Laptop restarts every night on its own. Windows 11

Question

User I am servicing their device restart every night on its own. The user is running Windows 11. Looking through the system logs I see the errors:
NETLOGON 5719
AM Microsoft-Windows-GroupPolicy 1129

AM Microsoft-Windows-Time-Service 129
AM Netwtw16 5010

Answer 1

Hello Allan,

Thank you for posting question on Microsoft Windows Forum!

Based on the issue description as well as the provided system logs. The possible causes for this might be Netwtw16 error. Since Windows likely tries to perform background maintenance, updates, or Group Policy refreshes overnight. When it wakes the WiFi card to do this, the driver (Netwtw16) hangs, triggers a failure, and Windows 11—attempting to recover—restarts the system.

The suggestion here is to update the Intel wireless driver (Netwtw16) from the manufacturer’s site or using Intel Driver & Support Assistant to auto-detect updates. Also, try to adjust Power management by opening Device Manager. Find the Intel Wireless adapter → Properties → Power Management and uncheck "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power".

Another point worth mentioning here is that Fast Startup sometimes causes drivers to get "stuck" in a bad state because it does not actually clear the kernel memory during a shutdown. Try to disable Windows Fast Startup by unchecking "Turn on fast startup (recommended)."

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Also, making sure that Active Hours are set to cover the night period to prevent automatic restarts by navigating to Settings → Windows Update → Advanced Options. Disable “Restart this device as soon as possible” if it is set Enabled.

Hope the above information is helpful! If it helps you getting more insight into the issue, It is appreciated to consider clicking "Accept Answer". Should you have more questions, feel free to leave a message.

Answer 2

The nightly restarts are most likely caused by Windows Update–initiated reboots, with the Netlogon and Group Policy errors being side effects of the machine coming up before full network/domain connectivity is available.

From the provided events:

• Netlogon 5719 and GroupPolicy 1129 typically indicate that at boot time the machine could not contact a domain controller in time to process Group Policy. This often happens when the network stack or DC connectivity is delayed during startup and does not itself cause the reboot.
• These events are consistent with a race condition between network initialization, DC discovery, and Group Policy processing during startup.

To address the domain-related errors and stabilize Group Policy processing after the nightly restart:

1. If IPv6 has been disabled via DisabledComponents with an incorrect value (0xFFFFFFF), correct or remove it:
   • Check HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip6\Parameters\DisabledComponents.
   • If set to 0xfffffff, either delete the value or change it to 0xff. Incorrectly disabling IPv6 can delay startup by 5 seconds and affect components that rely on it.
2. Increase the wait time for network availability before Group Policy processing:
   • Open Registry Editor.
   • Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon.
   • Create a new DWORD value named GpNetworkStartTimeoutPolicyValue.
   • Set Base to Decimal and Value data to 60 (seconds) to allow more time for the network and DC discovery before Group Policy runs.
   • Restart the device and, if startup scripts or policies still fail, increase the value further.
3. Understand that if domain logon is ultimately successful and the user can work normally, Netlogon 5719 can be safely ignored. After the network is fully up, the machine will typically locate a domain controller and Group Policy background refresh will succeed.

Separately, to stop the nightly restarts themselves, review and adjust Windows Update restart behavior and any maintenance schedules:

1. Check Group Policy for scheduled update installs and forced restarts:
   • Under Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update > Configure Automatic Updates, see if option 4 – Auto download and schedule the install is configured with a specific install time that matches the nightly restart.
   • Also review Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Maintenance Scheduler to see if automatic maintenance is scheduled during the night and triggering restarts.
2. If managing via registry (for example on a single device), verify:
   • HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU → AuOptions = 4 and ScheduledInstallTime set to a night hour.
   • Check if AlwaysAutoRebootAtScheduledTime and AlwaysAutoRebootAtScheduledTimeMinutes are configured, which will force a restart after the scheduled install time and show a countdown to the signed-in user.
3. For a broader view of why the device is rebooting:
   • Use the System event log to distinguish normal scheduled restarts from unexpected ones. Review Event IDs 12, 13, 6005, and 6009 around the time of the nightly reboot to confirm that the restart is a normal, OS-initiated reboot rather than a crash or power loss.

If the user can log on to the domain after the restart and work normally, focus on:

• Adjusting Windows Update/maintenance schedules to avoid unwanted nightly restarts.
• Applying the registry-based delay (GpNetworkStartTimeoutPolicyValue) and correcting any IPv6 misconfiguration to eliminate the Netlogon 5719 and Group Policy 1129 noise at boot.

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References:

• Netlogon event ID 5719 or Group Policy event 1129 is logged when you start a domain member
• Manage device restarts after updates
• Troubleshoot unexpected reboots using system event logs