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

Where did you post about Winaero's tweaker? I have gone through this thread again but I did not find your post about Winaero's tweaker.

It looks good, does it mean just tick the box in your screenshot to stop windows 10 reboots, and untick to return to default? Does it work every time?
Thanks.

 

Winaero is reliable.

 

I changed NJC2's task timing to run every three minutes from startup, whether the computer is idle or not. Updates were prepared again on approximately 11/10/2016 (KB3200970) and reboot notifications were shown every morning, but no reboot. Today (11/17) the computer still hasn't rebooted, but there is a warning on the Settings Updates page that:

"Your device will restart at 6:30 PM because previous attempts were unsuccessful. Make sure to save any work before the restart."

I will let things be until tomorrow, but I am expecting to see a rebooted PC tomorrow.

It seems there is another one-week timer that checks the reboot status and forces reboot through another path. Will report back...

 

...And my PC did not reboot last night, despite the warning that it would! Today I see the same "previous attempts unsuccessful" warning, and a restart time of 6:42PM, and the "KB3200970" update from last Tuesday is still pending. I will report back when the PC does restart automatically. Stay tuned...

 

Well, the auto reboot finally caught up with me again, also on a Saturday, 11/19/2016, 6:42 PM, just outside active hours. This time NJC2's task held the reboot off 2 weeks instead of the one week, but Windows finally prevailed.

Theoretically, NJC2's task can hold off reboot for a few days but not indefinitely. So it would be wise to handle updates as soon as possible with this hold-off task in place. Good job finding this command, NJC2!

I will try Winaero's "edit-the-existing-reboot-task" idea suggested on page 2 by Dalchina next and report what happens.

Note: looking into Winaero's idea, I see that the manual disabling of the UpdateOrchestrator\Reboot task is what NJC2's task does automatically. So both ideas are bowling down the same alley. I also see that the trigger time for the latest Reboot task was the time when my computer just rebooted as posted above, and that the "Reboot" file in the "UpdateOrchestrator" folder pointed out by Winaero was modified at the same time it was set to be triggered, which would theoretically get around NJC2's every-three-minute-modified disable task. Perhaps the extra "Reboot" folder suggested by Winaero will stop the reboots.

 

Try this...actually don't bother...worked for two days*Sad
1. Go to Windows 10
2. Download "Media Creation Tool" - it is the second download option
3. Run tool: It will reinstall Windows 10. Follow the download instructions Be patient with the download. It is like downloading Window 10 for first time. It takes a while. If it (the download) freezes , try again. This reinstall will not kill your Apps or Folders, but if you get a question make certain you select save Apps and Folders. I can't remember exactly if the option pops up.
4. After reinstall, auto-boots will stop....*Huh
5. Note that the System Restore function will be disabled after the re-installation. You can enable it if you like, by going to System Restore- Configure-Select System Protection. Might also be a good idea to set a Restore point at this time.

 

It worked on 2 of my PCs, but it might have been caused by other settings. I will nervously await your report. *Wink

 

WinAero's renamed-Reboot-Task-Folder method has held off my latest round of updates from 12/14/2016 until today when I had to do a manual reboot on my Windows 10 Pro PC. My never-turned-off Win10 Home media laptop is still waiting to do the same round of updates.

The updates did still run when I rebooted, though, even with a "shutdown.exe -s -t 2" command (shutdown's help says -t implies -f for forced shutdown).

So it is impossible so far to avoid the updates altogether. But the WinAero method does seem to be able to hold off the automatic reboot.

Until Microsoft gets wise and adds a little command to delete anything named "Reboot" in the UpdateOrchestrator folder, that is.....

 

There is a possible other solution which I will try next: Disable automatic restart Windows 10 - Microsoft Community Max Green's answer, uses GPedit (only on Pro or later)

1. run GPedit.msc
2. navigate to Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Update
3. enable "No auto restart with logged on users for scheduled automatic updates installations"
4. reboot the PC.

There may also be interesting settings in "Configure Automatic Updates", but keep in mind configuring this key to anything but "Not Configured" disables the "No auto restart" key in #3 above.

I will undo the WinAero method and try the Gpedit method and will report back...

 

One of the GPedit solutions holds off updates, so far having blocked Jan 24's KB3211320 some three weeks with no signs of letting it through as of today Feb 16. And the PC can be rebooted without installing the pending update. There is a side-effect, though, see later.

The GPedit path is:
Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Update

The recommendation in the "Disable Automatic Restart Windows 10" link, to set "No auto-restart with logged on users for scheduled automatic update installations" did not work. But a different setting does, with a side-effect.

In the above GPedit path enable "Configure Automatic Updates" and set it to #3, "Auto download and notify for install". #2 Notify for download and notify for install" may work, too, haven't tested it yet. My PC has not auto-restarted yet.

The side effect is that Windows will remind you that your PC needs updates. The reminder is a gray-out screencover like UAC, with a message box asking to install updates, and an "Get Updates" button and nothing else. No "No thanks", no "Cancel", and you can't do anything on the screen unless you respond to that box. However, the gray-out screencover is just a running program, and a VBscript can kill that program, if you can get the script to run. The VBscript I use is below, modified from a sample script from Adersoft's "VBSedit", set to run in a one-second loop and looking for and killing the offending screencover program "MusNotificationUX.exe", keeping a text log of when it does the kill so you can see if it is working. A Task Scheduler task can start the kill script:

Code: ' Terminate a Process, from Adersoft "VBSedit" Const ForReading = 1, ForWriting = 2, ForAppending = 8 Set shell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell") Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") scriptpath = fso.getparentfoldername(wscript.scriptfullname) & "\" 'this confirms the script is running in the log file: logfile.writeline "Starting " & now logfile.close wscript.sleep 60000 set logfile = fso.opentextfile(scriptpath & "WinUpdateNotifyOverlay-Terminate.log",forappending,true) logfile.writeline "Confirming running" & now logfile.close do strComputer = "." Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" _ & "{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2") Set colProcessList = objWMIService.ExecQuery _ ("Select * from Win32_Process Where Name = 'MusNotificationUX.exe'") For Each objProcess in colProcessList set logfile = fso.opentextfile(scriptpath & "WinUpdateNotifyOverlay-Terminate.log",forappending,true) logfile.writeline "Terminating MusNotificationUX.exe " & now logfile.close objProcess.Terminate() Next wscript.sleep 1000 loop[/quote] Of course, being that it's a Group Policy Editor solution, one has to have Professional or higher to implement it easily. But GPedit just tweaks the registry, maybe someone can find out what keys get made or modified.