How to disable automatic reboot after installing updates in Windows 10

Windows 10 receives updates very often. About once a week it gets important fixes and patches requiring a system reboot to be installed. By default Windows 10 is configured to reboot automatically for the installation of important updates.

But sometimes this can cause inconveniences to you. Perhaps, you don’t want to waste your time waiting until the update installation finishes and want to work on your PC right now.

So here are all possible methods to disable automatic reboot after updates installation in Windows 10. Besides that we will show how to configure the auto-reboot without turning off this option.

How to turn off auto-reboot in the Settings App

This method allows you to choose time when you don’t want your PC to be rebooted in any case. But nevertheless your PC will be able to reboot to install updates when active hours end.

How to disable automatic reboot using the Task Scheduler

One more way to disable auto-restart after installing updates is to disable the task in the Task Scheduler:

1. Launch the Task Scheduler.
2. Go to Task Scheduler Library/Microsoft/Windows/Update Orchestrator .
3. Right-click on the task named Reboot .
4. Select Disable :

How to disable automatic restart for installing updates using the Group Policy

Here is one more method to completely turn off auto-reboot for installing updates in Windows 10.

It works for Windows 10 Pro and Enterprise.

1. Press Win+R .
2. Type gpedit.msc:
3. Go to Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Windows Update.
4. Double-click on No auto restart with loggedon users for scheduled automatic updates installations :
5. Select Enabled and click OK :

How to disable automatic reboot after the installation of updates using the Registry editor

This method works in all editions of Windows 10. So you can use it to disable automatic restart for installing updates even in Windows 10 Home.

1. Launch the registry editor:
2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU
   If you don’t have the AU key, create it in the WindowsUpdate .
3. Create a new DWORD-32 value.
4. Name it NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers .
5. Double-click it, type 1 and click OK :

After you have disabled auto-restart you will decide when you wish to reboot or shut down and install updates. You will be able to choose: Update and shut down or Update and restart:

Hopefully these methods will help you to disable automatic restart in Windows 10.

26 thoughts on “How to disable automatic reboot after installing updates in Windows 10”

This sh** happened to me too. All my new Visio drawings are gone and Visio 2016 doesn’t keep any temporary files after the automatic reboot…… Microsoft is so stupid that it thinks cyber security is more harmful than directly destroying your work.

i cant agree more, i have no idea what the story with windows is.

Did disable the automatic update solution work permanently for you? I am angry about it auto restarting too, I am using Windows 10 Home 64bit.

I tried both the things this webpage suggested and your post and yet again, Windows 10 became sentient and defied my orders to never restart. It’s things like this that make me regret upgrading. By far, the most defiant OS I’ve ever had.

Windows stops (crash) my VMWare clients! My websites and other services is then down! 🙁

So did this guide work for you or not?

No it just made it all worse! Now it reboots every day! WTF??

Man, no it doesn’t. Patches come once a month, this will stop the auto reboot following install.

No they don’t. Patch Tuesday still happens the first and third Tuesday of the month, but for Windows 10 they push out plenty of updates outside of those days. Get your facts straight or don’t comment at all.

No! Now it reboots every day.

Hi ‘CrookedNinja’ Just followed your instructions. Now to see if it works or not. Thanks in advance if it does. There would not be any need for this rubbish if only Microsoft would just show a little respect and give us the option to download and reboot. I only downloaded Windows 10 because they hassled me non stop to get it. I was thinking of going back to Windows 7 or 8. Oh well we’ll see what happens. Ciao!

2 days long scan of a 3tb disk with testdisk ruined when at 90% thanks to the stupid tecnofascist attitude of microsoft forcing a restart without my consent. Congratz.

I dont have issues with updates at any time as long as pc wont restart to apply them at all until i manually restart the pc.

Seems on my install of windows 10, they eliminated the pulldown under settings, windows update, advanced options that is *supposed* to allow you to easily configure not to reboot. Bastards.

Then I tried adjusting the active hours, hoping maybe I can make it a full 24 hour active period, but seems it doesn’t actually allow me to make changes to the default 8am-5pm hours. As soon as you hit “save”, it jumps back to the default. Bastards again.

Then I figured, let’s cut to the chase and try editing the registry as per described in this article.
…but guess what ? My registry dosn’t have the “Windows Update” key. Bastards.

Finally, I tried the final 2 recommended techniques : The task scheduler approach, and the group policy edit. Group policy didn’t work because “gpedit.msc” wasn’t found on my PC.

However, the the only one that appeared to work as outlined was the task scheduler approach.
I set it according to the specifications in this article, and now I wait.. and pray. Hopefully it actually works…

MS makes this sooo difficult.

