JSI Tip 10236. How can I help prevent accidental Automatic Updates reboots?

Even though you have not configured Automatic Updates to reboot, it may accidentally happen when a user responds to the restart required prompt.

Using REG.EXE, built into Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and later operating systems, or installed from the Windows 2000 Support Tools, I have scripted NoAUannoy.bat to configure registry entries for the minimum annoyance. Run the NoAUannoy.bat script from a startup script. If you prefer, you can run the following from your workstation instead:

@echo offsetlocalset key=HKLMSoftwarePoliciesMicrosoftWindowsWindowsUpdateAUfor /f "Tokens=1" %%c in ('net view /DOMAIN:%USERDOMAIN% ^|FIND "\"') do ( call :doit %%c)endlocalgoto :EOF:doit@echo %1REG ADD "%1%key%" /V NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers /T REG_DWORD /F /D 1REG ADD "%1%key%" /V RebootRelaunchTimeout /T REG_DWORD /F /D 720REG ADD "%1%key%" /V RebootRelaunchTimeoutEnabled /T REG_DWORD /F /D 1REG ADD "%1%key%" /V RebootWarningTimeout /T REG_DWORD /F /D 30 REG ADD "%1%key%" /V RebootWarningTimeoutEnabled /T REG_DWORD /F /D 1

NoAUannoy.bat contains:

@echo offsetlocalcall :quiet>nul 2>&1endlocalgoto :EOF:quietREG ADD %key% /V NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers /T REG_DWORD /F /D 1REG ADD %key% /V RebootRelaunchTimeout /T REG_DWORD /F /D 720REG ADD %key% /V RebootRelaunchTimeoutEnabled /T REG_DWORD /F /D 1REG ADD %key% /V RebootWarningTimeout /T REG_DWORD /F /D 30 REG ADD %key% /V RebootWarningTimeoutEnabled /T REG_DWORD /F /D 1