I want to turn off the automatic restart for Windows Update on Windows 7 Home Premium. How do I do this?

Anonymous
2009-11-05T12:57:50+00:00

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
2009-11-05T13:05:29+00:00

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.

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  1. Anonymous
    2010-11-10T14:48:09+00:00

    Brilliant.  This is the correct answer.  Not the one marked as answer by a Microsoft Support Engineer.

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  3. Anonymous
    2010-11-01T17:16:46+00:00

    You don't say? As I understood it, Windows only checks for updates once in every 24 hours. Therefore making no alterations to Automatic Updates still leaves your computer vulnerable for (admittedly short) periods of time. My computer is not left running permanently, however on those occasions when it is left on overnight it is essential that it does not reboot, I accept that this leaves it vulnerable, but I disagree that I am any more at risk.

    Incidentally, what really angered me about this particular feature was that if I did not respond to this irritating, distracting item promptly my computer would shut itself down whilst I was typing.

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  4. Anonymous
    2010-11-01T15:40:17+00:00

    NB: If & when Automatic Updates installs one or more updates, your computer remains subject to the vulnerabilities addressed by the update(s) & continues to be at-risk until you've rebooted.

    ~Robear Dyer (PA Bear) ~ MS MVP (IE, Mail, Security, Windows & Update Services) since 2002 ~ Disclaimer: MS MVPs neither represent nor work for Microsoft

    This is not an appropriate answer. an appropriate answer should be something along the lines of "the lack of gpedit.msc in Home Premium is an oversight by Microsoft and should be looked into in the future." The constant nagging of the automatic restart function is irritating at best, and rage inducing at worst. Its honestly a bad feature to have.

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