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

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-09-11T09:37:16+00:00

    Hear Hear!

    The fundamentalist extremists have taken over at Microsoft.

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-09-11T09:01:35+00:00

    I'm really shocked there has been no real solution to this problem? What is the issue here. Why not prompt before a reboot or reminder? I don't think it is ever acceptable to reboot on its own.

    It's not just happening during the "off hours" either. Just the other day I had a conversion program running to convert a video file into another format, which takes maybe an hour or so if it's a big higher resolution file (which it was, it was some stuff we filmed with a drone over time).

    When I came back from a walk with my dogs, there was... starting screen. All programs closed. Windows 11 decided it needed to re-boot, for some update I guess. What the hell is going on here? This is completely nuts, no prior Windows version acted like that. As I said, I don't MIND updates, just let me know about them and let me decide if an when I install them, simple as that.

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-08-17T02:21:49+00:00

    I like the idea of the batch file and running via task scheduler.

    Note, for people who are on laptops, the task scheduler has default options that may interfere with this!

    When you create a task, there is a tab for Conditions. It is by DEFAULT CHECKED "Start the task only if the computer is on AC power". You want this UNCHECKED!! Why? Because if you start your laptop up without it being plugged in, this task never starts, and even if you plug into AC later, the task isn't going to run.

    Additionally!! There is a sub option that is by DEFAULT CHECKED "Stop if the computer switches to battery power". This likely means that once you go on battery, it will stop running the task, and I do not know if it will resume the task just by being plugged back in. It may not. And that might be why some people reported it does not prevent restarts -- if you unplugged your laptop, it may have killed the task so your working hours were no longer being updated to trick windows update. As soon as it got outside of your working hours, boom, you're toast. So also have this UNCHECKED!!

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  5. Anonymous
    2024-08-14T22:47:21+00:00

    **** MICROSOFT!!! YOU ARE INTERRUPTING A NECESSARY SCRIPT on my machine and this is costing a lot of REAL MONEY!!!!!!!!!!

    I cannot have my computer restart without permission. EVER!! WHERE IS THE FIX TO THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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