Windows 10: Change Active Hours for Windows Update in Windows 10

How to: Change Active Hours for Windows Update in Windows 10

How to Change Active Hours for Windows Update in Windows 10


Windows Update keeps Windows 10 updated by downloading and installing the latest updates, drivers, and hotfixes released by Microsoft.

Starting with Windows 10 build 14316, you can now set the time in which you are most active on your device by adjusting active hours. 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.

When a restart is scheduled, you can use a custom restart time to temporarily override active hours and schedule a custom time to finish installing the current update(s). When your computer restarts on the scheduled custom time, custom restart time will automatically be turned off, and Windows Update will only restart outside of active hours again. You can also manually turn off custom restart time at anytime if you change your mind.

Starting with Windows 10 build 14942, Active hours valid range is now up to 18 hours instead of the previous 12 hours between start and end time.

The default active hours is 8 AM (8 on 24 hour clock) for Start time and 5 PM (17 on 24 hour clock) End time.

This tutorial will show you how to set active hours for when you use your PC to not automatically restart your Windows 10 PC during this time to finish installing a Windows Update.


CONTENTS:

• Option One: To Set Active Hours for Windows Update in Settings
• Option Two: To Set Active Hours for Windows Update in Registry Editor
• Option Three: To Set Active Hours GPO for Windows Update in Local Group Policy Editor
• Option Four: To Set Active Hours GPO for Windows Update in Registry Editor

EXAMPLE: Active Hours in Windows Update









OPTION ONE [/i] To Set Active Hours for Windows Update in Settings

*note Any user on the PC will be able to change this setting that will affect all users.
1. Open Settings, and click/tap on the Update & security icon.

2. Click/tap on Windows Update on the left side, and click/tap on the Change active hours link under Update settings. (see screenshot below)



3. Starting with Windows 10 build 18282, you will need to click/tap on the Change link. (see screenshot below)



4. Set the Start time and End time to the active hours you want by clicking/tap the hour for Start time, select an hour in the menu, select AM or PM in the menu, click/tap on the check mark in the menu, repeat for End time, and click/tap on Save when finished. (see screenshots below)





5. You can now close Settings if you like.





OPTION TWO [/i] To Set Active Hours for Windows Update in Registry Editor

*note You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to do this option.
1. Press the Win+R keys to open Run, type regedit, and click/tap on OK to open Registry Editor.

2. If prompted by UAC, click/tap on Yes.

3. Browse to the registry key below in Registry Editor. (see screenshot below)
*Arrow HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsUpdate\UX\Settings




4. In the right pane of the Settings key, double click/tap on the ActiveHoursStart DWORD to modify it. (see screenshot below step 3)

5. Select (dot) Decimal, type in an hour (ex: 8) using the 24 hour clock format for your active hours Start time, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)



6. In the right pane of the Settings key, double click/tap on the ActiveHoursEnd DWORD to modify it. (see screenshot below step 3)

7. Select (dot) Decimal, type in an hour (ex: 17) using the 24 hour clock format for your active hours End time, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)



8. Close Registry Editor.





OPTION THREE [/i] To Set Active Hours GPO for Windows Update in Local Group Policy Editor

*note You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to do this option.

*note If enabled, this option will remove the Change active hours link in Settings in Option One, and override Option Two.

*note The Local Group Policy Editor is only available in the Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions.

All editions can use Option Four below.
1. Open the Local Group Policy Editor.

2. In the left pane of Local Group Policy Editor, navigate to the location below. (see screenshot below)
*Arrow Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Update




3. In the right pane of Windows Update in Local Group Policy Editor, double click/tap on the Turn off auto-restart for updates during active hours policy to edit it. (see screenshot above)
*Warning If any of the following two policies are enabled, this policy has no effect:

1. No auto-restart with logged on users for scheduled automatic updates installations
2. Always automatically restart at scheduled time
4. Do step 5 (default) or step 6 (specify) below for what you would like to do.


5. Use Default Active Hours GPO
A) Select (dot) Not Configured or Disabled, click/tap on OK, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshot below)

*note Not Configured is the default setting.

6. Specify Active Hours GPO
A) Select (dot) Enabled, and perform the actions below:

• In the Start drop menu, select the start time you want for active hours.
• In the Ends drop menu, select the end time you want for active hours.
• Click/tap on OK, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshot below)

7. When finished, close the Local Group Policy Editor.

8. Restart the computer to apply.





OPTION FOUR [/i] To Set Active Hours GPO for Windows Update in Registry Editor

*note You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to do this option.

*note If enabled, this option will remove the Change active hours link in Settings in Option One, and override Option Two.
1. Do step 2 (specify) or step 3 (default) below for what you would like to do.


2. Specify Active Hours GPO
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below.

*note This downloadable .reg file will add the registry keys and values for you to make it easier to specify what you want starting at step 2D below.
Add_to_registry_Active_Hours_for_group_policy.reg

Download
B) Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

C) When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

D) Press the Win+R keys to open Run, type regedit into Run, and click/tap on OK to open Registry Editor.

E) Navigate to the key below in the left pane of Registry Editor. (see screenshot below)
*Arrow HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate




F) In the right pane of the WindowsUpdate key, double click/tap on the ActiveHoursStart DWORD to modify it. (see screenshot below step 2E)

G) Select (dot) Decimal, type in an hour (ex: 8 for 8 AM) using the 24 hour clock format for the active hours Start time you want, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)



H) In the right pane of the WindowsUpdate key, double click/tap on the ActiveHoursEnd DWORD to modify it. (see screenshot below step 2E)

I) Select (dot) Decimal, type in an hour (ex: 17 for 5 PM) using the 24 hour clock format for the active hours End time you want, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)



J) Close Registry Editor, and go to step 4 below.

