Autoupdate Unilaterally Reboots my PC's? What Nerve!!!

[Joseph Geretz]

I lost some work the other night when a Windows update applied itself and
rebooted my OS in the middle of the night. What nerve! Is this the way
Autoupdate is supposed to work? In the past I've seen dialog messages in the
morning advising me that the PC needs to be rebooted, but I don't remember
ever getting rebooted automatically, without my input. This happened on two
of my XP boxes. Is this something new?

Maybe instead of going around putting out bounties on virus authors,
Microsoft should spend some money on getting their own processes under
control!

Sheesh :-(

- Joe Geretz -

 

[Leythos]

I lost some work the other night when a Windows update applied itself and
rebooted my OS in the middle of the night. What nerve! Is this the way
Autoupdate is supposed to work? In the past I've seen dialog messages in the
morning advising me that the PC needs to be rebooted, but I don't remember
ever getting rebooted automatically, without my input. This happened on two
of my XP boxes. Is this something new?

Maybe instead of going around putting out bounties on virus authors,
Microsoft should spend some money on getting their own processes under
control!

Maybe you should not leave your work open when you're not at your
machine, as anything can cause your machine to reboot/cycle.

If you don't want Autoupdate to reboot your computer during a evening
event, disable it that night.

 

[Joseph Geretz]

Hi Leythos,

Maybe you should not leave your work open when you're not at your
machine, as anything can cause your machine to reboot/cycle.

I'm amazed at your equanimity. If I wrote a small snippet of code to crawl
the internet late at night rebooting connected workstations, I'd be a hacker
engaging in criminal behavior. But Microsoft does it and all you can offer
is 'well maybe you should save your work.' Maybe I can, or maybe I can't.
Maybe I'm running a lengthy process and I don't feel like getting up in the
middle of the night every ten minutes to save my work. Whatever- it's my PC
and my business. I don't think Microsoft should be unilaterally rebooting my
PC to finalize an update.

If you don't want Autoupdate to reboot your computer during a evening
event, disable it that night.

I like keeping up to date because, as a software professional, I do see the
value in keeping my OS up to date with the latest set of bugs. But I think I
should be prompted for a reboot. I have disabled auto-update and I'll keep
it disabled until Microsoft changes its policy. Personally, I'm behind a
router/firewall, I engage in safe computing practices and I've never picked
up a virus. The only loss I ever suffered was from a Windows auto-update! It
just ain't worth it.

- Joe Geretz -

 

[Saucy Lemon]

I lost some work the other night when a Windows update applied itself
and rebooted my OS in the middle of the night. What nerve! Is this
the way Autoupdate is supposed to work? In the past I've seen dialog
messages in the morning advising me that the PC needs to be rebooted,
but I don't remember ever getting rebooted automatically, without my
input. This happened on two of my XP boxes. Is this something new?

Maybe instead of going around putting out bounties on virus authors,
Microsoft should spend some money on getting their own processes under
control!

Sheesh :-(

- Joe Geretz -

It was an out-of-schedule patch. Usually, Microsoft sends out its patches on
Tuesday on a regular basis. A while ago, they would send them out whenever,
but having no set schedule screwed things up for customers. So they decided
to make it regular on Tuesdays, if there were any.

However the WMF / Graphics engine vulnerability was patched early. This was
by popular demand as it was a particulary deady vulnerability that many felt
simply had to be patched ASAP. The patch requires a reboot. I guess they
felt it had to be forced(?) This was such dangerous vulnerability that
simply visiting a website with a crafted WMF file would result in
compromise. People with sensitive data on their machines had to be
protected.

Computers reboot sometimes fortuitously and this means work should be
regularly saved - it's just a good habit to be in with important work. You
got caught, I'm sorry to hear, but I think it really is one of those things.
While the patch required a reboot, I'm not sure it actually forced one.
Maybe it did, or perhaps there was a coincidental power glitch overnight in
your area. If you don't have a UPS then such a thing for sure can cause
reboots of some or all the machines. If the patch did force a reboot it
wasn't something Microsoft takes lightly. This was a very serious
vulnerability discovered, worse than usual and perhaps, if their forcing a
reboot was the case, they felt they had to do it. Although, to be honest
with you, the machines here did not automatically reboot if I remember
correctly.

 

[WTC]

I lost some work the other night when a Windows update applied itself and
rebooted my OS in the middle of the night. What nerve! Is this the way
Autoupdate is supposed to work? In the past I've seen dialog messages in
the morning advising me that the PC needs to be rebooted, but I don't
remember ever getting rebooted automatically, without my input. This
happened on two of my XP boxes. Is this something new?

Maybe instead of going around putting out bounties on virus authors,
Microsoft should spend some money on getting their own processes under
control!

How to schedule automatic updates in Windows Server 2003, in Windows XP, and
in Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;327838

<quote>

Windows will restarts your computer if no action is taken within 5:00
minutes

</quote>

You could edit the registry so the computer will not reboot when you are
logged.

[HLLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU]
Name: NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers
Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 1

Note: If the status is set to Enabled, Automatic Updates will not restart a
computer automatically during a scheduled installation if a user is logged
in to the computer. Instead, Automatic Updates will notify the user to
restart the computer.

 

[Joseph Geretz]

Although, to be honest with you, the machines here did not automatically

reboot if I remember correctly.

