Windows 10 automatically rebooting, no warning, no reason.

Question

Windows 10 automatically rebooting, no warning, no reason.

Anonymous

This has been a problem since the inception of Windows 10 - whether it's after installing updates or sometimes for seemingly no reason at all, Windows takes it upon itself to decide that a system needs to restart. It doesn't matter what the computer is doing, what applications are open, it just restarts.

I just stepped away from my system for 15 minutes, returning to discover that it had restarted and all the work I had in progress was lost. There were no warnings, no messages that a reboot was imminent, nothing. Scheduling restart times for updates will not solve the problem, so please, don't bother suggesting as much. Sometimes I need to leave my systems running overnight while they render images or videos, and this could be any given night, so it's impossible for me to schedule an absolute day/time when rebooting will be safe.

Is there any way to instruct Windows 10 to never, under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, reboot without some type of user input? Prior versions had a policy where by auto-restarts after installed updates would not occur with logged-in users. This no longer works in 10.

The fact that a professional OS can't be relied on to simply stay running is absurd. Is there ANY way to disable auto-restarts? Nag the heck out of me, throw up a persistent dialogue box that demands me to restart, anything, but under no circumstances should the OS force a reboot without some type of user interaction.

I've submitted this in the feedback app several times, but it seems either it's never seen, or the powers that be don't see this as a problem worth addressing. It is a problem, a very big problem. I've lost, and continue to loose, hours upon hours of time when a reboot occurs and kills an overnight render or work that was in progress. Literally no other OS I've ever used does this.

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6 answers

Answer 1

Active Hours and Restart options are really the official options, but it seems they are not suitable for your situation.

In that case, I suggest you either configure your connection as metered or stop the Windows Update service all together.

Option 1: https://www.groovypost.com/howto/defer-block-un...

Option 2: disable the Windows Update service then enable when you are ready to update.

Press Windows key + R

Type: services.msc

Hit Enter

Scroll down to Windows Update

Right click Windows Update

Click Properties

Under the General tab, choose disable in the Startup type.

Click Apply then OK

Answer 2

Thanks for the quick replies.

On disabling/deferring updates, I know that's an option but would like to avoid it if possible due to the risks of not keeping systems up to date with security and other patches. And really, the issue is not with updates being installed as much as it is with the lack of user input before a restart. If it simply threw up a non-dismissible dialogue box requesting a restart, but allowing me to save what I happen to be doing and WAIT until I do so... the problem would be solved. Guaranteeing that the system doesn't restart shouldn't need a solution as drastic as disabling updates altogether!

As far as the system goes, it's a fresh clean install (clean installed Fall Creator's Update on all my systems a few days after release). I don't see any memory or minidump files, and I don't see any entries in the event view under System or Application immediately preceding the update.

Shortly after the restart, some updates failed to install (Surface Mouse driver and Malicious Software Removal Tool), but upon attempting to install them a second time, they installed without issue.

My suspicion is that the restart was Update related. As I said, it's been a frequent issue since Windows 10 came out and gave the user no option (beside disabling updates altogether) to avoid restarts.

I did set the system to not auto-restart in Startup and Recovery, which should at least make it clear in the future if the issue was a system crash.

Would love to get an official response from Microsoft with respect to the appropriateness of forcing restarts without any user input whatsoever.

Answer 3

Anonymous

We are here to help if we can.

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Answer 4

Yes, I totally understand your and your client's concerns.

Well, either Update, which is the most likely, or hardware is the cause fairly proven by the Clean Install. So I think your settings are correct. If since running 1709 FCU check the current improved settings in - Start - Settings - Update & Security - Windows Update - Update Settings - especially "Advanced options".

As I indicated we are volunteers and cannot speak for nor represent Microsoft so to get an official response there are these avenues.

Post in the Feedback Hub where others concerned with the issue and the developers will see it.

And

Call Microsoft Customer Service direct - 1-800-642-7676 - hours 5 AM

til 9 PM PST time (USA) - Saturday and Sunday, 6:00 AM – 3:00 PM

PST time (USA). In Canada, call (877)568-2495.

Contact Microsoft Customer Service

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/295539

Microsoft Support - Contact Us

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=supp...

Wish I could help more.

Answer 5

We are volunteers willing to help you try to resolve this issue.

Have you ever done a Reset or a Clean Install to see if that resolved the issue?

The computer restarting actually sounds like a hardware issue, most often heat. Be sure all the fans are working and try adding a fan blowing into the case if possible (vent).

However, let's check the possible software causes.

Use this to ensure you do not have any tasks set :

TaskSchedulerView - Free - a simple tool for Windows Vista/7/8/10 that displays in a single table the list of all tasks from the Task Scheduler of Windows. It also allows you to easily disable/enable mutiple tasks at once. For every task, the following information is displayed: Task Name, Description, Status, Hidden (Yes/No), Last Run/Next Run Times, Task Folder, EXE filename or COM handler of the task, number of missed runs, and more.

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/task_scheduler_vie...

Check Event Viewer - Start - type in --> Event Viewer find at top and click on it - look for very close to the time of the crash.

This is even easier to use :

FullEventLogView - Free - a simple tool for Windows 10/8/7/Vista that displays in a table the details of all events from the event logs of Windows, including the event description. It allows you to view the events of your local computer, events of a remote computer on your network, and events stored in .evtx files. It also allows you to export the events list to text/csv/tab-delimited/html/xml file from the GUI and from command-line.

http://nirsoft.net/utils/full_event_log_view.html

TIP : Options - Advanced Options - allows you to see a time frame instead of the whole file - set it to a bit before and after the time of the EVENT.

look in \Windows any memory.dmp files?

Look in \Windows\minidump any files?

Please double check your settings here :

Start - type in --> System - on left side Advanced System Settings - Advanced tab - Startup and Recovery - Settings - System Failure - check the box to Write an Event to System Log and uncheck to automatically restart.

uncheck Auto Restart

make sure the Write Debugging is set to small minidump

and the default folder should look like %SystemRoot%\Minidump.

How to configure Windows to create MiniDump files on BSOD

http://blog.nirsoft.net/2010/07/27/how-to-confi...

Check the memory :

Memory tests do not catch all errors such as mismatched memory (possible even for sticks that appear to be identical) and when faster memory is placed in system behind slower memory. So it is best to also swap sticks in and out to check for those even if all memory tests fail to show a problem.

To test RAM check here - let it run 4+ hours or so. <-- best method

www.memtest.org

MemTestX86 - Test RAM With

http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/14201-memtes...

For the Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool.

Type in Cortana's search box -> Windows Memory Diagnostics

at top of list - click it. in Windows 8/8.1/10 the name is "Windows Memory

Diagnostic".

Please let us know the results and if you need further assistance.

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Windows 10 automatically rebooting, no warning, no reason.

6 answers