How do I, in the registry, change Win7's restart countdown to 255 hours?

Question

I remember reading it somewhere but couldn't google it out anymore. Would someone be kind enough as to tell me?

Answer 1

Assuming you're talking about the Windows Update restart timeout, that's actually a Group Policy setting. If you are using a Pro/Enterprise/Ultimate edition of Windows, you can change this in gpedit.msc. The setting is available under Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Delay Restart for scheduled installations.

If you are on a Home edition of Windows, you can try changing the setting directly inside the registry. Note that this might not work if your Windows edition does not support these settings at all (e.g. Windows 10 Home ignores some update settings). You can find the corresponding registry value by downloading the Group Policy Settings Reference. In this case, it is HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU!RebootWarningTimeoutEnabled and HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU!RebootWarningTimeout.

Answer 2

If you are talking about the restart for updates, you can disable the restart when there are logged on users.

As usual, be careful when playing around with registry changes. Briefly, the point is the creation of a 32-bit DWORD called NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers with a value 1. This DWORD must be at this key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU