In Windows Update, click on change settings. Under Important Updates, select 'Download updates but let me choose whether to install them'. This will give you the control on when to install and restart if required.
I want to turn off the automatic restart for Windows Update on Windows 7 Home Premium. How do I do this?
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Anonymous
I went to sleep last night and when I woke up my computer had been restarted. I did not tell it to restart, I did not want it restarted, and I had documents opened that I cannot recover because it restarted. It restarted because Windows Update had a single update to install. I am running Windows 7 Home Premium, so I do not have the group policy editor, and the registry key that some websites mentioned to use to disable the restart is not there.
Keep in mind, I just want to prevent an involuntary restart. I do not want to turn off Windows Update, and I don't mind being prompted to restart. I just don't want my computer restarting on its own ever again.
Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Windows update
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Anonymous
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Anonymous
2012-12-17T02:32:31+00:00 You shouldn't have to be any kind of tech to easily be able to prevent windows from restarting automatically, essentially deleting all changes that are in open applications. In fact, it should be a default behavior to NOT do this.
I hear developers blame the users all the time. If I ever hear one of my developers say something like you just said, I warn them once. If they say it again, they are fired.
Don't complain about your customers being stupid. That is where Microsoft is struggling right now. I love using some of microsoft's stuff, but my 2 year old has an iPad because, well, a 2 year old can use it.
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Anonymous
2012-12-16T22:19:37+00:00 If you're a Microsoft Certified tech, you should already know how to keep Windows Update from restarting a computer without your approval.
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Anonymous
2012-12-16T22:15:14+00:00 I also agree that automatic restarts is a very infuriating feature of Windows. I hate when my software creators think that all users of their software are idiots who know nothing about computers. I am a Microsoft Certified tech and I still get treated as if Microsoft knows best about things like restarting my computer... I still don't understand why Windows can not be made like Linux? Just restart the service or process that was updated! Why must the whole machine be restarted!?!?