forced reboot

last night my xp system was forced to reboot by windows update while i had
it running a long data collection procedure. what determines that an update
is so important that it can't wait for a person to acknowledge the reboot
message? and it setting windows update to download but not install enough
to stop it?

Dave,

You're not alone, I've seen others who posted to one or the
newsgroup with the same or similar issues.

My opinion on this is to "turn Automatic Updates completely off".
I make it a habit to regularly watch one or more newsgroups
and newsletters for any Patch Tuesday or OOB updates.

When I'm am ready then I make an Image Backup prior to
installing any Microsoft or other software updates. Then I
do the update process when and only when I'm ready.

--
JS
http://www.pagestart.com



"Dave" <> wrote in message
news:...
> last night my xp system was forced to reboot by windows update while i had
> it running a long data collection procedure. what determines that an
> update is so important that it can't wait for a person to acknowledge the
> reboot message? and it setting windows update to download but not install
> enough to stop it?
>

Well, it could have been this update:
http://blogs.technet.com/mu/archive/...ws-update.aspx

More:

Microsoft Update Product Team Blog: Windows Update and Automatic Reboots:
http://blogs.technet.com/mu/archive/...c-reboots.aspx

Tip: Instead of disabling Automatic Updates, configure it such that you'll
know when updates are ready to be installed.

Automatic Updates in Vista
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/dow...dowsvista.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pro...owsupdate.mspx

=> Excellent Vista tutorial:
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tuto...torial140.html

How to configure and use Automatic Updates in WinXP:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306525

How to schedule automatic updates in WinXP, Win2K and Win2K03
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/327838
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Client - since 2002
www.banthecheck.com


Dave wrote:
> last night my xp system was forced to reboot by windows update while i had
> it running a long data collection procedure. what determines that an
> update
> is so important that it can't wait for a person to acknowledge the reboot
> message? and it setting windows update to download but not install enough
> to stop it?

PA Bear [MS MVP] wrote:

> Well, it could have been this update:
> http://blogs.technet.com/mu/archive/...ws-update.aspx

Maybe so, but that shouldn't have caused a reboot.

Dave: I'm not sure what you meant about the "download but not install" setting.
Were you already using this setting? Or did you just want to know if changing
to this setting would prevent this from happening again?

If the latter, the answer is - or at least should be - yes.

If the former, that shouldn't have happened. There's a file named
windowsupdate.log, usually found in C:\windows, that should show us what was
happening - if the log is too big to conveniently post all of it, just include
the part of it from yesterday and today.

Also, is this a home machine, or is it part of a corporate network?

Harry.

>
>
> More:
>
> Microsoft Update Product Team Blog: Windows Update and Automatic Reboots:
> http://blogs.technet.com/mu/archive/...c-reboots.aspx
>
>
> Tip: Instead of disabling Automatic Updates, configure it such that
> you'll know when updates are ready to be installed.
>
> Automatic Updates in Vista
> http://www.microsoft.com/windows/dow...dowsvista.mspx
>
> http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pro...owsupdate.mspx
>
>
> => Excellent Vista tutorial:
> http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tuto...torial140.html
>
> How to configure and use Automatic Updates in WinXP:
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306525
>
> How to schedule automatic updates in WinXP, Win2K and Win2K03
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/327838

Harry Johnston [MVP] wrote:
> PA Bear [MS MVP] wrote:
>
>> Well, it could have been this update:
>> http://blogs.technet.com/mu/archive/...ws-update.aspx
>
> Maybe so, but that shouldn't have caused a reboot.
<snip>

Yes, that's why I said "could have been..." <w> But "might possibly have
been" would have been better.