Every time Windows forces an update my backlit keyboard stops working and no easy fixes work

Question

Every time Windows forces an update my backlit keyboard stops working and no easy fixes work

MStar 20

Please believe me! I have called before about this problem and it continues. Windows does an update overnight without my permission and then when I wake up my backlit keyboard will not turn back on and I have to go through a lot of different things to try to fix it and somehow it ends up working again always through different things or sometimes I don't even know what fixed it. I am so sick of this. It has now happened 3 or 4 times!! Please help me. It's a Dell laptop but like Microsoft there is no way to speak to a person there! I can't reach a human or anything that can help me here either. This is not ok. Is this how it will be now? Zero help? Robots that don't work??

I have whatever the latest version is, I can't keep up but it updates without my permission every time despite my setting it that I have to give that.

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Answer 1

Jeronimo Fuerte 45,750 Independent Advisor

Hi! Sorry to hear that you have troubles with this, please do these steps in order:

Turn off get the latest updates as soon as they’re available in Settings > Windows Update. This keeps you off the early wave of non-security updates that often change drivers.
Set Active hours manually so your sleep time is inside active hours Settings > Windows Update > Advanced options > Active hours > Manually set. Choose the widest window you can (up to 18 hours).

If you would like a stronger way to stop updates, try this:

Open gpedit.msc >Computer Configuration >Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update
Configure Automatic Updates = Enabled, option 2, notify for download and auto install. This stops auto-download/install until you click Download.
No auto-restart with logged on users = Enabled. Prevents surprise restarts while you’re signed in.
Configure auto-restart required notifications > set to user action so Windows won’t dismiss the restart prompt on its own.
Prevent wake-ups at night, Control Panel>Security and Maintenance> Change maintenance settings>uncheck Allow scheduled maintenance to wake up my computer.

MStar 20 Reputation points

2025-08-29T21:16:18.3333333+00:00

So, after this happening many times and Microsoft telling me "it's not possible" lol, great service, I think I may have figured it out on my own:

So, I fall asleep watching shows every night from my hard drive, not streaming. When they end, when I am asleep it eventually goes into "sleep" mode or whatever it's called now. The updates I did not want then do the thing where they create a pop up that says something about how they are about to start unless I click to postpone (that sucks). Well, I'm asleep so then they do whatever thing they do and then the next day my computer is in a weird state and my backlit keyboard is no longer backlit and will not be fixed by any of the many thing I then have to websearch and try. None of them work and I am super frustrated and then someone at Microsoft yet again tells me "it's not possible" depsite it happening like 4 times now.

I ended up calling my repair guy and talking to him on the phone and HE is the one who suggested it might be bc of how sleep mode is configured. He's a genius and Microsoft is clearly not interested in figuring any of this out. Or, tbh being anything but dismissive (except for here!). I always forget this option is here. I'd MUCH rather speak to someone but that option has been turned into ai that does not work lol. Trash tech.

I came back to write all this for anyone else who may experience this! I hope it helps. I had to do something about changing the timing of the sleep schedule and there is also a place to schedule when updates can happen which I changed. Wish I could remember more details but that's basically it. thx : )
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