How to Disable restart now message after Windows automatic update message
If you are on a Windows XP system, you are probably very familiar with the automatic updates which interrupt you as you work and prompt you to restart your computer. And if you are like most of us, you keep telling your computer to restart later and later and later.

I can’t tell you how many countless remote machine connections I’ve lost and how much work in progress has been thrown away no thanks to the automatic restart in Windows XP after installing a Windows update. No matter if keep telling your dumb machine to “Restart Later,” the nag box keeps popping up and when it detects a slight weakness in your armor, when you are not at your desk for a prolonged period of time - booyah! it’s time to restart system.

Well now you can take matters into your own hands by disabling the restart. It’s an option that’s hidden away in the group policy settings for Windows XP Pro users, and XP Home users will need to make a small registry change. After setting this up, you won’t need to worry about the automatic restart kicking in at the most inopportune time so you can restart your PC on your own terms.

There are two ways to get rid of the nagging Restart Now message, one of which is preferable over the other:

1. Stop the Automatic Updates Service

Go to your Control Panel, then Administrative Tools and then click on Services.


Once you have stopped the service, the nagging message stops also. Then you can reboot when you FEEL LIKE IT. Note that the Automatic Updates service will automatically restart when you reboot, so you will get future updates (and hence have to follow the same procedure again the next time your computer installs updates).

2. Modify Group Policy Settings

The problem with the above-mentioned method for disabling Automatic Updates restart message is that it’s a one time fix. A better way is to modify some group policy settings so that your computer will always be updated, but you won’t be asked to restart constantly.

To get to the Group Policy editor, click on Start, and then Run and type in gpedit.msc.

Now navigate down to the following security settings:

Local Computer Policy
Computer Configuration
Administrative Templates
Windows Components
Windows Update


You’ll now see a bunch of options on the right hand side related to Windows Automatic Update. Here is where we can configure your message to disappear! There are basically two settings that we can manipulate to get what we want.
No auto-restart for schedule Automatic Updates installations



Set it to Enabled and Windows will wait for the logged on user to restart the computer instead of automatically trying to restart. No prompt will be displayed at all, so you will have to remember to restart yourself.

Re-prompt for restart with scheduled installations


Using this setting, you can configure the restart message to come up again, but at a longer interval. Go ahead and double-click on the setting and set it to Enabled. You’ll see the default value is 10 minutes. Go ahead and change it to something like 1440 minutes, which is one day. This is better if you want to still be reminded, but not so often.


Hopefully, now you won’t see that message anymore and you can do your work without being interrupted every 10 minutes! Enjoy!

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