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This tutorial explains how to stop Windows Update from automatically restarting your computer. By default Windows XP’s Automatic Update feature is set to “Automatic” so that windows automatically downloads and installs updates. This is good as it keeps your operating system fully patched and secure, however windows will constantly nag you to restart your computer. Read on to find out how to get rid of the nag box forever (Windows XP only).

1. Open the Group Policy editor by going Start –> Run and typing gpedit.msc


2. In the Policy Editor browse to Computer Configuration –> Administrative Templates –> Windows Components –> Windows Update. In the right hand pane double click “No auto-restart for scheduled Automatic Updates installations”.

3. In the window that appears select “Enabled” and click OK.

4. In the Group Policy Editor the “state” will change to “enabled” and you are finished. You won’t ever have to worry about the nag screen or losing your data again :)

Optional:  If you are interested back at step 3 you can click the explain tab which gives the official Microsoft explanation of this setting.

Specifies that to complete a scheduled installation, Automatic Updates will wait for the computer to be restarted by any user who is logged on, instead of causing the computer to restart automatically.

If the status is set to Enabled, Automatic Updates will not restart a computer automatically during a scheduled installation if a user is logged in to the computer. Instead, Automatic Updates will notify the user to restart the computer.

Be aware that the computer needs to be restarted for the updates to take effect.

If the status is set to Disabled or Not Configured, Automatic Updates will notify the user that the computer will automatically restart in 5 minutes to complete the installation.

Note: This policy applies only when Automatic Updates is configured to perform scheduled installations of updates. If the “Configure Automatic Updates” policy is disabled, this policy has no effect.