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
2011-12-14T02:36:14+00:00 You could follow this video. It was very helpful and does the same thing except in a batch file and it works for every version of Windows.
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Anonymous
2011-11-15T11:24:02+00:00 I've been in this thread for a long time now, and still I shake my head at the stupidity of Microsoft and their decision to do this, and the terrible way that they have implemented it. Then yesterday I decided that a restart was in order (MSN Messenger decided that everyone in the world was offline. Luckily I could check on my iPhone and see that was not the case so ...) so I hit 'Restart' and went off to make some tea. Five minutes later I returned to discover that Windows was (very sensibly) waiting for me to confirm that I wanted to save or discard changes from a Powerpoint (the poor cousin in MS Office) presentation.
The realisation here is that Microsoft have built in to the command Iget to use (I am the OWNER of this computer!!!) a process to prevent a restart and lossage of data, but the one that they get to use - the auto restart - they HAVEN'T!!!!
I laughed out loud.
P.S. The tea played no further part in this story.
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Anonymous
2011-11-15T09:27:35+00:00 I understand that Microsoft wants to patch security holes as quickly as possible with minimum of user interaction. What I don't understand is why these security patches are more important than a user's data (which is lost during the auto reboot).
Yes, users should always save their work before leaving their computer unattended, but I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that occasionally I forget, only to find that the data has been permanently lost because Microsoft decided to reboot my machine without permission.
I'm sure Microsoft just thinks that it's a few power users whining about something which, on the whole, is good for Windows users, but this is fundamentally wrong.
If someone from our IT dept came and fiddled with my PC, rebooted it without my permission and without saving the documents I was working on I would be absolutely livid. This feature is no different.
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Anonymous
2011-11-09T11:33:04+00:00 Why can't you just do it through control panel?
Control Panel > System and Security > Windows Update > "On the left pane" choose "Change Settings" > Use the drop down to choose the setting you want.
I honestly dont understand why you would need to go into the registry to do this.