It’s important to keep Windows fully updated to avoid your system security becoming compromised. One annoying thing about Windows 7 update however is that when some updates are installed, the computer is forced to automatically reboot. If you’re in the middle of something important, or a project running multiple applications then this can really cause some headache. To fix this, we have to modify the Windows 7 registry.
Before we get started, it’s important to remember that improperly modifying the Windows registry can seriously mess up your system. But this groovy guide should prevent that from happening!
How To Prevent Windows 7 From Doing An Automatic Reboot After Windows Updates Are Installed
1. Click the Windows Start Orb and then in the search box Type Regedit. Press Enter or Click the regedit.exe program link.
2. Next from within Registry Editor, Navigate to the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows
3. Now we have to create two new registry keys. Right-Click in the open space to the right, and Select New > Key. Name the first key WindowsUpdate and then make a second key within WindowsUpdate and Name it AU.
So now your new registry location should be:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU
4. Right-Click within the AU key and Select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name the new DWORD:
NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers
5. Now that the DWORD is created, Right-Click it and Select Modify. Set the Value data to 1 and then Click OK and exit regedit. Restart Windows for changes to take effect.
Now your computer should no longer automatically reboot every time a new Windows 7 system update is installed. Don’t forget to manually restart your computer once you finish your work because the same updates that would normally force a restart still require a restart for them to take affect on your computer and the longer you wait, the more chance a possible problem could occur.
And just to follow-up on grooveDexter's comments at the end of his article: Although it's not as important as it was in previous OS's to reboot quickly after installing updates, I still don't recommend waiting longer than 1-2 hours to reboot after patching your OS with Windows Updates.
I'm also curious to know if this hack will prevent corporate WSUS servers w/GPO from patching and rebooting Windows 7 boxes…. If anyone has this data, let me know!
You are talking about the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows
However the illustrations clearly show this key instead:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
Which one is it?
the correct key is:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows
The images should now properly reflect that. Thanks for the feedback!
So which key do I use?
@Koen – Nice find. Thanks for the feedback!
Great article & the pictures made it that much easier to follow. Thanks!
Appreciate the feedback! I’m happy the article was helpful!
I got the problem…so im looking every website that can make the restart disable….many of them know the way but way their explain about it is very deferent n hard to understand…so i found this website and it is very helpful with the demo pic! Great job n thanks!
@Lady Morgana,
Excellent! Glad the article was able to help you out!
Thanks for the explanation but it did not work on me, I`m familiar with registry entries and I did exactly what you say but it did not work, I tried several times to do it, deleted and recreated keys but still no result, what is wrong I really did not understand…
Sir….i make the way all of i show about..but it is still restarting…pls…!!