Windows 10: How to prevent Windows 10 from rebooting automatically?

Ever since I updated to Windows 10, I feel like all control of my computer now belongs to Microsoft rather than myself.

The bottom line is that Windows 10 occasionally thinks restarting my computer is a good idea, and it doesn't matter if I have unsaved work open. It will simply just close it down. How Microsoft could ever think this was a good idea is beyond words. I would like to put a thousand bad words aimed at Microsoft here, but I will keep it civil.

So, how do I prevent Windows 10 from restarting? It appears to mostly do this overnight. I have looked through the Windows settings, and I have turned off the "schedule a time" option under "Restart options." This doesn't change anything though since it still reboots whenever Microsoft thinks it's a good idea to do so.

How do I prevent this without "hacking" Windows? There simply must be a way to do this through its settings, however, I wouldn't be surprised in the least if it isn't possible (Microsoft logic).

:)

 

How do I prevent Windows 10 from restoring programs after reboot

How do I prevent Windows 10 from restoring programs after reboot

Moved from: Windows / Windows 10 / Windows settings

 

How can I prevent Windows Update from rebooting my computer without my consent?

Thank you for checking in.

The device is managed by a domain.

Currently on 1709 Build 16299.192

The Windows Update options offered by the current build of Windows are insufficient in allowing users to preserve their work for periods greater than 18 hours. Some processes take more than 18 hours and some projects require that files and programs remain
open for more than 18 hours.

Changing active hours does nothing to prevent Windows from rebooting my computer during non-active hours. Windows rebooting WITHOUT WARNING on its own to update to 1709 recently cost me an incalculable amount of work and two entire days of time working to
recover. My project had a short timeline and important deadlines were missed. It wouldn't surprise me if the unexpected reboot ends up costing me 6 digits in lost revenues as a result of the delays and lost data I experienced.

I was NEVER notified that an update with a restart was pending, so I never had any opportunity to "Schedule a time" in the restart options as you suggest.

No operating system should ever restart a computer without the explicit consent of the user. For no reason, EVER. I understand that some updates require a restart to be effective. However, an operating system MUST permit the user a sufficient opportunity
to save his work.

Windows 10 is no different than MALWARE since it takes control of my computer without notice or permission and destroys files.

 

Bottom line- why is it restarting? You need to be sure of that to decide what to try.

If you look at your Update History, is there any correlation between some updates (not all require a restart) and your PC restarting?
(You should also be able to see your updates listed in Reliability History.

But your PC could be restarting because of software or hardware problems.
You could possibly find more from your event log.

Considering updates, you may know that in Settings you can set Active Hours which is intended to define a period (max 18 hours) during which a restart will not occur. Clearly that's not 24 hours.

Do you have Home or Pro?

If you have Pro you definitely have more control of updates. Some have had success setting updates to Notify (before downloading etc) in Home too using a registry modification, or the same more conveniently via a 3rd party tool such as Windows Update Minitool (free), which is worth looking at, and offers disable/enable and notify settings for updates.

By default, updates and upgrades will be applied automatically, and a restart is possible, about the worst choice possible.
Pro upwards offer an option to pause updates up to 35 days.

 

Restart task is created upon installing updates, so disable automatic updates, but check manually time to time.

Enable or Disable Windows Update Automatic Updates in Windows 10 Windows Update Activation Tutorials

Disable Windows 10 Automatic Updates with Win Update Stop | NoVirusThanks

I use this - [Batch] Windows Update Disable - Pastebin.com

 

Also check that you do not have Automatically restart enabled after a system failure. This will provide a better chance for you to see that a BSOD event has occurred and read on the screen any information about what might have caused it.





To get to these settings type advanced in the search box and select View Advanced System Settings. Then select the start-up and recovery section.

 

You could use Nirsoft's Bluescreenview (free) - a quick way to see if you've had any BSODs, assuming you haven't e.g. run ccleaner and deleted the dmp files.

 

Thanks for the advice. I use WIndows 10 Pro.

It is not related to crashes. My system is stable as a rock. It's just that these automatic restarts caused by the geniuses over at Microsoft are very much the same as intentionally induced crashes. No other way to put it.

I will use the "gpedit.msc" as my solution. It's just unbelievable though that you need to do these things just to disable something so basic. It really shows just how little Microsoft knows about what their customers want. I find it mind-boggling, really.

 

Enable or Disable Windows Update Automatic Updates in Windows 10 Windows Update Activation Tutorials
Option 1 step 6 = Notify.

Or use a free tool for convenience- useful in other ways too:




More you can explore e.g.