Disable Windows 10 automatic restart after updates

Very simple, PERMANENT solution in a few basic steps:

1. Create a new text file, located wherever you want, preferably hidden somewhere in the system so you don't accidently delete the file; my preference is placing it in the windows update orchestrator folder (the piece of cancerware responsible for this idiotic design flaw); this folder is located at C:\Windows\System32\Tasks\Microsoft\Windows\UpdateOrchestrator
2. It is unnecessary to put anything in the text file; name it whatever you want, but change the file extension from .txt to .bat
3. Open up the start menu, type in "task scheduler" and open it
4. Open the left-most viewing pane, click the drop-down icon next to "Task Scheduler Library", then "Microsoft", then "Windows", and finally scroll down near the bottom and select "UpdateOrchestrator"
5. In the top-middle pane, select the "Reboot" task and right click it, then select "Disable"
6. Right-click on the "reboot" task again, go to the "Triggers" tab, select any triggers there and delete them
7. The final, and most important step (this is the process that keeps re-enabling automatic restarts), go to the "Actions" tab, EDIT the "start a program" action, and change the default file to the text document/.bat file you created in step 1-2

That's it! So long as that file exists on your computer, it will prevent Windows Update Orchestrator from checking/initializing the "Reboot" file, the process responsible for taking your computer hostage......

I'm a software developer and this really drives me nuts about Windows.  Someone said something later in this thread that rings perfectly true.  This is something Apple would do, which is why I hate them.  Give me my options and don't force me to do things I don't want to do.

I too am a developer, and I use a Mac Book and a Windows 10 Notebook - over the last couple of years, the Mac OS has gotten better, while Windows 10 seems to have gotten worse. The Mac Book doesn't seem to force reboots when updating, which is something Windows 10 should never do either. I leave applications open overnight quite often - and I expect them to still be open when I unlock by machine. FULL STOP.

GIVE ME MY OPTIONS AND DON'T FORCE ME TO DO THINGS I DON'T WANT TO DO.... <--- MS YOU NEED TO LISTEN.

...and don't get me started on the start menu.

C.

Incredible.. I've been using windows all my life, and I've always been annoyed by the auto-restart.

But can't take it any more - when your workload is the worst, that's when you got most apps open with some WIP. I do save and have auto-save work enabled everywhere, but I'm tired of opening my laptop the next day just to realise my work is gone.

I have win pro and did set up the group policy as per the second comment in this thread, but either I missed some setting somewhere or an update decided to change it back for me, but I got no strength to fight it any more, won't even bother looking.

By not addressing this issue for years, MS is showing us they obviously have no intention in changing this policy. This means windows can not be used for work, it's just not fit to be used in a professional setting for me.

So after years of using windows at home, in my business, promoting it to others, I give up. I'm switching to Linux.. such a shame

For those that consider Linux too small a contender for that last sentence to be anything but a joke:  consider that Android is just a modified Linux OS, and currently holds the largest market share among all internet-connected devices, having overtaken Windows by 2017.  Not long after Windows 10 was released, come to think...

I know that this is not going to work for many, but I can only tell that I am for some time always working with two computers: one main computer with Linux, and a second one with Windows. I am doing software development for large projects that often take hours to compile and build, and I am running also lengthy simulations. And of course software development is a field where Linux is really strong, and it is not a big deal to rely on tools that work on both Linux and Windows (like Qt, CMake...).

On the Linux machine I am doing all the trials and developments - because it is "my computer" and it does what I want! Updates? No problem: the system will tell me that updates are ready, and most of the time reboot is not required afterwards. And if it is, I am told and I can do it whenever it is convenient. So EXACTLY the behaviour that I would like to see for Windows as well!

If they want they can make it an option that has to be enabled first - because I can also believe that 90% of users have a) no problems with the auto-update and auto-reboot, b) would not do it if they were asked ("it worked so far - why should I update?"), but also c) would never change any setting - so problem is solved - for all. Don't forget that the remaining 10% are still MANY! And for them this auto-reboot is really a nightmare. And this "feature" is one of the reasons why I avoid the system as much as possible for real professional IT work.

Once some software needs to be packaged and delivered I have to go for a build on Windows (and still fix some Windows specific quirks after the software is overall running well). Because most customers are using Windows. So just yesterday I started such a build overnight - and in the morning I found again the entire thing not done - because Microsoft in their infinite wisdom had decided that they wanted to kill the run!!

Which brought me to another round of research if there is not finally a solution of that problem, but it looks that there is none so far.