I may have the best story on updates.
My wife and I were traveling to Taiwan for non-business reasons.
Something critical came up where she neded to get online with her laptop.
So we bught a slow, limited data, sim card for her phone, and tethered so her laptop could get online for a short period and get what she needed to done.

Shortly after we got it all working and she began her work, she went to use the bathroom. Came back, and found that windows decided to do an upgrade from the originally installed version (maybe windows 8 ?) to windows 10.

Fearful what would happen if we stopped it mid stream, we literally had to go back to the hone store, and purchase additional data for the plan, so the stupid upgrade can finish. It took all day to download windows 10 on the slow connection.
We intentionally hadn’t upgraded her laptop before this, but now to be forced, while abroad, on a slow, costly data tethered connection ?
Can’t MS at least check your IP location and have the smarts to figure out your traveling, especially, out of the country windows in registered in, and not do such stuff ?

And the crappy result of all this is that windows 10 doesn’t even function correctly on her laptop.
The screen brightness now randomly gets bright and then dim when it’s not supposed to, and the manual override no longer affects the physical brightness.
I spent a few hours trying to reload driver for it, and gave up.

If you are attempting to use the “How to disable automatic restart for installation of updates using the Group Policy” procedure shown above, you need to read down to the end of the dialogue in the “No auto restart with loggedon users for scheduled automatic updates installations” where it reads:
Note: This policy applies only when Automatic Updates is configured to perform scheduled installations of updates. If the “Configure Automatic Updates” policy is disabled, this policy has no effect.

So, after performing the disable operation, go up several lines in the same Templates page to the template titled “Configure Automatic Updates”
Double Click the template
Enable the operation
The default setting is option 3 (download and notify)
the options are located in a drop down on the left side of the template, you have all of the options that you are familiar with from previous Windows versions available.

Thanks to the author for the original article and to Ray Z for his contribution about also needing to adjust “Configure Automatic Updates.” Note that there are lots of potentially useful settings in that same area of the Group Policy Editor that might help you further configure everything around updates. Try some of those if you still have issues with automatic rebooting.

They should shoot the guy that invented Windows 10 autorestart.
Windows should tell me it wants to restart and I should give my permission. This is the best and only way it should be done.
Just f….. up a 3D print thanks to auto-restart…
*surprise*: People use their computer for more things than surfing and watching videos.

DUDE, if you want to stop the alarm from the alarm clock, YOU SMASH THE CLOCK ON THE WALL . …
once you disabled windows update service, IS END GAME for any and all updates, including “hitting the button”, but also installing windows components, installing/updating drivers, etc. … until you reactivate that service NOTHING WILL WORK !

Brainz moar Brainz

DUDE, if the alarm clock keeps going off when IT wants to and NOT when YOU want it to, you TAKE THE BATTERIES OUT.

Or get a better alarm clock. I’m hearing good things about Ubuntu…

Not even running the registry editor as Administrator works (not allowed to change…). The solution is of course to look for something better (where you CHOOSE). Luckily I will probably be able to use Ubuntu – Microsoft finally managed to push me away…

Disable Windows 10 automatic restart after updates

Is there any REAL way to disable this cancer feature?

This is not the first time i have lost unsaved work due to this annoying function, that almost every Windows user hates.

I’m trying to behave, but it is really hard to keep calm after loosing unsaved work multiple times.

Why is it that Windows cannot just wait until the user decides to restart at a convenient time? It’s not like the end of the world that users doesn’t restart at a specific time.

In a time where Apple’s Mac is already «stealing» a lot of Windows customers, it is a very risky (and dumb) feature to add to Windows.

This alone is very difficult to argue against in a Mac vs. Windows discussion.

Luckily (for Microsoft) Microsoft have secured themselves from a law suit in their policy.

MS knows that all Windows users hates this feature, and yet they still have it. WHY?

So back to the question. Is there any official/unofficial way (FOR GOOD) that allows me to disable this annoying feature?

I tried following some tutorials on YouTube, but little did it help obviously, as i just came home and found my computer restarted, and my work deleted.

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Is there any REAL way to disable this cancer feature?

Yes, of course. Setup active hours.

Start menu — Settings app — Update and Security — Windows Update — Change active hours

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Hello my name is Bradford and I’m an Independent Advisor for the Microsoft Community and I will try to resolve your problem.

1. Click on the “Start” button and type
gpedit.msc
press Enter.
2. In the Local Group Policy Editor, go to
Computer Configuration ->
->Administrative Templates->
-> Windows Components->
-> Windows Update
3. Double-click on “No auto-restart with automatic installations of scheduled updates”.
4. Select «Enabled», and then click «OK».
5. Close the local group policy editor.

