Windows update will not reboot system on it's own.

Question

We have a Windows Server 2019 that is set by group policy to automatically install updates as they come down followed by rebooting if needed. The Windows Update window always shows that it's scheduled to reboot at 3:00am after each update but it never happens.

This has been going on for months where I have to manually go in and click Restart Now.

Here is what the GPO looks like that is applied to this server:

Any suggestions on how to get this to restart as it is instructed would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Hello

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community forum.

Here are a few suggestions that might help resolve this issue:

Check Task Scheduler: Ensure that the Task Scheduler is properly configured. Open Task Scheduler, navigate to Task Scheduler Library > Microsoft > Windows > UpdateOrchestrator, and check the Reboot task. Make sure it is enabled and configured correctly.

Group Policy Settings: Verify that the group policy settings are correctly applied. Sometimes, policies might not be applied as expected. You can run gpupdate /force to ensure that the latest policies are applied.

UpdateOrchestrator Logs: Check the UpdateOrchestrator logs for any errors or delays. Sometimes, there might be a latency between the update installation and the reboot action. Reviewing the logs might provide insights into why the reboot is not happening as scheduled.

Windows Update Settings: Ensure that the Windows Update settings are configured to allow automatic reboots. You can check this in the Windows Update settings under Advanced options. Make sure that the option to automatically restart after updates is enabled.

Manual Restart Schedule: If the automatic restart is not working, you can try scheduling a manual restart using Task Scheduler. Create a new task that triggers a restart at a specific time after updates are installed.

Best Regards,

Wesley Li

Answer 2

Check Task Scheduler: Ensure that the Task Scheduler is properly configured. Open Task Scheduler, navigate to Task Scheduler Library > Microsoft > Windows > UpdateOrchestrator, and check the Reboot task. Make sure it is enabled and configured correctly.

The task in enabled. I don't know if it's configured correctly since this appears to be a system managed task. The action is to start %systemroot%\system32\MusNotification.exe ReadyToReboot. Compare this with another server that has this disabled, it's slightly different with %systemroot%\system32\MusNotification.exe RebootDialog. It's also scheduled to run at 2:45am which appears to run every day according to the history. History doesn't show any issues and that it completes.

Group Policy Settings: Verify that the group policy settings are correctly applied. Sometimes, policies might not be applied as expected. You can run gpupdate /force to ensure that the latest policies are applied.

When I run RSOP, I have confirmed that the GPO is applied

UpdateOrchestrator Logs: Check the UpdateOrchestrator logs for any errors or delays. Sometimes, there might be a latency between the update installation and the reboot action. Reviewing the logs might provide insights into why the reboot is not happening as scheduled.

Here are the logs from the task history. It all completes within 1 second.

Task Scheduler launch task "\Microsoft\Windows\UpdateOrchestrator\Reboot" , instance "%systemroot%\system32\MusNotification.exe" with process ID 6284.

Task Scheduler started "{eee90b6a-979a-4907-9ba1-d92178d2c183}" instance of the "\Microsoft\Windows\UpdateOrchestrator\Reboot" task for user "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM".

Task Scheduler launched action "%systemroot%\system32\MusNotification.exe" in instance "{eee90b6a-979a-4907-9ba1-d92178d2c183}" of task "\Microsoft\Windows\UpdateOrchestrator\Reboot".

Task Scheduler launched "{eee90b6a-979a-4907-9ba1-d92178d2c183}" instance of task "\Microsoft\Windows\UpdateOrchestrator\Reboot" for user "System" .

User "S-1-5-18" updated Task Scheduler task "\Microsoft\Windows\UpdateOrchestrator\Reboot"

Task Scheduler successfully completed task "\Microsoft\Windows\UpdateOrchestrator\Reboot" , instance "{eee90b6a-979a-4907-9ba1-d92178d2c183}" , action "%systemroot%\system32\MusNotification.exe" with return code 2147942401.

Task Scheduler successfully finished "{eee90b6a-979a-4907-9ba1-d92178d2c183}" instance of the "\Microsoft\Windows\UpdateOrchestrator\Reboot" task for user "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM".

This always is scheduled to run at 2:45am which is 15min before the advertised time of 3am. This seems to just be the notification of the future reboot but no actual reboot? Also, if you notice from my pics, the GPO states the updates are to be done at 2am. But the top of the Windows Update window shows the reboot is @ 3am? Is that a clue?

Windows Update Settings: Ensure that the Windows Update settings are configured to allow automatic reboots. You can check this in the Windows Update settings under Advanced options. Make sure that the option to automatically restart after updates is enabled.

I'm not seeing any configuration for this in under Advanced options. Assuming this is because it is managed by GPO?

Manual Restart Schedule: If the automatic restart is not working, you can try scheduling a manual restart using Task Scheduler. Create a new task that triggers a restart at a specific time after updates are installed.

Not sure if I know what action to apply for creating my own restart task. Should I use the same action as stated above? I did manually start the task and nothing happened. Just the same history as before.

Thanks!

Answer 3

I understand that this GPO is a WSUS GPO, which may be related to the WSUS role server.

Since there are no engineers dedicated to WSUS Server in this forum. in order to be able to get a quick and effective handling of your issue, I recommend that you repost your question in the Q&A forum, where there will be a dedicated engineer to give you a professional and effective reply.

Here is the link for Q&A forum.

Questions - Microsoft Q&A