Windows 10: A solution to stop Win10 from auto-rebooting after updates.

Glomming onto this thread to say that I and several Virtualbox users are stymied by Windows 10's lack of a way to prevent auto reboot for updates on their host PCs. I'm trying NJC2's method and have reported it in the Virtualbox forums, to see what happens. Hoping for a good result! Good detective work, NJC2!

 

I'll probably try this if a few more people tell us it works. I dislike playing around with Window's guts if there's an install/uninstall program that will do the job. Also, part of the problem with providing fixes lies in differing options/capabilities between Win10Pro and Win10Home. Win10Pro allows more control/options than the Home version. Don't Sleep definitely does not work on my machine.

Making NJC2's fix simpler, wouldn't it be great if {{SOMEONE}} came up with an exe file that would kick our computers off idle after four minutes?

Soo (edit here) I searched around and found an .exe file named "MouseJiggler" (free). I've installed it and it keeps the mouse active preventing the computer from going idle. So when I'm not using the computer for awhile I'll just turn off the monitor. Hope it works!

 

Hey NJC2,

Thanks for the work to figure a work around. I hope it works. I'm running win 10 Pro. But I followed your instructions precisely, and I have one place in the task that wouldn't accept your recommended input. Here's a shot of the task.

 

Hooked, I copied the XML in NJC2's second post, saved it in Notepad with a .xml extension, and imported the file as a new task. It loaded without error.

I am seeing updates ready to install on my Windows 10 Pro workstation with NJC2's task running. The workstation hasn't asked yet to reboot. My non-tasked 10 tablet has rebooted already. My non-tasked 10 laptop seems ready to reboot but hasn't yet. Waiting and hoping...

 

Thanks scottgus1,
My task obviously didn't work because I had a pending update that got installed the day of my post. Thanks for the input. That reboot got me twice cuz I'm trying to do a data recovery on a 2TB drive that had ALL if my backed up data on it. Get this - I got hacked - both my laptop and my PC. A super guy at an AntiHacker forum helped me get my desktop cleaned up so we felt pretty certain my data was clean.
After deciding it was clean I used Paragon to backup my data, then I used Acronis to backup my data, and I made an Acronis Image of my Fresh install of Windows AND data.
Went to do a clean install of windows and restore my data, and my backup drive was just crawling. It's a WD Passport Ultra 2TB that is only 6 months old. It had all of my important data that I've accumulated over several years.
The data recovery is taking forever, and twice my desktop did a reboot in the middle of a data recovery write!

So if I had actually been recovering good data, good chance it got trashed. Grrrrr!

Thanks again for the help, and for letting me vent!

 

Winaero's tweaker offers an option to stop reboots. It sets up a task as you can see here:
How to permanently stop Windows 10 reboots after installing updates

Intriguingly, although I've not used that, and I've had on occasion a restart following an update pending and active hours period has expired, and I've waited to see if a restart occurred, I've never experienced an unscheduled restart.

 

That link also looks interesting, Dalchina! Nice it also is only built-in to 10, no 3rd-party software needed.

I got my reboot-in-after-hours warning today. NJC2's task is in place. Will report the results!

 

I have looked at the suggestion by WinaeroTweaker and I wonder, if it is gonna to work.

Disabling task "Check for updates" prevented scheduled check for updates. *Smile
schtasks /Change /TN "Microsoft\Windows\UpdateOrchestrator\Schedule Scan" /Disable
ren "%WINDIR%\System32\Tasks\Microsoft\Windows\UpdateOrchestrator\Schedule Scan" "Schedule Scan.bak"
md "%WINDIR%\System32\Tasks\Microsoft\Windows\UpdateOrchestrator\Schedule Scan"
schtasks /Change /TN "Microsoft\Windows\UpdateOrchestrator\Schedule Scan" /Disable
schtasks /Change /TN "Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\Scheduled Start" /Disable
ren "%WINDIR%\System32\Tasks\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\Scheduled Start" "Scheduled Start.bak"
md "%WINDIR%\System32\Tasks\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\Scheduled Start"
schtasks /Change /TN "Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\Scheduled Start" /Disable


