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It was my understanding that with the Creators Update 1703, Windows 10 would no longer be auto restarting on its own. Currently running 1803 and am still experiencing forced restarts. Are these editions unrelated? Should I still be having this problem? Forced updates are still occurring despite changing the Scheduling Task name and disabling the service. I don't care why, but to imagine someone would design a system that pseudo-randomly restarts itself is beyond me.

UPDATE

I'm thinking a possible culprit is a service named 'Windows Update Medic Service', but can't find a way to disable it on any forums and admin rights are not sufficient. Links point to a utility called Windows Update Blocker but I'd prefer to do this manually.

UPDATE 2

Does nobody have a suggestion regarding this? Even a confirmation that this can't be solved would be validating. It's restarted three times this month on its own and destroyed everything I had in RAM. Unfortunately I only have this copy of windows that came with the computer, I really don't want to go and buy a new copy in hopes it will be a different 'version' of this pos. It keeps taunting me with its smirk message 'Heads up we're going to make windows better soon...' right before it does whatever it wants.

UPDATE 3:

Had it automatically restart 3 friggin' times this week. Once after Patch Tuesday, and then another 2 times without any notice or warning. Cannot leave the computer running safely overnight... great job Microsoft. Plus it automatically re-starts services that were running when it shutdown which causes more problems. Worse yet, under Services, Windows Update and Windows Update Medic Service is listed as 'Stopped' and 'Manual' startup... this is after all the restarts.

user58446
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  • Hi,Will the Windows Update Service restart automatically when you disable it? Always we could set it in Windows Setting or Registry. Check the link below if it is helpful.https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/stop-windows-automatic-reboots – daidai Sep 12 '18 at 08:28
  • It appears to be restarting itself still. Thanks for link, I will check it out, but I really would prefer to not use workarounds and aim for the correct edition if they resolved it. – user58446 Sep 12 '18 at 08:34
  • During my use, I did not encounter a forced restart. After installing updates, it will prompt a notification about the restart time. – daidai Sep 12 '18 at 08:43
  • In my case (Win10 Home 1803), I still get what I would define as forced restarts - I got two of them in the last ten days! Presumably I do get a notification about restarting (15-minute countdown), but I normally don't see it, because WU likes to wait until the PC is idle, which is of course when I'm not in the room. I would prefer the opposite - start the countdown when I *am* active, so that I will definitely see it and have a chance to save and close my work. – OsakaWebbie Dec 23 '18 at 10:05
  • Note that the experience is very different between Win10 **Home** and the other variants - perhaps @daidai has Pro or one of the others. – OsakaWebbie Dec 23 '18 at 10:07
  • Yes, that may be important. This is for Home. – user58446 Dec 31 '18 at 23:36
  • @user58446 Did you read over the https://superuser.com/questions/957267/how-to-disable-automatic-reboots-in-windows-10/1392980#1392980 post and see the links from there to other answers on that same post that help with a similar situation? I know you said you prefer to not use Reboot Blocker or whatever, so I wanted to confirm you already saw the solution with the batch script and the Windows native solution there to confirm whether or not that helps you with this issue? I'm referring the **#2 Control when Windows reboots after Windows Updates install** and those links in particular. – Vomit IT - Chunky Mess Style Jan 16 '19 at 01:49
  • I only mention this post as I noticed in **#1 Disable Windows Updates entirely** per the disabling of the `/Microsoft/Windows/Windows Updates` contain in Task Scheduler jobs that there is a process related to `sih` in there so perhaps you need to disable it too but you'll noticed I stated "*it might be worth disabling all those jobs in there for complete thoroughness*" on that post. Please let me know if this helps you with your task for a solution. I would writ an answer but would like to confirm you've not already tried these suggestion I wrote about and am referring to. – Vomit IT - Chunky Mess Style Jan 16 '19 at 01:54
  • @PimpJuiceIT Unfortunately, I did not come across your post during my searches. To be honest, a lot of my question is trying to figure out why the Creators Update feature doesn't seem to be present. Also, not sure if the duplicate post above implies Win 10 Professional or not, this is for Home. Some of the answers say it is not possible with Home, but this information is almost 4 years old so I'm curious if the creator update should override this. – user58446 Jan 21 '19 at 01:03
  • @PimpJuiceIT You mention your task scheduling solution does not appear to work for Home editions. What part? I was able to schedule the task but haven't had a chance to test. – user58446 Jan 21 '19 at 01:04
  • @user58446 I have several answers on that post, so I'm not sure if you're talking about one in particular where I mentioned that, or a comment on one of those answers, etc. I don't recall where I mentioned that so give me a pointers where I can find and I'll try to clarify and/or update/delete to correct it. – Vomit IT - Chunky Mess Style Jan 21 '19 at 03:15
  • @PimpJuiceIT The solution I was referring to was creating a task to disable windows update with a cmd and vbs script every 60 seconds. – user58446 Jan 21 '19 at 19:45
  • @user58446 Oh, I need to update that one as I don't think the vbs script is even needed to run that hidden and could do so right from a batch file using Task Scheduler but I need to get some time to test from a sandbox Windows 10 machine that's fully updated beforehand to confirm. I find it odd I suggested using a VBS script when running that from Task Scheduler... lol.... I'm going to fix that one day. I hope you find a solution that suffices regardless. I personally update my machines or control with WSUS in large environments using patch test groups, etc. – Vomit IT - Chunky Mess Style Jan 22 '19 at 00:07

1 Answers1

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Execute in PowerShell.

This doesn't disable the need for the restart but rather tries to ensure that the restart doesn't happen in the least expected moment. Allow the machine to restart as soon as possible anyway.

Disable Windows Update automatic restart.

If (-Not(Test-Path "Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU")) {
    New-Item -Path "Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU" -Force | Out-Null;
}
Set-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU" -Name "NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers" -Type DWord -Value 1;
Set-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU" -Name "AUPowerManagement" -Type DWord -Value 0;

Enable Windows Update automatic restart.

Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU" -Name "NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue;
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU" -Name "AUPowerManagement" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue;

Source and description.

Manage device restarts after updates (for details).

Victor S.
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    Now that is a nice PowerShell script there in the source as a whole +1. Full of functions and easy to understand simple code within. Classic example of the power of open source and the people that contribute. I see here https://docs.microsoft.com/de-de/security-updates/windowsupdateservices/18127499 there are a slew of keys to expand on that even further too potentially. – Vomit IT - Chunky Mess Style Jan 17 '19 at 03:37
  • Thank you for the suggestions. If this will prevent restarts while logged in then this may work, though it is less than ideal (complete prevention). The duplicate post above does mention that it's not possible to prevent auto updates on Win Home, but it is also 3 years old. I'm not sure if the creators edition overrules the information in the post. As my question states, I'm wondering if my version should take advantage of the Creator Update features. Do you have any information regarding this? – user58446 Jan 21 '19 at 00:32
  • The primary concern is leaving the computer on overnight with things running. However, I should be logged in or locked so hopefully that will prevent any restarts. – user58446 Jan 21 '19 at 21:18
  • I don’t know if this will work in certain windows editions, I don’t have such information. After applying the registry settings, I did not have unwanted reboots. Although this is only my personal experience. – Victor S. Jan 21 '19 at 22:08