Peenie Wallie: Stop Automatic Rebooting After Updates

« Clinocchio: Hillary's Top Ten Whoppers | Main | Some Days »

April 09, 2008

Stop Automatic Rebooting After Updates

Windows XP Pro SP2 apparently knows what's better for my computer than I do. So, when I had my PC set up running some ebay sniping software, I woke up this morning to find that Microsoft had decided to reboot my PC in the middle of the night, causing me to lose the auction, of course, as my bid was never submitted. Thanks, Bill. And a big "F U".

So, Bill hosed me last night. But he's not going to do it again. At least, not in the same way. Because I'm fixing it so my PC won't automatically reboot after updates if someone is signed onto the computer. If you follow these directions, then the next time Windows updates your system, instead of restarting the computer automatically, Windows will notify you that restart is needed in order to finish the installation:

Directions for Windows XP Pro SP2:

In the Start Menu go to Run type “gpedit.msc” and press Enter
Now a Group Policy editor will open. In this window navigate to: Computer Configuration -> Administrative Template -> Windows Components -> Windows Update
Double click on No auto-restart for scheduled Automatic Updates installations
In the settings window Choose Enabled and click OK
Close Group Policy Editor

Now that you have saved the settings, I believe a reboot is necessary for the policy to take effect.

Directions for Windows 2000:

Click the Start button. Once the menu pulls up we can click on "Run". Now you should have a field to type in, let's type "gpedit.msc" and hit enter. Once the screen comes up click the + next to "Local Group Policy" than "Computer Configuration" than "Administrative Template".

If you don't see a sub-folder named "Windows Updates" underneath the "Administrative Template" folder, then you have to add the Windows Update Administrative Template
:

1. Right-click on Administrative Templates and choose Add/Remove Templates….
2. Click Add…, and choose wuau.adm
3. Click Close. Windows Update should show up in the list now.

(I had to close Group Policy and re-run the "gpedit.msc", but then it showed up.)

Click on the "Windows Updates" folder. In here you will find a bunch of different variables. If you click on them in the right pane there should be some definitions of what each one does. I will not go in-depth on all of them because you can obviously read. The key we are looking for is "No auto-restart for scheduled Automatic Updates Installations". Right click on that value and hit properties. Now click on Enabled, than hit "Apply" and "Ok". Now close the Console1 window. It will prompt you to save, choose "Yes" and than "Save". Now that you have saved the settings a reboot is necessary for the policy to take effect.If there isn´t Windows update in Administrative Template,