Windows Tip: Preventing unplanned reboots
Recently I got the dreaded five minute countdown to automatic reboot when some critical fixes had been downloaded by my computer from Microsoft Update and automatically installed. And yes, it happened when I was pulling an all-nighter at work (remember that Automatic Updates is configured by default to check for available updates at 3:00 am every night). Unfortunately, I had a dozen or so applications running at the time, including some running within a virtual machine in Virtual PC! So I frantically saved my work in my guest machine apps, then saved my guest machine's state, then saved my work on all my host machine apps. I managed to beat the shutdown timer by a whopping 7 seconds, yikes!
This got me thinking. I like the "set it and forget it" aspect of having AU automatically download and install updates when they become available, mainly because I'm a procrastinator. Unfortunately, things that are automatic can sometimes get in the way of things that have to be done manually. So I thought I'd check to see if Group Policy had an answer for this, and I found the following policy:
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Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Update\Delay Restart for Scheduled Installations |
This policy controls the restart timer, whose default value is 5 minutes, and you can increase this up to 30 minutes to give yourself more time to save your work before a reboot happens. And if your computer belongs to a workgroup, you can do the same by modifying the following registry value:
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HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\RebootWarningTimeout |
But what if you're having a coffee break at 3:00 am so you can pick a new CD to listen to? I used to do that often before I switched to decaf (something I will never regret). In that case, you're better off simply selecting the "Download updates for me, but let me choose when to install them" option on the Automatic Updates item in Control Panel, and see a psychiatrist to find out the root cause of your tendency to procrastinate. And of course you can also configure this option using Group Policy or by modifying the registry accordingly, see here for details.
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