Rimantas
Great. Right now I have one like this jumping up from time to time. Stupid thing indeed.
Great. Right now I have one like this jumping up from time to time. Stupid thing indeed.
As a network admin, I’m happy that my users CAN’T turn it off. They would never reboot their PC’s when I needed it. I think there’s a GPO that allows you set the reminder frequency though.
Surely, SURELY this reboot could be scheduled at a more convenient time? Couldn’t it happen late at night? Or, couldn’t the dialog wait for a period of significant inactivity and then trigger the reboot?
I just refuse to believe that popping up a dialog every 10 minutes-- interrupting whatever I am doing on the computer at that time-- is a rational way to deal with a required reboot.
Unbelievably, I was going to post about this exact same annoying thing today.
Anyway the way to disable it is to stop the “Automatic Updates” service. Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Services… After the service is stopped, the nag message stops, too. Then you can reboot when you have time. The service will restart when you reboot.
Exactly five seconds after I read you message I saw this message for the first time, only it didn’t give me the Restart Later, it gave me 5 minutes and then it forcibly restarted my computer.
Arrgh!!
I’ve learned to live with this dialog box, however annoying it might be. I just push it to one side of the screen so that it’s practically invisible. It seems so much milder than the restart dialog box that one used to get with IE5 (I haven’t installed IE ever since so I am not sure if you still get the same) - once the browser was installed, it would simply say that the computer was being restarted, and ‘boom’ it would do so. At least there is a choice ‘restart later’ in this dialog box.
Me too: http://jameskew.blogspot.com/2005/03/i-told-you-already.html
“Restart later” means “I’ll restart when I feel like it”, not “ask me again in 10 minutes”.
As Ole Eichhorn points out you can kill the dialog by stopping the service. I personally use the command line “sc stop wuauserv” rather than the gui, but its the same thing.
Actually, what you should do is select the option “download updates for me, but let me select when to run them” in the settings for the automatic updates.
As soon as updates are available, you will see a yellow icon in the “tray” and as long as you don’t click on it, nothing will happen.
When you’re ready, just click on it 
More often than not, the restart won’t even be necessary.
Brian –
They would never reboot their PC’s when
I needed it
Come on, get real! Within a corporate LAN (which I assume you are talking about) you should have other security measures in place such that an IMMEDIATE reboot of an XP box is not a necessity.
My 2 cts.
J.
Sadly, disabling that reminder as per dave’s tip above results in nothing but the reminder popping up as regularly as it did before. One might expect this from the description of the setting:
“If the status is set to Disabled or Not Configured, the default interval is 10 minutes.”
Therefore you can only enable the setting with a long wait time to get rid of the pop up, or disable the service as above, or just not install the updates until you’re good and ready, which is likely to be when you shut down, in my experience.
1 reply
Are you sure? I remember reading that the service had to be restarted for this setting to take effect.
At any rate, I’m happy with the “disable service” method for now; the service will just come back after the next reboot anyway, since it’s set to start automatically.
Here is the proper solution that disables the annoying dialog without disabling the automatic update services or anything. It’s a group policy setting. Thanks to Spoom - http://www.xiven.com/weblog/2004/05/01/WeHaveWaysOfMakingYouRestartYourComputer
Start - Run - gpedit.msc - Local Computer Policy - Computer Configuration - Administrative Templates - Windows Components - Windows Update - Re-prompt for restart with scheduled installations.
You can disable the reminder entirely, or adjust the frequency of the pop up.
Maybe, Microsoft could add a snooze option. Where we would enter the number of minutes for the next reminder. Maybe a max value of 24 hours.
You also need to enable Configure Automatic Updates for most of this stuff to work.
The problem with my wife’s notebook is that even after restarting multiple times, the pop-up still comes up (a bug). BTW, I didn’t find anything about it on MS Premier.
