Stop XP Auto Update Reboots with Group Policy Editor

23rd July 2008

Late last night I added some notes to a MS notepad document on a laptop, and I neglected to save. This morning, Microsoft rebooted my computer (for my safety) and once again I lost some valuable notes.

I remember writing about this once before before, so I looked through my own blog or reference of how to stop these irritating XP automatic reboots, and once I found the instructions, I saw that my directions were lacking info for people that might not know how to get to the “Group Policy Editor”.

So if you have Windows XP service pack 2 or 3, here is exactly how to stop this annoying Microsoft morning reboot after a Windows update:

First you have to start the group policy editor -

• Start - Run - and type mmc - then hit Enter.
• Go to File - Add/Remove Snap in and hit ADD.
• Under Available Stand-alone Snap-ins, click Group Policy, and then click Add, then finish to edit your local machine.s browse to the Windows update section and make a change -

Simply browse under the local computer policy to this path - local computer policy\computer configuration\administrative templates\Windows components\Windows update.

Change your “No auto restart for scheduled automatic update installations” to “Enabled” by double-clicking on it on the right side.  Save everything and reboot, and you’re good to go.

(When you close the “group policy editor” it will ask you if you want to save and yes I did, with the default location and file name)

PS - While I was in there, I poked around hoping to enable something like “no crashing software while in use” but I couldn’t find it. If anyone knows where that is please let me know

more about Group Policy Editor at Microsoft