How to disable Windows 11 automatic reboots?

Anonymous
2024-02-18T11:19:20+00:00

Hi,

I have browsed this forum but found so far no real solution:

It has happened to my now several times that I was running tasks over extended periods of time only to come back to my PC the next morning to find Windows 11 had done an automatic reboot! So not only the tasks weren't finished, worse, lots of preparatory work was lost!

I don't want Windows to ever automatically reboot after an update. Never. Ever. Period. I want to be informed about updates, that's fine, and I keep Windows 11 up to date, but under no circumstances ever is it acceptable that Windows just shovels an update on my PC and disrupts overnight tasks and REBOOTS(!) my PC all by itself.

So it would be very helpful if somebody could tell me how to disable these automatic update reboots once and for all. I don't want to "pause" Updates (I absolutely want updates, I just want to control myself when the updates are done) and resetting "work hours" is of no use unless I can set it to 24 hours.

Best regards

Nick

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Windows update

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments No comments

84 answers

Sort by: Newest
  1. Deleted

    This answer has been deleted due to a violation of our Code of Conduct. The answer was manually reported or identified through automated detection before action was taken. Please refer to our Code of Conduct for more information.


    Comments have been turned off. Learn more

  2. Deleted

    This answer has been deleted due to a violation of our Code of Conduct. The answer was manually reported or identified through automated detection before action was taken. Please refer to our Code of Conduct for more information.


    Comments have been turned off. Learn more

  3. Anonymous
    2025-01-15T15:36:28+00:00

    For anyone that needs it, the bat file to shift your active hours is a workable solution, but it does open the command prompt every hour for a split second, which is kind of irritating. To stop the window from showing up, you can wrap the bat file in a VBS script that runs it in a hidden shell.

    Create a file next to your bat file ending in a ".vbs" extension, and add this logic:

    Set oShell = WScript.CreateObject ("WScript.Shell")

    oShell.run "C:\PATH\TO\YOUR\BAT\FILE\update_active_hours.bat", 0

    Make sure you update the path to the bat file and use double backslashes.

    Next, in your scheduled task, edit it so that it runs:

    "C:\Windows\System32\wscript.exe"

    With the argument of:

    "C:\PATH\TO\YOUR\BAT\FILE\launch_update_active_hours.vbs"

    Someone could take the time to actually put the entire bat files contents into the VBS script so you'd only need one file, but this works fine. Additionally, you may need to enable vbscript for this to work.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  4. Anonymous
    2025-01-13T21:45:07+00:00

    If you turn your computer off in the end of your journey, you will not be affected by the auto restart applied after an update if your computer is not in use.

    All the solutions mentioned here is for those who do not turn the computer ever, like me.

    The registry add mentioned before is the better solution for the auto restart without prompt.

    Or maybe in one recent update, windows correct the restart without prompt.

    I didn't notice because I already using the registry entry solution.

    Fell free to something else regard this natter.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  5. Anonymous
    2025-01-13T21:17:00+00:00

    I'm just a user who doesn't know much but for me all I did was go to settings, search for update, clicked "advance options" and toggled the "notify me when a restart is required to finish updating" to "On". Now it has to asks me if I want to restart.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments