Now that microsoft has removed the ability to force windows 10 to ask to be scheduled and given that "active hours" is a broken concept that doesn't solve any problem, how can I prevent windows from automatically restarting again? Is the only option to turn off windows update entirely now?
Hello tannim,
What is broken about active hours for you?
Active hours lets Windows know when you usually use this device. When a restart is necessary to finish installing an update, Windows won't automatically restart your device during active hours.
Windows Update Active Hours - Change in Windows 10
I have my computer on at all times with stuff running in the background for other people. Active Hours is of no use in this situation and, therefore, is a broken concept for me. It only prevents windows from restarting for up to 12 hours.I need a solution that lets me choose whether or not to restart the system at any time. The previous fully functional "ask to schedule" worked well. It could be left on all day and ignored until I was ready to bother with it.
For a temporary solution, I have edited HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionWindowsUpdateAuto Update and set it to 3, download but let me choose whether to install.
If that should fail you, you might see if an option in the tutorial below may help.
Windows Update Automatic Updates - Enable or Disable in Windows 10
You changed the AUOptions value, located there, to 3?For a temporary solution, I have edited HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionWindowsUpdateAuto Update and set it to 3, download but let me choose whether to install.
I'm also trying to fix this issue in Anniversary Update. Prior to the Anniversary Update, I was able to just disable the Windows Update service (and run it manually once a month), but it seems as if Windows 10 now has a way of re-enabling it all by itself, so it was *still* automatically rebooting upon new updates being detected and installed. Hopefully this registry setting will fix the issue.
I also found the following, you can disable the "Reboot" scheduled task in the Task Scheduler Library->Microsoft->Windows->UpdateOrchestrator scheduled tasks folder, see here for a complete explanation: How Easily Disable The Automatic Forced Reboot after Windows 10 has done an Update Four easy... - justpaste.it
I am marking this thread as unsolved as I know of no way to do what I asked. I have found no way to prevent windows 10 from automatically rebooting to install updates.
The post above this one that says to remove the scheduled reboot from task manager assumes that I know windows has scheduled one. There is no way I can know that has happened unless I manually check for updates since I can't see any notifications. I didn't see the one that rebooted my computer again before I marked this as unsolved especially. Thankfully I didn't lose anything but stuff I had in notepad this time.
For the record
Changing AUOptions in registry at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionWindowsUpdateAuto Update" has ZERO effect on windows 10's ability to download, install, and automatically reboot the computer for updates. All data is at risk if you forget to save.
I will be completely disabling windows update service now because I can no longer trust windows 10 not to reboot at any time I leave it unattended. It is on at all times, so don't bother saying "Set Windows active hours". That is a flawed concept that will not work for anybody who does not shut down their computer every day. I left feedback in the microsoft feedback thing like many others, but I doubt it will have any effect on the stupid decision to remove "ask to schedule".
There's a much much easier way to deal with this, which I posted a couple of weeks ago.
Simply download and run 'Don't Sleep' (freeware, small) - or similar.
This optionally blocks sleep, hibernation, restart, shutdown.
So if you want your PC on for 24 hrs (active hours is limited to 12 max)- run this. No messing about with the registry or services.
I had a restart pending.. and with this running, it was still pending after the expiry of my active hours period.
It was delightful to learn that Windows had changed this when it rebooted my PC overnight while I had a notepad window open with stuff I was working on.