rem Disable Reboot after Windows Updates are installed
rem winaero.com/blog/how-to-permanently-stop-windows-10-reboots-after-installing-updates
schtasks /Change /TN "Microsoft\Windows\UpdateOrchestrator\Reboot" /Disable
ren "%WINDIR%\System32\Tasks\Microsoft\Windows\UpdateOrchestrator\Reboot" "Reboot.bak"
md "%WINDIR%\System32\Tasks\Microsoft\Windows\UpdateOrchestrator\Reboot"
schtasks /Change /TN "Microsoft\Windows\UpdateOrchestrator\Reboot" /Disable

Here is more advanced version, which runs at every startup - ' Disable-W10-Update-Reboots.bat

 

PLEASE report when you techy gurus come up with a solution that's been tested and definitely works. Then make it idiot-proof so I can not only run it but back out of it if needed? I've always run 24/7, previously controlling when I do restarts... AND I DO want the OS updates and up-to-date virus protection.

My current defenses:

1. Enabled AUTOMATIC LOGIN after a restart. Unfortunately anyone can now get into my computer; but if there's an unattended forced restart I need to be up and running as soon as possible to avoid further data loss. (For me, Microsoft's attempt to make our computers more secure has achieved the opposite result)

2. Running "Don'tSleep" which does what the name implies. Reports are that it doesn't work since Windows update "service" now overrides software settings and forces restarts anyway.

3. Running "MouseJiggler" which prevents computer from entering idle state. (enable jiggle, green arrow sends to systray) A short test let me know that a pending update was still waiting to be downloaded and would proceed when the computer was idle. But since I chickened out and did a manual download/restart when it wouldn't affect scheduled tasks, I don't know if or how long MouseJiggler would work until/if Windows forced the issue.

 

Well, the ol' PC rebooted by itself. NJC2's XML task was in place and active.

Updates were prepared on 10/28/2016 and "reboot required" flags popped up every morning for the next week. On 11/6/2016 I remoted in via UltraVNC to find a clean desktop, and Event Viewer showed a reboot on 11/5 at 6:33 PM, just outside my preset active hours of 6AM-6PM.

The task held off updates for a week, but somehow Windows got round it. Maybe a three-minute timer, or just let the task run even when not idle? I will try running the task at startup, every three minutes, indefinitely, and report back.

 

This article mentioned about a software called ShutdownGuard Avoid accidental and automatic shut down or restart with ShutdownGuard

Not sure if it is better than Don't Sleep or not.

 

Thanks! Keep us in the loop! But for my purposes If that's the case, and if Windows will give those warnings consistently in the future, your experiment resulting in flags popping up for a week is a definite improvement over what we have now. I DO want the updates, and with warnings I could then find a task-free time to take care of it manually. (Currently my only experience with a forced reboot caused irretrievable data loss since it came without any warning whatsoever. )

comcom: I think "ShutdownGuard" will have the same issues "DontSleep" has: the ability for Windows to easily override it. Unlike "DontSleep" it even comes with a warning: "It is important to note that ShutdownGuard is not 100% foolproof. Windows or apps still have the ability to override it if they force the shutdown." "MouseJiggler" as I stated above, keeps the system from going into idle, thus a pending update download on my computer was definitely delayed. BUT... I don't know how long it would have held off the download. Fearing more data loss, I chickened out and did the download/restart manually.

 

Yes, that did it, the scheduled reboot did not occur (on 2 computers). *Wink

 

After following the steps in that article, what if you want everything to be back to default again? What steps to do?

The article only teaches how to stop reboots.

 

Hi, if you read what I posted about Winaero's tweaker, the answer is a checkbox away.



The article is simply the explanation, obtained by clicking on See in detail....