How to prevent Windows Update from automatically restarting my comp?

Question

Because I program a lot on my personal machine, sometimes I have a lot of windows open with articles on blogs etc that I would like to keep open as I'm working in addition to VS etc. Rather than turn my comp off at night or put it into hibernation (shudder), I simply leave it in standby or just plain on.

The problem is, every once in a while, Windows Update performs an update and automatically restarts my comp, which makes me lose everything. Where is the setting to prevent this from happening?

Answer 1

This registry hack, mentioned in the previous answer, is the permanent solution to preventing the reboot in the Home (or any) edition of Windows.

To apply it, do the following:

• go to start->Run->regedit
• go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU
  (if necessary create the keys WindowsUpdate and AU)
• then create a DWORD(32-bit) called NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers
• Modify the value of this DWORD to 1.

Now your computer will not restart automatically anymore due to Windows Update. You will still get familiar pop-up saying you should reboot, but it won't count down and will not restart your computer.

Prevent Windows Update from Forcibly Rebooting Your Computer

Answer 2

Possible Fix 1: This shows you the temp fix and a permanent registry fix.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/prevent-windows-update-from-forcibly-rebooting-your-computer/

Possible Fix 2: If you follow the link after it mention vista home users, you can do this:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/uncategorized/temporarily-disable-windows-updates-automatic-reboot-in-vista/

The second part mentions shutting down the windows update service so it cannot run while the machine is on. The only catch is it will start back up once you restart. When you run cmd.exe, make sure to right-click the icon for cmd.exe and "Run As..." an Administrator.

Possible fix 3: http://blogs.technet.com/mu/archive/2008/10/02/windows-update-and-automatic-reboots.aspx

Can you access the group policy editor? Go to the "Policies to Change Automatic Rebooting Behavior" part of this article to find out how.

Answer 3

Run net stop wuauserv in cmd.