I found I didn’t have the “Windows Update” folder that dave referred to in Spoom’s solution. ARGHH! Anyhow, I’ve taken Ian’s solution and a created a shortcut around it. Right click on the desktop, select New…Shortcut, complete the wizard, and you’ll have a desktop restart killer (I’m still in the experimental phase, so I don’t know if the underlying idea works. I will greatly appreciate it if it does).
Thanks a LOT Dave. It worked at 100%.
Actually in the same area in the Group Policy, enable the setting for “No automatic Restart for scheduled automatic updates” also. Corporate Lan users aside, I don’t want my (net admin)computer annoying me w/ the pop-up, nor do I want some of the computers acting as low-level servers rebooting during the middle of an overnight process.
Dear friend,
Microsoft has a very annoying dialog box about rebooting when Windows update has downloaded and installed a patch that requires a reboot. Somebody there thought it would be a good idea to annoy the user every 10 minutes until they rebooted or bought a Macintosh. You can help fix this sorry state of affairs. Please send the following message to mswish@microsoft.com with the
subject line “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to reboot any more”.
Dave gave us the solution, let’s use it
I tried it, it works. So, can we just do the solution and keep it at the end so that the next person who tries to find out how to stop this damn thing can find it?
Dave said:
Here is the proper solution that disables the annoying dialog without disabling the automatic update services or anything. It’s a group policy setting. Thanks to Spoom - http://www.xiven.com/weblog/2004/05/01/WeHaveWaysOfMakingYouRestartYourComputer
Start - Run - gpedit.msc - Local Computer Policy - Computer Configuration - Administrative Templates - Windows Components - Windows Update - Re-prompt for restart with scheduled installations.
You can disable the reminder entirely, or adjust the frequency of the pop up.
Posted by: dave at June 15, 2005 10:33 AM
In that xiven page, there is a comment for how to do it on XP Home, which doesn’t have Group Policy Editor. You just add a couple of new registry entries via the supplied 3 .reg file lines (or you can do it manually with regedit).
…
Badge (2005-08-15 18:20:18 UTC)
For the guy with Windows XP Home…
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU]
"RebootRelaunchTimeoutEnabled"=dword:00000000
"NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers"=dword:00000001
Thanks for that guys,
I don’t mind the fact that it nags me every ten mins, the thing that bugs me is I go to bed at night and wake up to a rebooted computer. The worst thing about that is I can have up to 30 programs running and when I start up again I can’t remember what in the world I was doing.
Why don’t you just drag the dialog box to the bottom-right corner of the screen, so that just one pixel of its top-left corner is visible ? It will not popup again or bother you. So simple…
Clever would also suggest that you should just turn your stereo up louder to drown out the bad sounds your engine is making.
Useless. Focus (/VB) shifts to that window every 10 minutes. I had my typing interrupted every 10 minutes even when I never minimized it.
Or we could just run ‘cmd’ and ‘sc stop wuauserv’.
_
Ok the solution was posted above but I’ve noticed a problem.
Here’s the solution for thoes of you who didn’t read it :
Start - Run - gpedit.msc - Local Computer Policy - Computer Configuration - Administrative Templates - Windows Components - Windows Update - Re-prompt for restart with scheduled installations.
The problem is if you click ‘disable’ or ‘not configured’ the popup keeps comming up every 10 mins. this is mentioned in the Microsoft explaination :
“If the status is set to Disabled or Not Configured, the default interval is 10 minutes.”
So you actually have to enable it and just set the interval of when it asks you to reboot really high.
i have an app called TrayIt ( http://www.teamcti.com/trayit/trayit.htm )
when the “reboot now?” window pops up, i just right click the close button at the top right (which is greyed out, but trayit still does its job), and trayit puts the window into the system tray, where it sits until i click its icon
andy–
Not sure if this will work, but my IT admin just told me to:
Control Panel - Automatic Updates - select “Download update for me, but let me chose when to install them.”
The pop-up window that I get has a countdown timer on it that ends after about 5 minutes with a restart, so I don’t think the “drag the dialog box to the side” will work for me.
Like “Me” above, I went to lunch with scores of document open and returned to a restarted computer.
