Why Windows needs reboot a lot more than Linux?

This is because of the architecture.

The major reason for this behavior is that Linux doesn't lock executed files and libraries, which allows direct replacement of those files and does only require the applications to restart. For installations is the reason the package-management-systems, while in Windows every program installs all needed libraries (even if they're already installed, but when they are in use they are locked, which needs a restart to clear the situation) in Linux an application only references the needed packages which are installed once (and never again), reducing the overhead.

Bobby

Posted 2010-05-11T10:26:19.477

Reputation: 8 534

2Raymond Chen had a blog entry once on the problems and dangers involved (and ultimately that the user would notice weird behavior if programs misbehaved and not following contracts); it was a conscious design decision and not so much that it can't be done in Windows. – Joey – 2010-05-11T13:48:20.520

1Johannes, can you give the link? – kolistivra – 2010-05-20T23:29:59.527

@Joey to follow up on kolistivra comment, I can't find the article on Raymond's blog. Please add it if you have it. – Gordon – 2011-08-10T10:25:43.280

Ah, it wasn't on his blog, but still findable via two clicks and a quick search for site:blogs.msdn.con/b/oldnewthing replace file in use: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2008.11.windowsconfidential.aspx

– Joey – 2011-08-10T11:00:26.590

This is changing a bit nowadays. The new architecture used on newer versions combined with appstores (like the built-in windows store, Steam, and others) is making reboots way less frequents now. My computers usually only reboot at system updates now, keeping themselves online 24/7 most of the time. – T. Sar – 2017-04-26T11:51:43.200

Why Windows needs reboot a lot more than Linux?

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