Automatic restarts ... kinda rude

I came to my computer this morning to discover that it had restarted during
the night, as a result of an automatic update that required a restart (it
informed me very nicely about this). As it happened, I had documents open,
which I had deliberately left in an unsaved state.

In this case, it wasn't a huge deal, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who
actually trusts in the reliability of Windows enough to leave unsaved work
when I walk away from my computer. Looking at the Automatic Update settings
in Control Panel, I don't see anything in the settings that indicates my
computer might restart without requiring my permission.... or that it would
force a restart even when the open programs throw up their "Save Document?"
dialogue boxes.

I think the automatic restart should halt when it encounters a program that
tries to halt the restart process, or it should at least have a setting that
allows the user to specify whether or not such a forced restart will be
allowed. At the very minimum, we should have been informed that this
behaviour exists.

MMB wrote:
> I came to my computer this morning to discover that it had restarted
> during the night, as a result of an automatic update that required a
> restart (it informed me very nicely about this).

Change autoupdate so it downloads & prompts, but does not automatically
install anything.

> As it happened, I
> had documents open, which I had deliberately left in an unsaved state.

I wouldn't ever leave unsaved documents open. What if you had a power
failure?

>
> In this case, it wasn't a huge deal, but I'm sure I'm not the only
> one who actually trusts in the reliability of Windows enough to leave
> unsaved work when I walk away from my computer. Looking at the
> Automatic Update settings in Control Panel, I don't see anything in
> the settings that indicates my computer might restart without
> requiring my permission.... or that it would force a restart even
> when the open programs throw up their "Save Document?" dialogue boxes.
>
> I think the automatic restart should halt when it encounters a
> program that tries to halt the restart process, or it should at least
> have a setting that allows the user to specify whether or not such a
> forced restart will be allowed. At the very minimum, we should have
> been informed that this behaviour exists.

Fair enough. For myself, I like the updates to install automatically; I just
wasn't expecting them to force a restart of my computer automatically.

The unsaved documents were not Word documents, or anything like that. I
keep notes to myself in Notepad -- quick reminders, etc., and it would be
overkill to save all of these 3-line documents all the time. I never worry
about power failures, since my computer is a laptop with plenty of battery
time to see me through any power failure.

Anyway... I guess I'm the exception to the rule. Now that I know this
behaviour exists, I'll be more wary of leaving my unsaved Notepad windows
open overnight.

Thanks for your quick reply.

"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]" wrote:

> MMB wrote:
> > I came to my computer this morning to discover that it had restarted
> > during the night, as a result of an automatic update that required a
> > restart (it informed me very nicely about this).
>
> Change autoupdate so it downloads & prompts, but does not automatically
> install anything.
>
> > As it happened, I
> > had documents open, which I had deliberately left in an unsaved state.
>
> I wouldn't ever leave unsaved documents open. What if you had a power
> failure?
>
> >
> > In this case, it wasn't a huge deal, but I'm sure I'm not the only
> > one who actually trusts in the reliability of Windows enough to leave
> > unsaved work when I walk away from my computer. Looking at the
> > Automatic Update settings in Control Panel, I don't see anything in
> > the settings that indicates my computer might restart without
> > requiring my permission.... or that it would force a restart even
> > when the open programs throw up their "Save Document?" dialogue boxes.
> >
> > I think the automatic restart should halt when it encounters a
> > program that tries to halt the restart process, or it should at least
> > have a setting that allows the user to specify whether or not such a
> > forced restart will be allowed. At the very minimum, we should have
> > been informed that this behaviour exists.
>
>
>

MMB wrote:

> Fair enough. For myself, I like the updates to install automatically; I just
> wasn't expecting them to force a restart of my computer automatically.
>
> The unsaved documents were not Word documents, or anything like that. I
> keep notes to myself in Notepad -- quick reminders, etc., and it would be
> overkill to save all of these 3-line documents all the time. I never worry
> about power failures, since my computer is a laptop with plenty of battery
> time to see me through any power failure.
>
> Anyway... I guess I'm the exception to the rule. Now that I know this
> behaviour exists, I'll be more wary of leaving my unsaved Notepad windows
> open overnight.
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\Win dows\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/WinSe.../Internal/SUS/

(should apply to Automatic Updates as well as SUS)

Note that this setting is available as a Group Policy configuration
for those running Active Directory.



--
torgeir, Microsoft MVP Scripting and WMI, Porsgrunn Norway
Administration scripting examples and an ONLINE version of
the 1328 page Scripting Guide:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scr...r/default.mspx

Thanks, Torgeir. That's exactly what I needed.

"Torgeir Bakken (MVP)" wrote:

> MMB wrote:
>
> > Fair enough. For myself, I like the updates to install automatically; I just
> > wasn't expecting them to force a restart of my computer automatically.
> >
> > The unsaved documents were not Word documents, or anything like that. I
> > keep notes to myself in Notepad -- quick reminders, etc., and it would be
> > overkill to save all of these 3-line documents all the time. I never worry
> > about power failures, since my computer is a laptop with plenty of battery
> > time to see me through any power failure.
> >
> > Anyway... I guess I'm the exception to the rule. Now that I know this
> > behaviour exists, I'll be more wary of leaving my unsaved Notepad windows
> > open overnight.
> 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\Win dows\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/WinSe.../Internal/SUS/
>
> (should apply to Automatic Updates as well as SUS)
>
> Note that this setting is available as a Group Policy configuration
> for those running Active Directory.
>
>
>
> --
> torgeir, Microsoft MVP Scripting and WMI, Porsgrunn Norway
> Administration scripting examples and an ONLINE version of
> the 1328 page Scripting Guide:
> http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scr...r/default.mspx
>