Policy
Turn off auto-restart for updates during active hours
Windows 11 25H2
Policy overview
Key metadata and intent for this policy.
Supported OS tags: Windows10, WindowsServer2016
If you enable this policy, the PC will not automatically restart after updates during active hours. The PC will attempt to restart outside of active hours. Note that the PC must restart for certain updates to take effect. If you disable or do not configure this policy and have no other reboot group policies, the user selected active hours will be in effect. If any of the following two policies are enabled, this policy has no effect: 1. No auto-restart with logged on users for scheduled automatic updates installations. 2. Always automatically restart at scheduled time. Note that the default max active hours range is 18 hours from the active hours start time unless otherwise configured via the Specify active hours range for auto-restarts policy.
Registry values
How enabled and disabled states update the registry.
| Registry location | Type | Enabled value | Disabled value |
|---|---|---|---|
| HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\SetActiveHours | REG_DWORD | 1 | 0 |
Policy elements
Inputs and configuration options exposed by this policy.
| Element | Type | Registry mapping | Constraints & behavior |
|---|---|---|---|
Start: ID ActiveHoursStartTime | enum | HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\ActiveHoursStart Type REG_DWORD | Options: 12 AM (0), 1 AM (1), 2 AM (2), 3 AM (3), 4 AM (4), 5 AM (5), 6 AM (6), 7 AM (7) … +16 more |
End: ID ActiveHoursEndTime | enum | HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\ActiveHoursEnd Type REG_DWORD | Options: 12 AM (0), 1 AM (1), 2 AM (2), 3 AM (3), 4 AM (4), 5 AM (5), 6 AM (6), 7 AM (7) … +16 more |
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