I had the “magic restarting wipe of doom” happen precisely once, and once was enough. Anyone, including MickeySoft, who thinks it is acceptable to trigger a remote operation that results in core system changes, followed by a forced restart, is out of their tree! Hours of work gone! And the EULA says M$ are without blame, unlike any Open Source writer, who would be pilloried across the web.
Here’s the solution for thoes of you who didn’t read it :
Start - Run - gpedit.msc - Local Computer Policy - Computer Configuration - Administrative Templates - Windows Components - Windows Update - Re-prompt for restart with scheduled installations. set = 1440
Jesus Christ,
I’ve never seen so many idiotic rants. Yes this popup “bugs” the hell out of us, but MS make BUGGY software. Why don’t you all format and install Ubuntu or FreeBSD!
Did NO ONE, apart from Aaron (the only one this message isn’t targeted at), look at the options available in Start - Run - gpedit.msc - Local Computer Policy - Computer Configuration - Administrative Templates - Windows Components - Windows Update???
I did a Google, found this thread, went to the link Dave gave us, opened up Windows Update in gpedit.msc, looked at everything there and turned off that stupid default “Install Updates and Shut Down” as well.
Thank God for Aaron, I apologise Aaron for adding a post after yours, but this was just too silly to ignore! So I’ve added it after this rant post of mine again.
Aaron Wrote:
How to disable the restart prompt completely (rather than put it off for a long time):
Start - Run - gpedit.msc - Local Computer Policy - Computer Configuration - Administrative Templates - Windows Components - Windows Update - No auto-restart for schedule Automatic Updates installations (ENABLE)
Wow, I see that the whole automatic update reboot nagware thing is making some of you justifiably cranky
I’m going to update the original post with the great tips you guys provided!
Raaabo… XP Home doesn’t have a group policy editor. That solution is only for XP Pro users. Considering that XP Home is the single most popular personal computer operating system in the history of the world, your outrage seems misplaced.
I was so annoyed by this auto update issue that I made a web site: http://evilupdate.com
I have the methods for stopping the service, and for disabling restart reminders.
And a little humor as well. Enjoy,
Stephen
wow, wow, wow.
lets see here, does “auto restart” mean the same thing as “prompt” to you MORONS? they are two different settings. i’m not going to explain them because if u just think about the NAMES of the settings they explain themselves. computers are not foreign nor arbitrary, they are made by people, many of whom actually have common sense, unlike you people…oh and if u cant stand the reminder coming up every 24 hrs (1440 mins) then u need to get counseling.
wicked stuff!
i just blogged about this… but a kind commenter sent me your way. (cheeers to http://weblogs.asp.net/jnadal)
Having a pop up is a little annoying. But my first experience of it was setting a 3-day data processing task going and then going out of town for a week. I returned to find my computer had re-booted a few minutes after going out the door!
If the pop-up had conveyed ‘restart later’ wasn’t the usual ‘I will restart later’, or there was a third option for manual restart, I wouldn’t have lost an important client.
You’d think when the clever guys at MS put in an option to force a reboot of an unattended computer, such a possibility would have been clear.
“Raaabo… XP Home doesn’t have a group policy editor. That solution is only for XP Pro users. Considering that XP Home is the single most popular personal computer operating system in the history of the world, your outrage seems misplaced. - slimy”
Really? You mean XP Home actually sold more than XP Pro?? Any idea on the stats of the most popular “free” XP version 
Since those “free” users make up a majority of the comp users worldwide!
Anyway, I need an XP Home volunteer to try something out… Remember, I know nothing and I might cause you to have to format and reinstall Windows, so don’t flame me if you screw up your system doing what I say…
I would do this myself to test it but I cannot find an XP Home CD anywhere… paid OR “free”:
Open the registry editor… Navigate to :
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\
See if a folder called AU exists. If it doesn’t, create one: New Key AU
Now Create the following inside this folder:
DWORD Value: NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers | Hexadecimal value 1
DWORD Value: RebootRelaunchTimeout | Hexadecimal value b4
DWORD Value: RebootRelaunchTimeoutEnabled | Hexadecimal value 1
If someone with XP Home, time to kill and no important data could verify whether this works or not, I’d be eternally grateful!
