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I'm running a few Windows Server machines and have set the active hours under Windows Update settings but the actual restart time seems to be random under default settings.

Is there a way to set when the OS (Windows Server 2016/2019/10) can restart unattended?

For example: server 1 restarts at 1am, server 2 restarts at 2am, server 3 restarts at 3am, etc.

Basically, I want to avoid more than 1 machines restarting at the same time. Is there a better way to manage this?

Jwalbrecht2000
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Josh
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    “server 1 restarts at 1am, server 1 restarts at 2am, server 1 restarts at 3am” - What? If Active Hours works inconsistent, schedule the reboot, for a specific time. What purpose does these servers serve. As always edit your question instead of submitting a comment – Ramhound Jan 26 '19 at 20:26
  • So your example isn’t the random behavior but what you actually want to have happen? You can either choose a period of time where you are active (Activity Hours) or choose a specific time to reboot the machine. – Ramhound Jan 26 '19 at 20:57
  • You need to clarify your question by editing it – Ramhound Jan 26 '19 at 21:00
  • Please edit your question and clarify exactly what you want to have happened. Outside of using WSUS you might have to accept the limitations provided out of the box. Which of course are a window of time outside of the Activity Hours and a specific scheduled time. If you were to offset the Activity Hours you might accomplish what you want. You can also automate the schedule time with a PowerShell script – Ramhound Jan 26 '19 at 21:05
  • “I want to set it once so it would restart at that specific time, every time there's an update that requires a server restart.” - This option does not exist specifically. What you can do is have a script that runs automatically and schedules the reboot. You can either set the registry key or the applicable group policy. [ScheduledInstallTime](https://superuser.com/questions/957267/how-to-disable-automatic-reboots-in-windows-10/1208866#1208866) should be your solution to your problem – Ramhound Jan 26 '19 at 21:17
  • this looks promising. i can just set the active hours for server 1: 2am-1am, server 2 3am-2am... – Josh Jan 26 '19 at 21:26
  • Either run a script every X Hours that sets the applicable registry key for the Activity Hours, or since your using Windows Server, set a specific install time, you will accomplish pretty much the same thing. Treating this as a sort of duplicate of that question since you want to prevent automatic reboots caused by Windows Update, and the duplicates answer, allows you to do that (with minor modifications) – Ramhound Jan 26 '19 at 21:28

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