Restart Machine After Updates!

[Arpan]

I am working on WinXP Pro. A irritating feature in XP is that after it downloads all the necessary updates & installs them successfully, a dialog box pops-up asking the user to either "Restart Now" or "Restart Later". If the latter option is chosen, the same dialog box comes up persistently until the machine is restarted. Is there some way by which I can stop this highly exasperating dialog box from coming up again & again when the "Restart Later" option is chosen?

Thanks,

Arpan

 

[Torgeir Bakken \(MVP\)]

I am working on WinXP Pro. A irritating feature in XP is that
after it downloads all the necessary updates & installs them
successfully, a dialog box pops-up asking the user to either
"Restart Now" or "Restart Later". If the latter option is chosen,
the same dialog box comes up persistently until the machine is
restarted. Is there some way by which I can stop this highly
exasperating dialog box from coming up again & again when the
"Restart Later" option is chosen?

Hi

I don't think so. Instead of pressing the "Restart Later", why not
just push the dialog box "off" screen?

 

[Harry Ohrn]

Why do you not want to restart the computer after you update? Not restarting
could cause system instability.

--

Harry Ohrn MS-MVP [Shell/User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp


I am working on WinXP Pro. A irritating feature in XP is that after it
downloads all the necessary updates & installs them successfully, a dialog
box pops-up asking the user to either "Restart Now" or "Restart Later". If
the latter option is chosen, the same dialog box comes up persistently until
the machine is restarted. Is there some way by which I can stop this highly
exasperating dialog box from coming up again & again when the "Restart
Later" option is chosen?

Thanks,

Arpan

 

[Alex Nichol]

I am working on WinXP Pro. A irritating feature in XP is that after it downloads all the necessary updates & installs them successfully, a dialog box pops-up asking the user to either "Restart Now" or "Restart Later". If the latter option is chosen, the same dialog box comes up persistently until the machine is restarted. Is there some way by which I can stop this highly exasperating dialog box from coming up again & again when the "Restart Later" option is chosen?

Those messages are one for each individual update. In general if you
have a mix of updates to the system you should get one into place before
doing the next, even if it means restarting a lot. Otherwise there is a
danger of getting them at cross purposes.

Better to get SP2 installed; first that will do the lot in one go;
second, it brings with it an improved means of handling the matters, so
that the final updating is done when next you restart in the ordinary
way (not though an invitation to put it off indefinitely)

 

[Guest]

Why do you not want to restart the computer after you update? Not restarting
could cause system instability.

Why would you not want to reboot right away? In my case I was running a
forward model on my workstation that takes 7 days to run. I was on day 6
when I walked away from my computer to get a coffee only to come back and
find out that XP decided that since I didn't answer the "Restart Now or
Later" question, it should take it upon itself to reboot automatically. Now
thanks to this brilliant piece of technology I've lost 6 days of compute
time. Thanks a lot Microsoft!

If I wanted an OS to make critical decisions without my input, I would have
purchased a MAC.

Rob

 

[Guest]

Why do you not want to restart the computer after you update? Not restarting
could cause system instability.

Why would someone not want to reboot right away? In my case, I was on the
6th day of processing on a forward model that takes 7 days to run on my
workstation. I had been putting up with the "Restart Now" or "Restart Later"
dialog for nearly a day when I walked away from my computer to grab a coffee.
I came back to find out that since I wasn't there to answer the question,
Windows XP took it upon itself to decide for me and reboot the computer. Can
you image how thrilled I am to have lost 6 days of compute time?

If I wanted an OS to make critical decisions without my input, I would have
purchased a MAC.

Rob

 

[Guest]

Those messages are one for each individual update.

No they are NOT. They are persistent reminders that you've recently updated
your machine and should reboot. If you choose "Later", it will pester you
until you reboot. FYI, I'm getting those irritating messages from post SP2
updates. Furthermore, if you postpone it for long enough it will eventually
choose "Restart Now" if you aren't there to click "Restart Later". This is a
design flaw and needs to be addressed. Maybe the average home user doesn't
mind the OS making executive decisions when it comes to reboots but I lost 6
days of compute time thanks to this brilliant "feature".

Rob

 

[Guest]

I don't think so. Instead of pressing the "Restart Later", why not
just push the dialog box "off" screen?

Because it will eventually think that you aren't around to choose and will
decide to reboot for you (losing all of your work in the process).

 

[Bob I]

Are you saying that you run jobs that require 7 days of uninterupted
time AFTER loading updates knowing that a reboot is pending?!?!?!?!?!?

 

[Guest]

Are you saying that you run jobs that require 7 days of uninterupted
time AFTER loading updates knowing that a reboot is pending?!?!?!?!?!?

Of course not!

 

[Harry Ohrn]

Some updates will let you get away with rebooting later but some will cause
system instability until you reboot. With all due respect why not save what
you are working on, reboot and then go back to work? You could also schedule
autoupdates to occur at times when you are not working on the computer. It
makes far more sense, if you want your system to run as stable as possible,
to not be multitasking while installing critical updates. I often wonder how
many user created problems we see in these groups that are directly related
to people refusing to update their systems correctly.

 

[Torgeir Bakken \(MVP\)]

Because it will eventually think that you aren't around to choose and
will decide to reboot for you (losing all of your work in the process).

Hi

The registry setting below should disable the 5 minute countdown timer
(to automatic reboot). Create a text file with file extension .reg
and put the text below in it.

------------------ Start registry file -------------------
REGEDIT4


[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU]
"NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers"=dword:00000001


------------------ End registry file -------------------

Applies to both Win2k and WinXP.

For more information, see "Summary of behavior for
NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers registry key settings" here:

http://winservices.web.cern.ch/WinServices/docs/Internal/SUS/

(should apply to Automatic Updates as well as SUS)