Thanks,
Raaabo
my problem was odd, I’m running XP pro under an admin acount, well the admin account, byt gpedit.msc doesn’t work on this computer. I get an error about not having the right privillages. XP pro doesn’t have the same registry entries that home does so I couldn’t do that. the CMD command does work though, thank you for whoever thought of that and mentioned it.
THANKS!!
so glad i found this… so annoying.
Thanks for the great tips. Not only do I get the annoying popup box that asks if I want to reboot, but just as I was about to leave my PC unattended a box popped up with a countdown timer set to something like 3 minutes; had I not clicked on ‘reboot later’ it would’ve taken the liberty to do so and trashed hours of work. Who thought this one out at Microsoft? Shame on you.
My question is, will your fixes take care of the popups even if you manually run updates on the MS website and install them? I’ve disabled the service and so far it seems to have done the trick. Looking at the values in the GPE, they all refer to ‘scheduled’ and ‘automatic’ updates, I wonder if they also work with manually initiated ones.
Thanks.
Bill Gates knows what you want.
Listen to Bill Gates.
He is your friend.
Trust him.
Do what he wants.
Be one with Windows.
@Raabo: Apparantly it doesn’t work in Win XP Home, it displays the message every 10 minutes, and the only way to stop it is to kill the service.
The easiest and fastest way to stop the nag until YOU reboot is to select “Start”, “Run”, copy and paste this in: net stop wuauserv
Select “OK”
That was imbedded in the update http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000294.html near the bottom of method #1 and is what is referred to as the “command line”.
Apparently I got a non-genuine copy of XP.I wasn’t able to activate windows. There is a way to dis-able the windows update so I can continue to use it in my home computer? after allm I paid for the software
genius - thankyou very much
Thank you Thank you Thank you to all who were helpful here 
Stupid thing kept popping up asking to restart now or restart later with a 5 minute timer set to restart automatically. Pushing the window to the side would have been like moving a time bomb from the lunch room to the basement, its still going to go off. Solution 1 worked for me, by stopping the service. Then I went to start control panel security settings manage security settings for: automatic updates Download updates for me, but let me choose when to install them.
There, fixed forever!
I cannot thank you folks enough for this information. Like at least one other poster here, I once had my computer rebooted by this appalling “feature” while I was away and couldn’t prevent it from happening. You’ve saved me, and probably some of my loved ones, from yet another Winblows-inspired rage.
thank god for this!
drives me nuts!
now if they would only get rid of that icon that creates a new folder right next to the go up a level button… i would be happy.
I just disabled that damn Windows Update. I can go to the stupid website if I want anything. They can’t pawn shit off on me anymore now.
THANKS Jeff, I lost hours of research in open how to coding windows when I had to rush to the hospital for a family emergency and came home to find the “horror” after the horrer yet again!!!
Never to be repeated - thanks to you - YOU ROCK!!!
Thanks man, You saved me 6 hours of video encoding!
Thanks for the tip! That dialog box is real annoyance!
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.
If you combine this evil popup with the ‘Smart Move’ mouse motion option it’s even worse - as the popup has ‘restart’ as the default button. If you are unfortunate enough to click just at the moment that the reminder pops up you get restarted without even meaning it.
Again, thanks for this, straight forward clicky click!
Apparently my software is not genuine. I bought my computer new off Ebay and it came pre installed with windows XP Pro. Just a few days ago after an innocent update I now get a splash screen that I am not genuine and go here to buy a key for $199. I reformatted my whole drive and from my back up external drive restored my hard drive the way it was just before I got zapped with that “You are not genuine nonsense”
However, I now keep getting this thing to install the same update. For some reason, even though I am the administrator of my computer I can not cancel automatic updates…its all in grey and not set up to change. I followed the instructions from this site, and I still get that icon in the tray to install that dumb update which I believe is only the first step from “timing” one out, if you don’t buy it in a certain time.