3. Use Default Active Hours GPO
*note This is the default setting.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below.
Default_Active_Hours_for_group_policy.reg

Download
B) Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

C) When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

D) Go to step 4 below.
4. Restart the computer to apply.

5. You can now delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.

That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to Turn On or Off Automatically Adjust Active Hours in Windows 10
• How to Specify Max Active Hours Range for Auto-restarts in Windows 10
• How to Enable or Disable Windows Update Active Hours in Windows 10
• How to Schedule a Restart Time for Windows Update in Windows 10
• How to Turn On or Off Show More Windows Update Restart Notifications in Windows 10
• How to Check for and Install Windows Updates in Windows 10
• How to Enable or Disable Automatic Updates for Windows Update in Windows 10
• How to Change Automatic Maintenance Settings in Windows 10
• How to Defer Feature and Quality Updates in Windows 10
• Choose How Windows and Store App Updates are Downloaded in Windows 10
• How to Specify How Windows and Store App Updates are Downloaded in Windows 10
• How to Turn On or Off Pause Updates in Windows 10
• How to Configure Auto-restart Required Notification for Updates in Windows 10
• How to Specify Deadlines for Automatic Updates and Restarts in Windows 10

:)

 

windows 10 (build 1607) stop automatic reboots after updates

Change active hours

Change Active Hours for Windows Update in Windows 10

 

Windows 10 Anniversary update (1607) - Missing update options

It now has been replaced by active hours. In active hours, PC doesn't restart automatically.

Windows Update Active Hours - Change in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Foru
If you are on Pro edition of windows 10, you might be able to select notify to schedule restart using group policy.

 

FYI. I just tried to change this and if I pick a large range, Windows says it can be between 1 and 12 hours. I'm on 14393.222.

 

Thank you for the update Mike. *Smile

 

14393.187 or the Redstone 1 update here. The updated screen shows it set for 12hrs. here.





10pm at night until 8am being the set start time and end time. Often if I get on in the late afternoon I will find a new desktop shortcut for things other then from the regular Windows Updates(WU) when a 3rd party app is automatically updated on it's own which can include a browser or other app like PaintNet. You can't include those in any schedule unfortunately since those come in totally separate from the WU.

 

No problem. Previously my active hours were set to 5 AM to 11 PM, which was new since a couple of builds ago. After the .222 update I noticed that my active hours were changed again, so I tried to set it to what it was and then I noticed I could no longer do that. So I think MS is 'finetuning' these settings...

 

As 10 has been progressive MS has been tweaking things every so many builds on a number of items. The ability to set the Active schedule to 16hrs. or longer however is a bit overkill as far as limiting the time allowed for the WU to operate on it's own and MS has a better idea there!
(whatever suits their schedule the best? *Eek "he said what?!"*sarc )

 

Starting with Windows 10 Insider Preview build 14942, Active hours valid range is now up to 18 hours instead of the previous 12 hours between start and end time.

 

That will good for the next major update while I was right in the middle of a pc game during the scheduled hours and an AMD64 cumulative update forced a restart! I can only caution that the schedule even extended won't necessary stop 3rd party interventions.

 

*chuckle

 

It would certainly be nice to have it extended to the 18hr. time frame while the problem seen during the Active hours turned out to be some one or more updates that failed to go on and 10 then decided to undo any changes take a few restarts following a second this time Steam title in contrast to the first being a non Steam and old pc title game. I suspect that may have been the same cumulative that others were having problems with as far as stalling the works on their machines while this simply became a separate unexpected annoyance that resolved itself it would seem.

The longer active hours however will be a chief ingredient here since I may get on and off the desktop a number of times with short breaks but total of 16hrs. or more on occasion.

 

There is a serious oversight with the implementation of Active Hours in Windows 10 that could potentially lead to corruption of system files.

This happened last night. I had scheduled Active Hours so that updates could occur after 12am. I plugged my computer in to charge but left it in high performance mode with no sleep on inactivity. The battery was already pretty low. Then I shut out the lights and went to sleep. What I overlooked is that I had my charger plugged in to an outlet that it shared with a lamp, and I turned the entire outlet off with a wall switch to shut off the lights.

When I awoke in the morning, my computer was completely out of batteries. When I powered it back up, it resumed in the middle of installing an update. Fortunately, it went successfully, but losing power during an update can easily corrupt system files and make the OS unable to boot.

This is the biggest problem with Active Hours. It forces updates to be installed, even if the system is running on battery power and the batteries are very low. This risk seem to me to cancel out any potential benefit from pushing updates immediately to users.

 

With a look at the Updates setting for the latest 15063.250 build which came as a periodic update the Active Hours item is no longer found. Instead you see the other two Advanced options and Restart options which is now above the Advanced while previously that had been underneath the Active Hours which was under the Advanced in the original layout. I do one other thing which could explain this to note here. Right under the Windows Update title the following is seen in yellow lettering.
"*Some settings are hidden or managed by your organization" which suggests that may have been from trying to disable the WU during a stretch when a persistent but troublesome AMD Language Feature update will stall at 100% and then revert taking any regular MS updates along with it! With a manual check several brand new updates seem to be going right on without hassle.