Hi Ndmormon,

Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Community.

As per description, I understand that Windows 10 restarts after update and you need to avoid automatic restart.

I can imagine the inconvenience you are experiencing at this moment and will certainly help you.

The goal of Windows Update is to always keep your computer as safe and secure as possible. Well, some updates require access to files currently in use by your system. Windows Update does not know if or when those files will be available to use, so your system requires a reboot to avoid any conflicts.

For security-related updates, your computer is unsafe before that reboot occurs: it is vulnerable to attacks which exploit the issues fixed by the update requiring a reboot.

For that reason, when Windows Update automatically installs an update that needs a reboot, it proceeds with an automatic reboot.

You can configure Windows Update automatic reboots. Follow below steps and check if it resolves the issue.

To stop Windows automatically restarting is just to modify your Windows Update settings so that it will only download updates, but not install them until you tell it too.

Follow below steps:
1. Go to Start > Run > and type gpedit.msc and hit Enter.
2. Navigate to Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows

    Components > Windows Update.
3. Double click on Configure Windows Update, click Enabled option on left pane.
4. Select the option 3 (Auto download and notify for install) from the drop down menu under Configure

    automatic updating.
5. Click on Apply and then OK.
6. Enable No auto-restart with logged on users for scheduled automatic updates installations.
(If you set this policy to Enabled, then your system will never automatically reboot when a user is logged on to it).
7. Double click on "No auto-restart with logged on users for scheduled automatic updates installations".
8. Select Enabled option on left pane > Apply > OK.

Hope this helps. If the issue remains unresolved, please get back to us and we would be happy to help.

Thank you.

Why not just save your work before leaving the PC unattended.  It's what users are always recommended to do to avoid data loss.  Most decent programs can also be set to auto-save at specific intervals.

Follow below steps:

1. Go to Start > Run > and type gpedit.msc and hit Enter.

I had actually already tried this as well. This again is a feature/program is not available in Windows 10, only in the Pro or Enterprise versions it seems.  When I attempt to start this program I get a message which reads

"Windows cannot find 'gpedit.msc'. Make sure you types the name correctly, and then try again."

I'm also having this problem. By defalt settings, Windows 10 can lead to loss of unsaved data with this automatic restart after windows update, and that's big fault and bad design decision if you ask anyone serious. What's worse, there's even no easy way for average user to prevent this.

In hope someone from Microsoft will read this and fix this big fault. OS should do everything to prevent data loss, not contrary ...

These instructions are totally unhelpful to Windows 10 Home users who do not have the gpedit.msc. Please provide instructions for this version as well.

My 2 Tb hard drive with non-backuped data went corrupt (upon plugging it onto a Windows 10 laptop, btw). Fortunately, my data recovery software was able to detect some recoverable files. Unfortunately, I left it running on another Windows 10. The damn thing decided to reboot in the middle of the process (after 24 hours of work, with the drive almost recovered!). And then it also decided to "scan and fix" the corrupted drive upon booting up. My 4 years of data is gone forever. Thank you, Microsoft.

 Sorry .  Always - always unplug Ethernet cables  during crucial  work . This way no outside interferences .   Similar happened when recovering a large sdhc card . I learned  ! 

     Try to recovery again (2) twice with yours . Also a different recovery software may work , there is one paid recovery by RECOVERA that works great . It will splice some files when found . It made pass after pass on a hard drive that had been formatted for a new install  , stopped - crashed - before finished by power failure  .  Total recovery   .

Yeah, I clearly need to remember to save my data, whenever my bladder urges me to go to the toilet. Also, it is obviously a lot easier to contact hundreds of software developers than a great, unapproachable OS company.

Any successful business thrives on meeting the users' needs, rather than telling them what they should do. Microsoft is not exactly the only option, if they forget this for too long...

I absolutely agree, Microsoft seem to think that we don't use their OS for anything serious. The situation is even worse with the latest revision of Windows 10, you can't even refuse to download updates. I run virtual machines and multiple other business applications on my PC and it must NOT EVER reboot without my permission as this has a disastrous effect on these applications. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Microsoft don't do this, give us credit for some intelligence and responsibility and trust us to reboot the system when it is convenient for us.

Does M$ cares about what we think? Absolutely not.

I think the only thing you can do is to enable those group policy and disable windows update service.

I have found a Microsoft site called the Feeback Hub where they actively ask for Windows 10 feedback (whether they take any notice is a different matter of course :-). You have to download an app. Run it and search for "updates", you will find several existing complaints about automatic rebooting, please upvote these complaints!

There are also some complaints about how abysmally slow it is to do updates, yesterday I wasted almost an hour doing it, so feel free to upvote those as well. Perhaps 500 million people now use Windows 10 (poor souls); lets say 20% are business users, that's 100 million hours of productive time wasted every month, worth well over 1 billion dollars. Just ranting...