Big qestion is …How do I stop these automatic updates in windows XP Pro, when I can’t seem to be able to shut it off in the normal way.
Thanks
Phone up customer support and tell them your story. They may well give you a new gunuine key. I know several people who they have done that too. Worth a shot.
Hi, is there anyway that or any service that we can stop working in order not to receive this message! without calling MS ! I just tried and I have been told I need to pay $149 and buy the license!! I have already paid alot on Ebay for this laptop!
Thanks
Naz, we’re talking about something else. Look here for a fix to your problem (Windows Genuine Advantage notifications)…
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000597.html
… or call MS and complain that you bought it this way from some guy on eBay. Maybe if you finger the seller’s eBay account, they’ll throw you a free XP license?
THANK YOU! I want to have your babies!!!
Thankyou for posting.
Microsoft is annoying and destructive in their code.
There is in excuse for this BS!
Everyone play with linux, Mac, anything! The more of us know about alternatives, the quicker we can overthrow the the microcrap tyrant once and for all.
i’ve linked to this post. thanks for the info everyone
nice little tidbit. god bless Google for helping me find it. death to the MS engineer who put this in place.
Thanks folks. Hate it when I start a build and this thing reboots your machine.
You’ve saved my sanity. Thanks.
In middle of coding session and going mental each time that #$% thing came up.
Why did I bother buying a UPS, when I left the room for 2 minutes I came back to find the photoshop file I’d been working on for an hour disappearing.
What are microsoft thinking. I didn’t even agree to install the update.
But I DO want to disable the automatic update services. Because somehow it interfers with my D-link wireless adapter settings. (I know this sounds screwy, but it was confirmed by tech support at D-link).
Can anyone tell me how to really disable automatic update and let me choose when I want to download updates? When I go into security settings,I can not cancel automatic updates …its all in grey and not set up to change.
But unlike Naz, I have a legal version of XP (loaded with my Presario 900 that I bought retail years ago and still use).
Quote
For the guy with “Windows XP Home Edition”…
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU]
“RebootRelaunchTimeoutEnabled”=dword:00000000
"NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers"=dword:00000001
yay!
During a recent lightening storm, I went to shutdown and unplug all my computer equipment. Upon shutting down XP, I got this message, “Do Not turn off or unplug your computer. Computer will shut down automatically after install is complete. Installing update 1 of 9…” It took almost 30 minutes for all 9 updates to install!
If my eqiupment has gotten zapped while Microsoft was installing forced updates without asking me, I would have sued them!
This is the highest form of tyranny from Microsoft yet.
After i changed the re-prompt for restart time interval i did not have to reboot for the changes to take effect.
I just hit ctrl+alt+del then ended the wuauclt.exe proccess.
The process started back up, but it did not pop up the restart box again
Hi guys
When me shutdown xp, there is an option which automatic appear "install updates n shutdown"
How do delete this option from the shutdown menu?
Thanks
On my copy of Windows there was no Windows Update area under Windows Components so I just made a batch file that gets executed every time I start windows. In order to do this you must first create a new text file in the folder located at start menu - programs - startup and add “sc stop wuauserv” (without the quotes) to the file and change the extension to .bat and save it.
I just had a variation of this happen this morning. Following the first of three auto-updates, I was given the usual dialog box with the choice to “restart now” or “restart later”. However, after I elected to restart later, a more insistant dialog appeared which had a countdown timer, thermometer bar and digitial display, counting down from 5 minutes. If you were not sitting there and actively clicking the “restart later” button, the machine would reboot. I left the room for a few minutes and returned to find that the machine was rebooting, and my work was lost! All I wanted was to finish what I was doing before I packed my laptop to go. Stupid Microsoft.
