Windows 10: Stop automatic reboots w/updates + auto-install Defender definitions

Hello:

My goal is to prevent Windows 10 from rebooting whenever it wants to. It happened twice already that I got my computer in the morning in a refreshly rebooted state. I didn't lose any data, but it then takes me several minutes to reload all the apps etc. In other words it's a big pain-in-the-a$% so my goal is to revert updates to how they used to work in Windows 7, i.e. "I own the computer and I decide when to reboot!"

So I ran gpedit.msc as an admin and then went to
Local Computer Policy -> Computer Configuration -> Admin Templates -> .... (can't remember the full path) ... eventually to Configure automatic updates and set it to "Auto download and notify for install." I then also enabled the local GPO to "No auto-restart with logged on users for scheduled automatic updates" Here's the full setup:



And here's that specific setting:




After that these GPOs seem to have held off automatic reboots, but now I got one less pesky but still annoying thing. Every day this thing dings me with a popup:




which then brings me to this:





So I was wondering, is there a way to automate installation of those definitions for Windows Defender so that I don't have to do it manually every day?

PS. I tried setting the following as a daily task in the Task Scheduler, and although it used to work in Windows 8.1, in Windows 10 it doesn't seem to do anything and I still get those dings:


Code: "C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\MpCmdRun.exe" -SignatureUpdate[/quote]

:)

 

Defender - Update Automatically

Don't hold your breath. Unlike MSE (and Defender) in Win7, Defender in Win10 (as well as Win8.1) will ONLY auto-update itself when Windows Update is set to the default Automatic configuration.

If you wanna leave it set to Notify Only, you'll have to update Defender manually.

Like MSE, Defender considers itself sufficiently up-to-date as long as its Definitions are
no more than 72 hours old.

 

Is there any way to shut off automatic updates in Windows 10

Fact: If Windows Update (i.e., automatic updating) is disabled (turned off), Windows Defender will NOT auto-update its Definitions every day (or even once-a-week).

 

Please see
Scheduled Defender Definition Updates Not Completing After AU




is a convenient way to set Windows to notify.

And presumably you are aware of the (limited) active hours feature in settings (12 hour period max) to restrict restarts.

I've never experienced an unexpected restart, even when one is pending outside active hours, curiously.

 

Well, it warns me. I just don't want to do it whenever Microsoft decides to. Like I said it takes too long to reload everything. I usually reboot it once a month or so, or if some critical patch is out.

From that link that you posted, just curious, how is:

"%ProgramFiles%\Windows Defender\MpCmdRun.exe" -SignatureUpdate

different from:

"C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\MpCmdRun.exe" -SignatureUpdate

that I've been using?

 

Further discussion:
Scheduling silent hourly Windows Defender definition updates using Task Scheduler on Windows 8 - Super User
- plenty on the web on this if you search.

In particular if you want a completely silent update (no window):

Update Windows Defender when Automatic Updates is disabled

(or %programfiles% as necessary)

 

Thanks. Like I said what worked in Windows 8.1 doesn't seem to work with Windows 10.

I haven't seen this though, so I'll try:

Code: "C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\MSASCui.exe" -Update -Hide[/quote] It seems to start a GUI version of the Defender and update it (without -Hide). Unfortunately it doesn't close it (even with -Hide supplied.) Pretty stupid, IMHO. But at least it's better than nothing. So I'll try that and will post a report later...

 

The following VBScript is run at 6-hours intervals via Task Scheduler on my Windows 10.
Code: Createobject("wscript.shell").run("""C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\MpCmdRun.exe"" ""-SignatureUpdate"""), 0[/quote] It runs silently in the background with no momentary GUI and command window.

 

To stop the notifications popping up, you could use quiet mode. Click on the action centre icon next to the clock and click on quiet hours. This should stop notifications appearing.

 

@swarfega I'm not trying to kill notifications. I was just trying to make that thing install definitions automatically. Is it too much to ask? And so far I did not succeed.

@Matthew Wai That is exactly what I was doing before (well, just as a command itself) and it didn't work. Works on 8.1 but not on Win10.

Also want to report that the following doesn't do anything either:

Code: "C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\MSASCui.exe" -Update -Hide[/quote] Got another one of those dings this evening.

Any more ideas, guys?

 

Is there a reason why it works on my Windows 10 but not on yours?
Does it work on other members'?

 

Try using VBScript to call a .cmd file containing the following command: Code: "C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\MpCmdRun.exe" "-SignatureUpdate"[/quote] It will run silently in the background with no momentary GUI and command window.

 

Guys, I think I got it. It's been working for a few days now (so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.)

The problem might have been in the Task Scheduler (or my inability to fully grasp its convoluted interface) and not in the command line I was using.

So here are the steps that worked for me:

1. Set up GPOs (need Windows 10 Pro): run gpedit.msc as administrator, then go to Local Computer Policy -> Computer Configuration -> Admin Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Update and set the following:

- "Configure automatic updates" set to enabled, pick option "3 - Auto download and notify for install"
- "No auto-restart with logged on users for scheduled automatic updates installations" set to enabled.

Then reboot.

2. I found this free tool that will do the scheduling part. (Note that the tool is designed to wake your computer from sleep. Since in my case it's a desktop and it is always on the waking part was not an issue. But if you do it for a laptop I would set the interval for longer than an hour, say to 4 hrs or so that your laptop doesn't wake up every hour in the bag.)

I then set up the schedule as such with the following command line arguments from a cmd window:

Code: path-to\wosb.exe /run /systray tm="+10:00" file="path-to\cmdNoWnd.exe" params="\"%ProgramFiles%\Windows Defender\MpCmdRun.exe\" -SignatureUpdate" repeat="1:00:00"[/quote]

What it does it runs my update Defender command (MpCmdRun.exe -SignatureUpdate part) without a window (cmdNoWnd.exe part) 10 minutes after I run the line above and then repeats it every hour (repeat="1:00:00" part.)

3. And since I was at it, the line above calls another free tool (cmdNoWnd) from the same site that runs my Defender command without showing the command window. Very handy and no need to do the VB script hack as was suggested above.

 

Is it necessary to wake it up to perform definition updates, which don't seem urgent?

I prefer the above, which entails no installation, to the following, which needs to be installed.

 

I don't think there's any installation needed. It's just a file you can run.

But otherwise, yes of course. I'm sure there's more than one way to do it.