's SUPPOSED to at least help with this exact issue, and to notify me prior, however it's kind of pointless to notify me when my PC is asleep and/or I'm not at it, and then restarts anyway. Either way, point being, I've tried turning this off, as if it IS set, it will try to "restart as soon as possible", and it doesn't really make any difference, so that's just another pointless feature

 

[USAFRet]

Yes, it also pauses the downloading. But a download without install is semi-useless.
The vast majority of people wouldn't know where to find the "download".

So pick a favorite day of the month.
The same day you pay bills. Or do laundry, or go shopping.
Or every other Thursday.
Or whenever.

Set up an alert in whatever application you use.
Just like all your other recurring personal tasks.

 

[Ironarmygeneral]

Yes, it also pauses the downloading. But a download without install is semi-useless.
The vast majority of people wouldn't know where to find the "download".

So pick a favorite day of the month.
The same day you pay bills. Or do laundry, or go shopping.
Or every other Thursday.
Or whenever.

Set up an alert in whatever application you use.
Just like all your other recurring personal tasks.

I completely get it, I just see this as a severe annoyance and inconvenience. I shouldn't have to do that. Again not that your answer is bad, it's got nothing to do with your or your answer, I just think that the FACT that I even have to do this is ridiculous. I don't see half the update features that force this on you as useful or helpful at all. It was fine the way it was. So tired of big tech companies trying to fix sht that isn't broken, and end up making it worse or turning things into annoyances. MS and Google are the worst when it comes to this, whether it's web services or anything else. *sigh Guess there's nothing I can do about it. Overly frustrating.

Also, download without install really isn't that useless for someone like me--time is money, and when I get to the point where the updates unpause and it's time for updates, that's just extra time I have to wait for it. Not to mention, with how often I get updates, even if I set it on 1-2 week pauses, it would be multiple that would need done, not to mention having to manually go back in and re-setting the 2-3 week pause, at least I'd assume, unless it is smart enough to automatically turn them back on once it's back up to date.

 

[USAFRet]

I completely get it, I just see this as a severe annoyance and inconvenience. I shouldn't have to do that. Again not that your answer is bad, it's got nothing to do with your or your answer, I just think that the FACT that I even have to do this is ridiculous. I don't see half the update features that force this on you as useful or helpful at all. It was fine the way it was. So tired of big tech companies trying to fix sht that isn't broken, and end up making it worse or turning things into annoyances. MS and Google are the worst when it comes to this, whether it's web services or anything else. *sigh Guess there's nothing I can do about it. Overly frustrating.

Well, there are 'active times", and "Pause for X weeks", or let it do its thing whenever it chooses.

Select which option works for you.

Because if you do not do it, eventually it will do it when it pleases.

Be proactive.

 

[Ironarmygeneral]

Well, there are 'active times", and "Pause for X weeks", or let it do its thing whenever it chooses.

Select which option works for you.

Because if you do not do it, eventually it will do it when it pleases.

Be proactive.

The point was missed. I shouldn't have to do either of those. IMO, by default, it should be set to WAIT no matter WHAT until I'm ready to install updates. I should be able to manually trigger them. Like any other program (with the exception of MAJOR updates that are required for said program to work). It's BS that I need to set "active times" (which is extremely in accurate set to automatic, and impossible to get right manually, when you're only given 18 hours), and like I already stated, the other solution is bound to just cause more issues for someone like me. It's not as simple as setting it to pause for 1-3 weeks, and then letting it update after the pause expires. What if I'm not around when it does it (It will still wait for the pause to be expired, and still pick and choose when it wants to actually do the update), for example? It would be the same issue as why I'm posting here. There's not much "being proactive" that you can really do. Both ways are kind of useless and just create more work than simply being able to go in, click a button to start installing an update, WHEN I CHOOSE TO. Not tomorrow, not on a schedule, etc. My schedule always changes, I can't predict those things. IMO from the git-go, even in Windows 8-10, it should have ALWAYS been the way it was done. Not this "we'll update your computer when you're not using it" crap. Don't tell ME when you're going to update, I OWN YOU. I WILL CHOOSE when you update.

Sorry if I'm getting frustrated, and I'm not trying to seem like a (donkey), I know it seems like it's really not a huge deal, but never knowing when it will do it is extremely annoying and gets in the way of any work I'm doing.

Tl/dr, I wish the REAL solution that MS would allow us to do would be something like this:

• Keep those features for people that it's useful for, I understand some people may find it useful, but select an option to disable all of them altogether
• Simply allow downloads in the background, so they're ready to go for me when I'm ready to install them, and just give me a push notification in the corner of my screen telling me, "Hey, we've got updates waiting for you when you're ready"
• Allow me to MANUALLY go in to install said updates
• Be on my way
• For any major/required (immediate) updates, simply give me a notification, "There's a required update for your device that needs installed by (X date)" and then like usual, let me set a time for it, so I can, for example, set it for 4am when I know I will be sleeping, this also gives me time to close out any open applications I have, MANUALLY, and save them; just because for example Chrome will allow me to re-open tabs and/or Windows will open everything back up (which it also fails to do, it will only reopen 1-2 of my programs out of the 5-8 I had open), just because it allows me to do this doesn't mean it's "good", it's extremely infuriating.)

Again, sorry to keep ranting, and making a huge deal out of it, but to me, it is a huge deal, it's not ideal, and the solution oiptions so far have been at best, a bandaid.

 

[USAFRet]

The point was missed. I shouldn't have to do either of those. IMO, by default, it should be set to WAIT no matter WHAT until I'm ready to install updates.

ahhh....they used to do that.
And people would defer updates permanently.Because "Its my system and I know better!!"
Which ended up with massive malware infections.

Remember the WannaCry virus outbreak? The vast majority of affected systems were those unpatched systems.
MS put out a patch for that 2 months before it went into the wild.
MS was lambasted for those affected systems "DO SOMETHING!!!"

Enter Win 10.
"We will force patches on you, to prevent crap like that."
MS gets lambasted for that as well.

Can't really have it both ways.

They have thrown us a bone with 'outside active hours' and being able to defer for X weeks.


What I mean with proactive was....pause for X weeks. Then when YOU are ready, check for existing updates and apply.
We can't turn 'them off permanantely until I choose otherwise', because a lot of people would never apply them.

 

[kerberos_20]

you can configure updates through group policies, for me it downloads in background, installs in background, no popups, nothing, i can see it in taskbar that restart is required, but it wont restart on its own, when i want to turn off pc, then theres a selection of update and turn off, which i usualy do once a week
i used to have manual downloads, but it somehow didnt want to install windows defender definition updates on its own, and to check daily for defender updates manualy? meh