Both of my XP Workstations which are set to auto-update rebooted. When I
logged on to each box, I was notified that the auto-update had been applied
and had required the reboot. My Win2003 server did not reboot, instead a
dialog box appeared informing me of the need to reboot. I guess MS made the
determination that Servers are too important to reboot, but workstations -
hey nothing important goes on on a workstation in the middle of the night so
what the heck - reboot.

Just a bit too cavalier for my liking.

- Joe Geretz -

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

Just a bit too cavalier for my liking.

It might be wise for you to look into the Windows Update options that
are available to you so that this won't happen again.

It would also be wise for you to save your work periodically. Shit
happens.

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

Just a bit too cavalier for my liking.

It might be wise for you to look into the Windows Update options that
are available to you so that this won't happen again.

It would also be wise for you to save your work periodically. Shit
happens.

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

Maybe instead of whining and making a fool of yourself you should be
learning some good habits, like periodically saving your work.

And while you're at it, look at the auto-update options. There is one
in there that you might benefit from choosing.

 

[Kerry Brown]

Both of my XP Workstations which are set to auto-update rebooted.
When I logged on to each box, I was notified that the auto-update had
been applied and had required the reboot. My Win2003 server did not
reboot, instead a dialog box appeared informing me of the need to
reboot. I guess MS made the determination that Servers are too
important to reboot, but workstations - hey nothing important goes on
on a workstation in the middle of the night so what the heck - reboot.

Just a bit too cavalier for my liking.

I agree, it shouldn't have happened. As it did and there is no guarantee it
won't happen again why not just change autoupdate to notify you instead of
download and install? You do have options.

Kerry

 

[V Green]

I completely agree with you on this one, Joe.

Although I do NOT allow "automatic-system kill"
to run here, it would truly piss me off if it did and
rebooted on its own during the night...

when I tend to run several parallel streams of video
transcoding while I'm asleep.

(there, is that a good enough reason for the folks that
jumped on Joe for "not saving his work? - oh wait, probably
not - everything MS does is gold, everything we users do
is beetle dung)

 

[Joseph Geretz]

why not just change autoupdate to notify you instead of download and

install?

That is exactly what I have done.

- Joe Geretz -

 

[Joseph Geretz]

(there, is that a good enough reason for the folks that

jumped on Joe for "not saving his work? - oh wait, probably
not - everything MS does is gold, everything we users do
is beetle dung)

I think it's a sad commentary on the state of our operating environments.
Having the OS cr@p out in the middle of something important is practically a
documented feature of our environment. Many users don't care anymore whether
it happens accidentally or whether Microsoft deliberately causes it to
happen. Their attitude is - "hey, this is the way it is, work around it".

It's this acceptance of the status quo, which allows Microsoft to maintain
the status quo. A shame...

- Joe Geretz -

 

[Saucy Lemon]

Read the Manual.

If you don't want Windows to install the updates until you want them
installed, why do't you set it so that Windows will download the updates but
not intall them until you tell it to. It's a setting you can select under
the Automatic Updates tab in the System applet.

 

[Joseph Geretz]

The manual? You mean the entire MSDN and Knowledge base?

[HLLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU]
Name: NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers
Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 1

The apologists and Kool-Aid drinkers are really out in force. Oh, so now
it's *my* fault that my PC got rebooted without my express permission, since
I didn't 'read the manual'. (Even though some posters have indicated that
this isn't the way it's supposed to work.)

I guess you've gone through it all, and have every single registry key
memorized. It sounds like that's the level of proficiency you demand from
the average windows user?

- Joe Geretz -

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

I agree, it shouldn't have happened. As it did and there is no guarantee it
won't happen again why not just change autoupdate to notify you instead of
download and install? You do have options.

DUH!!!

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

The apologists and Kool-Aid drinkers are really out in force. Oh, so now
it's *my* fault that my PC got rebooted without my express permission, since
I didn't 'read the manual'.

NO... it's YOUR responsibility to periodically save your work.

Shit happens... most of it not MS-related.

You didn't exercise proper caution. To make matters worse, you
admitted it here in your whinings.

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

The apologists and Kool-Aid drinkers are really out in force. Oh, so now
it's *my* fault that my PC got rebooted without my express permission, since
I didn't 'read the manual'.

NO... it's YOUR responsibility to periodically save your work.

Shit happens... most of it not MS-related.

You didn't exercise proper caution. To make matters worse, you
admitted it here in your whinings.

 

[Saucy Lemon]

The manual? You mean the entire MSDN and Knowledge base?

[HLLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU]
Name: NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers
Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 1

The apologists and Kool-Aid drinkers are really out in force. Oh, so
now it's *my* fault that my PC got rebooted without my express
permission, since I didn't 'read the manual'. (Even though some
posters have indicated that this isn't the way it's supposed to work.)

I guess you've gone through it all, and have every single registry key
memorized. It sounds like that's the level of proficiency you demand
from the average windows user?

- Joe Geretz -

Read the Manual.

If you don't want Windows to install the updates until you want them
installed, why do't you set it so that Windows will download the
updates but not intall them until you tell it to. It's a setting you
can select under the Automatic Updates tab in the System applet.

No, just the wording on the Automatic Updates tab.

 

[Saucy Lemon]

P.S. Sorry, I don't intend to sound short. I shot my RTM comment off too
soon. I realize it is tough to figure out everything that goes on with the
bloody thing.

For people who leave work open or depend on some sort of stream or long
downloads etc, you can adjust Automatic Updates so it will not interfere.

Right-click on "My Computer" and select Properties. The System applet should
open. Go to the "Automatic Updates" tab and make any adjustment you feel are
necessary.