Loren Pechtel

Officially known as automatic update installation?

I have nothing against updates--I have quite a beef with it forcefully shutting down VMWare. I still don't have one of my virtual machines back.

BigLar

In all the versions of Windows I've used, they give you options, like 'install automatically' (which I don't use) and 'download but let me decide when to install", which I do use.

Is this what you're asking?

StuckInYYZ

There are also an option to stop immediate reboots... under the advanced options part of windows update. I generally update within a day or two of Patch Tuesday so that option combined with active hours works for me.

Loren Pechtel

This was outside active hours--it's just some programs don't take kindly to being forced to shut down.

StuckInYYZ

I'd set up the notification before reboots option then. I have a developer friend who has the same complaint. He complains about it constantly. Unfortunately it ends up becoming...

Me: Did you enable the notification before reboot function?
Him: No
Me: Did you set up active hours?
Him: No
Me: Did you set up a calendar event to remind you every 2nd Tuesday of the month to at least give you some warning?
Him: No
Me: So after I have been reminding you to do it all these years, why haven't you? (I don't remind him it's patch Tuesday, just remind him to set these tasks up every time he complains)
Him: Too time consuming.
Me: So spend hour(s) every month remembering what changes you've made that might not have been committed instead of the 3-5 minutes once to mitigate the problem...

I usually don't hear from him for a week after while he fumes.

thesun

Recent versions of Windows 10 (and now 11) have a pause updates feature that lets you prevent Windows Update for a period of time.

You could also write a script that checks if a pending reboot is detected, do a clean shutdown of your VM and execute the reboot. See https://stackoverflow.com/questions/...pending-reboot

COSPILOT

Upgrade to Pro, if memory serves, Pro allows complete control over updates?

StuckInYYZ

Same limitations. This topic comes up 1-2 times a year. Usually one of a few reasons...

1) Some people don't save their work (not the OP in this case) and then complain when the system reboots...
2) Some people have systems that require controlled reboots (this is where the OP fits in my opinion).
3) Some people are just lazy and don't want to have to do certain tasks (eg, another person I know constantly has 20 tabs open in their web browser and doesn't like recreating them even if their system is performing poorly).

I often tell people... doesn't matter what you use, at one point ALL systems need a reboot (yes, Mac and Linux systems too). Mitigate it and you should be fine. My devops friend for example... doesn't take my advice and then complains when it happens. I rarely lose data to patching (maybe once when I forgot to set up the notify before reboot). I used to run my personal VMs on Windows but having to worry about patching, it made more sense to rebuild the boxes on a linux system... and at one point, I'm going to go to an L1 hypervisor (like XCP-ng or Proxmox).

Loren Pechtel

The only stuff I normally have open saves fine on a forced reboot and will recover even if not saved.

Yup. The problem is I normally have some virtual machines open all the time and they don't take kindly to the forced reboot.

I'm sure I have more than that open--a non-issue, I have an extension that saves the tabs when closed.

I do agree--if it's got a processor it will need a reboot someday. (My wackiest one to date: a pair of routers connecting the networks between two cities--this before the days of VPNs. Reset one--not fixed. Reset the other--not fixed. We finally figured out that they were corrupting each other, they had to be shut down at the same time, then brought back up.) I don't mind loading updates, I do mind the surprise reboots. There's half a dozen things that have to be shut down manually to save state data.) I wouldn't mind if once the time limit is up that restart simply loaded the update. (Shutdown is another matter--on laptop systems Windows will know if it's on battery, but on desktops it won't know it's on UPS.)

StuckInYYZ

I'm assuming you're using vmware player or some variant (pro?). Maybe set it up on a linux box. Then you can avoid the host rebooting (not counting power/hardware failures) outside of your control (although I would recommend a proper reboot every few months just to ensure security patching is done). Now, if one of the VMs you're running is Windows, there's not much I can suggest to fix that other than to turn on the notification and pray. That said, I do recommend you set up a reminder for patch week if you have any important windows systems. You might not be able to patch it within a reasonable period of time, but at least you're aware of it and can hopefully perform the reboot properly.

cblaisd

https://www.wikihow.com/Turn-Off-Aut...-in-Windows-10

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-s...lly-windows-10

StuckInYYZ

I generally do not recommend some of the methods listed here. Some of them are incomplete and have a habit of re-enabling themselves randomly (as has been mentioned in the wikihow article). Additionally not applying updates tends to cause other issues, generally security vulnerabilities unless air-gapped and in some cases, people have borked their systems while mucking around the settings. I might test the gpedit solution long term one of these days to see how well it might work. (another thing to toss on the pile)

KRSW

To the OP: Build a PiHole for your network, block all of the Microsoft update servers, and enjoy life. If Windows can't download the updates, it can't update. If it can't update, it doesn't reboot.

Bite your tongue. I certainly have to reboot my Mac 2-3x a year. My Linux and BSD systems? Nope.

StuckInYYZ

Oh, I've seen the effects of all operating systems not rebooting... even Windows servers that weren't touched for three years (memory leak left the servers not rebooting and somehow disabled the monitoring agent that was supposed to prevent things like this). It's usually when something critically bad happens (all systems) and then it's whups.

Loren Pechtel

I'm not against updates, I'm against forced reboots.