How To: Disable The Annoying Windows Update Restart Prompt In Windows Vista
If you have automatic updates feature turned on in Windows Vista and when your system gets updated, a nagging pop-up comes up asking for a restart. This restart pop-up will be really annoying and this nagging pop-up just doesn’t go off.This nag screen does offer you a way to get rid of it temporarily, but unfortunately it returns within minutes.Another problem is that it’s really easy to click on the wrong button and accidentally reboot the system.So it is better to disable the Windows Vista update restart nag whenever you are into something important.Here’s how to delay the automatic updates restart nag screen in Windows Vista.This can be accomplished one of three different ways.
Method 1: Using Windows Vista Command Prompt
- Open the command prompt in Windows Vista by using the path StartMenu>Run>cmd or windows key + r and type cmd and then press enter.In the opened Windows Vista command prompt now type the below mentioned code:
sc stop wuauserv
- Once you have put the above mentioned code and press enter and the Windows update service would be stopped and the nag screen will disappear.
- Windows update service will get restarted once you restart your computer hence you need not worry as your computer will keep receiving updates.
Method 2: Using Windows Vista Group Policy Editor
With a system policy setting, you can tell the Windows Update interface to not bug you for a real long time, or not at all.
- Click on Windows Vista Start -> Run.
- Type gpedit.msc and press OK.
- Navigate to:
Local Computer Policy -> Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Update.
- Right-click on “Re-prompt for restart with scheduled installations” and select Properties.
- If the status is set to Disabled or Not Configured, the default interval is 10 minutes. Set restart minutes to 1440 to nag once a day, 10080 for once a week, 20160 for once every two weeks, and so on. The icon remains in the systray as a nice reminder, but change stops the window from popping up over and over when you’re trying to get work done.
- Reboot or run gpupdate /force for the changes to take effect.
Method 3: Using Windows Vista Registry Editor
If you want to simply edit the registry manually you can do that in Windows Vista Home Edition(Because group policy editor is not available in Windows Vista Home Editions).
- Click on Windows Vista “Start” | “Run” | type in “regedit”
- Navigate to the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU
- Create 3 new DWORD values as follows:
NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers, Value = 1
RebootRelaunchTimeout, Value = 5a0 (that’s a zero, not the letter O)
RebootRelaunchTimeoutEnabled, Value = 1
- Close Regedit and restart your computer.
Alternate Method:
Download, extract, and double-click on DisableAutomaticReboot.reg to merge the registry values into the Windows registry and thus you can easily disable the automatic updates restart nag screen in Windows Vista.
Disable The Annoying Windows Update Restart Prompt
Warning: Modifying the Windows registry can cause serious damage to your Windows Operating System.It is better to backup your Windows registry data before making any changes. Tomstricks.com is not responsible for any changes you may make to your system.
Popularity: 4%
Did You Like This Post? Then You Might Find These Also Interesting:
Written by Tony on February 23rd, 2009 with
1 comment.
Read more articles on Vista Annoyances.
#1. March 7th, 2009, at 12:39 AM.
Max restart time in GPE can be to 1440, tried this with Vista SP1 and it wouldn’t allow me to type in higher number.