Saturday, December 9, 2023 – How to set up a new Windows PC (the right way) – Prevent Windows Update from restarting your PC while you’re working

Prevent Windows Update from restarting your PC while you’re working

Does your Windows PC love to automatically restart at random times in order to install the latest round of Windows Updates?

Yeah, mine does too. And to make matters even worse, it really seems to enjoy doing it while I’m working.

Luckily, Microsoft provides a setting that allows you to tell Windows not to restart your PC during certain hours of the day.

This handy setting is called “Active Hours” and it’s really easy to set up. Just follow the steps below for your Windows version.

If your PC is running Windows 11:

1 – Click the Start button and immediately start typing the words update settings, then select Windows Update settings after it appears in the list of search results.

2 – In the right-hand pane, scroll down to the “More options” section and click Advanced options.

3 – Click Active hours.

4 – Change the “Adjust active hours” setting to Manually.

5 – Select a Start time for the period of time during which you don’t want Windows to restart your computer. This would typically be the time you usually start using your computer for the day.

6 – Select an End time for your active hours session. This would typically be the time you usually stop using your computer for the day.

7 – Click the X in the top-right corner of the Settings app to close it.

If your PC is running Windows 10:

1 – Click the Start button and immediately start typing the word updates, then select Windows Update settings after it appears in the list of search results.

2 – In the right-hand pane, click Change active hours.

3 – Toggle the “Automatically adjust active hours on this device based on activity” setting to Off, then click the Change link on the next line.

4 – Select a Start time for the period of time during which you don’t want Windows to restart your computer. This would typically be the time you usually start using your computer for the day.

5 – Select an End time for your active hours session. This would typically be the time you usually stop using your computer for the day.

6 – Click the Save button.

7 – Click the X in the top-right corner of the Settings app to close it.

That’s all there is to it. Windows will no longer automatically restart your PC during the time period you selected.

Instead, it will wait until your active hours are over to restart the machine and install the pending updates.