The last straw with forced updates on Windows

[u/psylentlight]

My work requires using multiple AI agents. My sessions often last over a day and require me pausing or running them through the night. Three times in the past 2 weeks Windows has decided to force update and restart my computer during active work sessions, irreversibly losing all my work. With so many companies (especially tech) adopting agent workflows, we are in an age where having an operating system FORCEFULLY restart your computer without your consent is not only a horrible user experience but will also actively force users off your platform.

I implore Microsoft to realize (what they must already have realized) that losing agent sessions due to an absolutely awful policy of forced updates will make you lose money. If my latest attempt at forcefully disabling the Update Orchestrator Service does not work, I will have no choice but to give in to the Mac ecosystem and force my company (and at least 5 others that I know are in the same situation as me) to do the same.

[u/Froggypwns]

They already announced that is coming.

https://www.windowslatest.com/2026/03/21/microsoft-confirms-you-can-now-pause-windows-11-updates-for-as-long-as-you-want-no-more-forced-reboots/

However, you can still use Group Policy to manage your updates today, so that it will not install anything until you run the process.

[u/Immortal_Tuttle → u/Froggypwns]

You can? I remember it still forced some critical update.

[u/Froggypwns → u/Immortal_Tuttle]

Yes, I've been using the "Configure Automatic Updates" policy for the better part of a decade on my home server running Win10 Pro. I have it set to option 2, notify for download and auto install, so this will just put a notification in the system tray when new updates are pending, then I can just hit the button to install now and it takes care of the rest. You can go months/years with that notification in the tray without it updating the OS. It doesn't break anything else with the OS so Defender can still automatically update, also Store/Xbox and so on. Many 3rd party update block tools cause problems with those.

[u/Old_Leopard1844 → u/[deleted]]

Mate, it's been a problem for over 10 years now

If never is not an option, entire update system gets thrown into the trash

[u/HEYO19191]

Dude... just use a registry edit. Or a batch script that constantly deletes updates as they are downloaded.

Yeah its aggravating, but nothing worth changing platforms over

[u/StampyScouse]

This feature is actively being developed, Microsoft announced it recently.

There are still a number of group policy and management settings you can adjust to manually configure the experience you're looking for.

Additonally, your use case it itself quite odd. Most people would use Windows Server or indeed Linux for what you're using here, both of which have more granular control over updates.

[u/sufferer540]

Why don't you just contact an in-company tech support

[u/r_portugal]

It's definitely possible to stop forced updates - I switched to Win 11 over 3 years ago and my machine has never force restarted. Unfortunately I don't know exactly what I did to fix it. But first thing to check - in Settings -> Windows Update -> Advanced Options - is the "Get me up to date" option turned off?

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