If the above steps don’t have the effect you desired please let me know!

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Is there any REAL way to disable this cancer feature?

Yes, of course. Setup active hours.

Start menu — Settings app — Update and Security — Windows Update — Change active hours

Thanks for your answer — but it’s not useful.

I asked if there is a way to REALLY disable automatic restart, and you answer me on how to change active hours.

2 very different things.

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Hello my name is Bradford and I’m an Independent Advisor for the Microsoft Community and I will try to resolve your problem.

1. Click on the “Start” button and type
gpedit.msc
press Enter.
2. In the Local Group Policy Editor, go to
Computer Configuration ->
->Administrative Templates->
-> Windows Components->
-> Windows Update
3. Double-click on “No auto-restart with automatic installations of scheduled updates”.
4. Select «Enabled», and then click «OK».
5. Close the local group policy editor.

If the above steps don’t have the effect you desired please let me know!

When i double click the «No auto-restart with automatic installations of scheduled updates» i get a popup in where i can enable the policy.

Though after enabling it, i get asked to set active hours.. All my hours are active. I don’t want any restarts in active or inactive hours.

I just want Windows to stop restarting automatically no matter what time it is. I will restart myself when i need it.

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I asked if there is a way to REALLY disable automatic restart, and you answer me on how to change active hours.

It’s not possible to disable the restart, because the changes made by a feature update can only be processed while the computer is not being used. Most software operates this way.

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Hello,
Try the process below:
1. Press Windows key + R keyboard shortcut to open the Run command.
2. Type the following path and click «OK»:
%windir%\System32\Tasks\Microsoft\Windows\UpdateOrchestrator
3. Select the
Reboot ) (it does not have an extension)
file right-click it and select «Rename».
4. Rename the Reboot file to «Reboot.old».
5. Right-click inside the folder, select «New,» and click on «Folder».
6. Name the New Folder «Reboot».
7. Now restart your computer.

This will disable Window’s ability to restart automatically.

If this solution has the desired effect let me know.

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This is what I’ve had to do (the UpdateOrchestrator option posted by Omoikane1122).

To the other answers:
Active Hours are not a valid solution. I leave my computer with long running processes over night, and I come back in the morning and discover my system rebooted. This has cost me a lot of time and money.

S_and_S:
Yes, we can acknowledge that updates require restarts. Nag me about doing them, that’s fine, but DO NOT do it without my permission. This is MY machine and the tasks I left running on it are MY livelihood.

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I have the same issue. I am running computer simulations on my machine which take hours to days. You come back to your machine and it has rebooted, hussah! This is my machine and if I want to use it to make a living I don’t want to lose work just because you morons think that an automatic reboot is a funny idea!

I don’t want to change active hours. I tried the UpdateOrchestrator option but it already says «Disabled» for reboot, so that obviously doesn’t work. And I don’t have Windows 10 Pro so I can’t use the gpedit option.

GET RID OF THIS F. G BEHAVIOUR!

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1: Only some hate this feature and I am not one of them. So happy!

2. What update is it? Only updates like the cumulative ones and cumulative.net. requires a restart. Plus, it will only ask for a restart after the update (cumulative) is done downloading and finished installing. Actually, after restarting, then it will counts as a successful install. Normally, Windows will not ask for a restart, or automatically restart, never heard off automatically restart unless it pertains to that update. I never have that issue before.

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1: Only some hate this feature and I am not one of them. So happy!

2. What update is it? Only updates like the cumulative ones and cumulative.net. requires a restart. Plus, it will only ask for a restart after the update (cumulative) is done downloading and finished installing. Actually, after restarting, then it will counts as a successful install. Normally, Windows will not ask for a restart, or automatically restart, never heard off automatically restart unless it pertains to that update. I never have that issue before.

Well, count me as another who hates it. Giving me no option after downloading and installing an update (which does not warn the user of this ahead of time) other than to have my computer restart without my consent once my active hours (which can only be set to a maximum of 18 hours) are over. that’s simply not acceptable. There is no valid reason to prevent users from postponing the restart for as long as we wish, and doing it at a time of our choosing. Anything else leaves me inclined to disable updates altogether. These are *our* computers, not Microsoft’s. If they can’t understand that, they’ll be left in Linux’s dust.

For those that consider Linux too small a contender for that last sentence to be anything but a joke: consider that Android is just a modified Linux OS, and currently holds the largest market share among all internet-connected devices, having overtaken Windows by 2017. Not long after Windows 10 was released, come to think.