Kill Windows Update Restart Popup

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Using Windows XP and it gets on your nerves whenever Windows keeps prompting you to restart your computer after some automatic Windows updates? That thing kills my patience; especially when I am watching some videos and it makes Windows Media Player exit full screen mode just to remind me for the umpteen time that I am suppose to restart my computer. Grrr~

Finally there is a solution. From Lifehacker:

  1. Start > Run… > cmd to launch the Command Prompt
  2. Type “sc stop wuauserv” without the quotes

And poof~ My blood pressure resumes back to normal. 😀

27 thoughts on “Kill Windows Update Restart Popup”

  1. I use TweakUI and murdering it through the Windows Update application itself.
    Either way, the pop-up hasn’t annoyed me in so long, I forgot about it.

    I didn’t know what the command was to make it stop. I should have looked it up!

    Reply ↓

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  3. Pingback: Kill Windows Update Automatic Restart « Thoughts of a Diurnal

  13. and by the way… tyat SC looks like I could really jack up my system with that command 🙂
    Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
    (C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

    C:\Documents and Settings\Owner>sc /?
    *** Unrecognized Command ***
    DESCRIPTION:
    SC is a command line program used for communicating with the
    NT Service Controller and services.
    USAGE:
    sc [command] [service name] …

    The option has the form “\\ServerName”
    Further help on commands can be obtained by typing: “sc [command]”
    Commands:
    query———–Queries the status for a service, or
    enumerates the status for types of services.
    queryex———Queries the extended status for a service, or
    enumerates the status for types of services.
    start———–Starts a service.
    pause———–Sends a PAUSE control request to a service.
    interrogate—–Sends an INTERROGATE control request to a service.
    continue——–Sends a CONTINUE control request to a service.
    stop————Sends a STOP request to a service.
    config———-Changes the configuration of a service (persistant).
    description—–Changes the description of a service.
    failure———Changes the actions taken by a service upon failure.
    qc————–Queries the configuration information for a service.
    qdescription—-Queries the description for a service.
    qfailure——–Queries the actions taken by a service upon failure.
    delete———-Deletes a service (from the registry).
    create———-Creates a service. (adds it to the registry).
    control———Sends a control to a service.
    sdshow———-Displays a service’s security descriptor.
    sdset———–Sets a service’s security descriptor.
    GetDisplayName–Gets the DisplayName for a service.
    GetKeyName——Gets the ServiceKeyName for a service.
    EnumDepend——Enumerates Service Dependencies.

    The following commands don’t require a service name:
    sc
    boot————(ok | bad) Indicates whether the last boot should
    be saved as the last-known-good boot configuration
    Lock————Locks the Service Database
    QueryLock——-Queries the LockStatus for the SCManager Database
    EXAMPLE:
    sc start MyService

    Would you like to see help for the QUERY and QUERYEX commands? [ y | n ]:

    Reply ↓

  19. JUSTBUD :
    and by the way… tyat SC looks like I could really jack up my system with that command
    Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
    (C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.
    C:\Documents and Settings\Owner>sc /?
    *** Unrecognized Command ***
    DESCRIPTION:
    SC is a command line program used for communicating with the
    NT Service Controller and services.
    USAGE:
    sc [command] [service name] …
    The option has the form “\\ServerName”
    Further help on commands can be obtained by typing: “sc [command]”
    Commands:
    query———–Queries the status for a service, or
    enumerates the status for types of services.
    queryex———Queries the extended status for a service, or
    enumerates the status for types of services.
    start———–Starts a service.
    pause———–Sends a PAUSE control request to a service.
    interrogate—–Sends an INTERROGATE control request to a service.
    continue——–Sends a CONTINUE control request to a service.
    stop————Sends a STOP request to a service.
    config———-Changes the configuration of a service (persistant).
    description—–Changes the description of a service.
    failure———Changes the actions taken by a service upon failure.
    qc————–Queries the configuration information for a service.
    qdescription—-Queries the description for a service.
    qfailure——–Queries the actions taken by a service upon failure.
    delete———-Deletes a service (from the registry).
    create———-Creates a service. (adds it to the registry).
    control———Sends a control to a service.
    sdshow———-Displays a service’s security descriptor.
    sdset———–Sets a service’s security descriptor.
    GetDisplayName–Gets the DisplayName for a service.
    GetKeyName——Gets the ServiceKeyName for a service.
    EnumDepend——Enumerates Service Dependencies.
    The following commands don’t require a service name:
    sc
    boot————(ok | bad) Indicates whether the last boot should
    be saved as the last-known-good boot configuration
    Lock————Locks the Service Database
    QueryLock——-Queries the LockStatus for the SCManager Database
    EXAMPLE:
    sc start MyService
    Would you like to see help for the QUERY and QUERYEX commands? [ y | n ]:

    ^ nerd? hacker-kun?

    Reply ↓

  23. This is basically just stopping the NT service named ‘Windows Update’ found under Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services. If you right-click that one and open it’s Properties, you will see that it’s service name matches the one in the stop command. So no, JUSTBUD, it won’t really jack up your system, it’s just the command line interface to the same tools that can also be used through the GUI via the Services control panel… Not to say that stopping the wrong services can’t do any harm, but that’s a different story 🙂

    You can do this from the GUI as well. But if you can remember the command (and type quickly 🙂 it’s quicker to use the command line I guess.

    If you create a batch file containing the command from this post you do’t have to remember the command and can just double-click that batch file every time you want to kill that pop-up.

    Create a file called norestart.bat on your desktop and copy-paste the command to it. Now double-click that file to execute it’s content.

    Oh and John, yes you can start it again:

    sc start wuauserv

    … or use the Services control panel as mentioned.

    Reply ↓

  24. I have been experimenting with it and up to now it seems that when you restart it the pop-up stays gone. As you all probably do want Windows Update to run and check for updates, it’s probably best to restart the service after the popup has been killed.

    Create a batch file called norestart.bat on your desktop and place this text in it:

    @echo off
    echo Stopping Windows Update…
    sc stop wuauserv
    pause
    echo Restarting Windows Update…
    sc start wuauserv
    echo Windows Update has been restarted
    pause

    When you run this script (double-click it) it will open up a command prompt window and you will get (more or less) this output (translated from dutch):

    Stopping Windows Update…

    SERVICE_NAME: wuauserv
    TYPE : 20 WIN32_SHARE_PROCESS
    STATE : 3 STOP_PENDING
    (NOT_STOPPABLE, NOT_PAUSABLE, IGNORES_SHUTDOWN)
    WIN32_EXIT_CODE : 0 (0x0)
    SERVICE_EXIT_CODE : 0 (0x0)
    CHECKPOINT : 0x1
    WAIT_HINT : 0x7530
    Press any key to continue. . .
    Restarting Windows Update…

    SERVICE_NAME: wuauserv
    TYPE : 20 WIN32_SHARE_PROCESS
    STATE : 2 START_PENDING
    (NOT_STOPPABLE, NOT_PAUSABLE, IGNORES_SHUTDOWN)
    WIN32_EXIT_CODE : 0 (0x0)
    SERVICE_EXIT_CODE : 0 (0x0)
    CHECKPOINT : 0x0
    WAIT_HINT : 0x7d0
    PID : 7084
    FLAGS :
    Windows Update has been restarted
    Press any key to continue. . .

    Stopping the service needs a moment, so wait a couple of seconds before pressing a key. The annoying restart pop-up will be killed! Then it will restart Windows Update and you have to press a key one more time for the window to close again.

    Reply ↓

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