How To Stop Windows 7 or Vista from Applying Updates/Patches on Shutdown

One thing I don’t like about Windows 7 or Vista is their habit of changing the Shutdown or Sleep button into an “Install Updates and then Shut Down computer” button when any pending Windows Updates to be installed. I wanted to put an end to this and tried to find out a better permanent solution then my previous solution. I found a small registry hack that can put an end to this problem permanently and reducing our headaches. :)

Follow the steps below carefully:

  • Open the Registry Editor by typing regedit in the Run dialog box. (Goto Start MenuRun, or, press [Windows Key ] + [ R ] to access the Run dialog box.)
  • Now, browse down to the following Registry key or create the key if it doesn’t exist.
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU to apply the hack for all users OR HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU to apply the hack to your user account only.
  • Create a new entry by right-clicking on the right pane and choosing “New DWORD” and name it NoAUAsDefaultShutdownOption, set its value of 1.
  • Now our normal Shutdown or Sleep button should be back while also providing the Install Updates and Shut Down option, should you want to install the pending Windows Updates at shut down.
  • If you want the default option back, just set the value of NoAUAsDefaultShutdownOption to 0.

Do you have any other solutions to this problem? Well, comment about it, discuss or share the solution with us.

You may also like...