Windows 7 Updates auto restart without notice
Usually Windows is OK about notifying you but for this last update I had 5 different people all call me VERY upset that they had lost important work because Windows Updates just hijacked their computer and started installing and then restarted WITHOUT NOTICE. I like the Auto install feature to ensure that updates aren't missed but really???? Why does Microsoft have to act like the very thing it is trying to prevent and take over your computer without your permission. At the very least if there is a user logged in their should be a window that REQUIRES a "yes" click before an auto-restart is performed. I have a solution to prevent this (below) but really it SHOULD be by default for everyone, not requiring specific knowledge of a policy to be set. My father has now lost part of his book he was writing (in Word) that he will never get back because of Microsoft's hijacking. I have the Group Policy Set "No auto restarts when users are logged in" but I am running Windows 7 Professional and it isn't so easy with the other versions. For those who don't have Windows 7 Pro/Ultimate to run gpedit.msc - Computer Config-Admin templates-Windows Components-Windows Update you can use the following - save in Notepad and rename to a something.reg file and double click. Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU] "NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers"=dword:00000001 "AutoInstallMinorUpdates"=dword:00000001lforbes
August 12th, 2010 8:52pm

Hi lforbes, I am sorry to hear about the inconvenience you have encountered with Windows Update. Windows Update will remind you if you need to restart your PC to continue installing an update and give you the opportunity to "restart now" or give you the option to postpone the restart. If you're away from your PC for an extended period of time, you may find that it will automatically restart your PC. Windows does this to help make sure all the latest security and other updates are applied in a timely manner, to help keep your PC more secure with little effort for you. If you're a system administrator and want to control restart behavior, you can use group policy to prevent automatic restarts from occurring anytime an administrator is logged on. Also, you can change how Windows Update installed the updates. To do so: 1. Go to Control Panel -> All Control Panel Items -> Windows Update -> Change settings (on the left pane). 2. Change the Windows Update settings to "Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them". 3. Click OK. For more information, please refer to: Windows Update Frequently Asked Questions Change how Windows installs or notifies you about updates Regarding the lost Word files, you can refer to the following knowledge base (KB) articles and see if the file can be recovered: How to recover a lost file in Word 2007 or in Word 2003 How to recover a lost Word document File Recovery For more information about the Word file recovery issue, you can contact Microsoft Office Support directly. Regards, Linda Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread. ”
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
August 16th, 2010 10:50am

Windows just restarted my machine without permission, and yes, I lost some work. THIS IS STUPID. The OS should not force a restart without my permission.
April 15th, 2011 12:30pm

Check your settings in Control Panel > Windows Update. SC Tom
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
April 15th, 2011 7:17pm

The fact of the matter is that this should never happen. Forcing a restart, without allowing the user to save opened work, is not acceptable behavior for an operating system. Yet another Microsoft "lets leave everything on regardless of the affect it will have because we know better than our users" attitude.
May 12th, 2011 10:33am

Oh, I see, it is a feature, not a bug.. Guys (and Linda Yan), you can't be serious, "yes, it restarts because it is very important to install security updates". I really liked Windows 7 but today was the SECOND time that I lost very important work and almost 1 hour work. It also happened to at least 2 of my friends in the recent months. Yes, I left my computer: sorry to not to watch it every minutes, sorry to have a dinner. Yes, I should have changed this option at Control Panel, but why is it the default option? Many people don't even know what Control Panel is. Who was the programmer who invented this? I really hope he doesn't work at Microsoft anymore. How could you possibly think that installing security updates is more important that saving important work? What kind of sick idea is to restart an operating system without permission? I can think of much worse situations than mine was now. Some people even can lost his job because of this.
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
July 1st, 2011 5:30pm

This topic is archived. No further replies will be accepted.

Other recent topics Other recent topics