Finally! This has annoyed me for so long. Maybe there really is a god …
Thanks I was looking for this, many times it has updated my computer and restarted by itself and I have lost what I was doing!
If the gpedit.msc snap-in has been whacked by the Sys Admins, then what? Suggestions?
many thanks, did both fixes, that reboot now/later thing would pop up on a timer for me… very bad for when i need to leave my computer on, thanks
Thank you!
Thank you, stupid stupid thing!!!
Thank you soooo much!!! This thing had annoyed me for months and I always forgot to turn automatic updates off until it was too late!
Oh thank God for these simple, but yet effective solutions =)
I’ve been on this computer AND on remote desktop to another computer, and BOTH have had that naggy dialog box popping up… finally it’s over!
I would like to thank you every 5 minutes!
THANK YOU!!! I’ve been battling this dialog box repeatedly for like 2 years. Who’s laughing now evil dialog box?!?
I’ve found another workable solution that doesn’t involve changing any settings. You can let Automatic Updates stay enabled. What I do is pause the process itself (wuauclt) with a program called pausep (http://www.codeproject.com/threads/pausep.asp). Once it’s paused, it stays that way until you voluntarily unpause it or reboot yourself. It’s even better than the gpedit fix because it will keep the nagging at bay for longer than 24 hours. In fact, if you could go forever without rebooting, Windows Update would not bother you ever again.
I cant believe Windows did such a horrible thing to his OP, i was working with my computer when this stupid dialoge box popped up and i accidentally clicked on restart computer losing all my WORK!!! WINDOWS IS STARTING TO SUCK!!!
THANKX FOR THIS HELP, I GOT THIS RIDICULOUS UPDATE BOX SINCE OVER A YEAR BUT NEVER CARED TO TRY TO TURN IT OFF UNTIL THIS HAPPENED TO ME
You can try the group policy editing but your computer will not apply it right away.So,either you can open a command line and type GPUPDATE.exe (The system policy will be refreshed) or if it doesn’t work try stopping the service Start–Run—services.msc ==Go to Automatic Updates and stop the service (do not disable it ,just stop).When you boot the computer,the service will restart automatically.
The system policy solution works but the issue is how long will it take to refresh and apply it .
Only a computer restart will apply the policy for sure,but remember u did not wanna restart in the first place :).GPupdate does not always work.
Thanks so much! Haaaate dialog box, evil!
I want to thank Jeff for this. There is nothing worse than leaving your PC to download some huge file or perform some other longwinded task, only to come back and find that windows has restarted itself.
I can’t beleive Microsoft let this one get out the door. That restart is the most illogical thought ever. How do you know what work you are going to destroy if I step out of the room and you get a reboot in.
Thank you Jeff so much for this fix!!!
sometimes that group policy is overriden by an automatic update.
I have had the “No auto-restart for schedule Automatic Updates installations” enabled for months and have seen it get overrided an a few occasions. 
OTOH, I’ve never seen the “Re-prompt for restart with scheduled installations” policy get overriden. 
But that policy doesn’t matter when your machine is booted while you’re away from it.
I have set these settings on two PC’s now, but it just doesn’t seem to do anything for me. When you apply those settings while the cycle of popups is actually going, should it be killed instantly by this? Or will it only take effect the next run? I’m really interested to know, because the popup is coming back still now.
To be clear, I applied these 2 settings:
I’m interested to know what other people’s experiences are.
Thanks for the great tip. I had an application going that I didn’t want to stop. But I had to be away from my computer for more than 10 minutes. Your advice to stop the automatic updates service worked perfectly. I’ll reboot when it’s more convenient for me.
i have downloaded up windows updates manulally using this
now they are installed, how do i get xp pro to auto install them on shutdown?
i have downloaded the windows updates using a program called windows updater
to find it go to google and type in to search box
windows update downloader wud
open the jcarle web site and run the windows update downloader program.
after the udates are down, how do you make xp pro install these on shutdown?
I’m running XP and there is no pgedit.msc on my machine. Guess I’m back to NO solution.