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Have you seen that message in Windows 8 that tells you your computer is going to reboot and there is not a thing you can do about it except save your work? Here's how to make sure that never happens again. This tip works for Windows 7 as well.

Note that we have covered this method before for preventing Windows 7 from automatically rebooting. This article has two methods for doing the same thing.

Prevent Windows 8 From Restarting Your PC After Windows Updates

Press the Win + R keyboard combination to bring up the run dialog then type gpedit.msc and press enter.

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When the Local Group Policy Editor opens, navigate to:

Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Update

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On the right hand side you will see a setting titled:

No auto-restart with logged on users for scheduled automatic updates installations

Double click on it.

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From here you will need to enable the setting by changing the radio button from "Not Configured" to "Enabled", then clicking apply.

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As always, we recommend you force a Group Policy update so that the changes will reflect immediately.

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That's all there is to it.

Using the Registry

If your version of Windows 8 doesn't ship with the Group Policy editor, you can always use the registry to disable these reboots. Again press the Windows + R keyboard combination to bring up a run box -- type regedit then hit enter.

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Now navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU

Note: If you don't see the Windows Update or AU keys you may have to create them.

Then create a new 32-bit DWORD called NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers.

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Then double click on it and give it a hex value of 1.

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Reboot your machine and you're good to go!