This is true.
IF YOU CAN'T USE gpedit.msc THEN YOU CAN USE THE FOLLOWING REMEDY!
- Open the Registry Edit
(WindowsKey + R, "regedit.exe")
(Remember to be careful! DON'T change anything unless you know exactly what you're doing!) - Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU
* Chances are, if you can't access gpedit.msc you'll be missing these keys! *
If keys WindowsUpdate\AU exist, go ahead to step 3!
OTHERWISE, continue through these indented steps...
- Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows
- (Make sure the above key is highlighted and) go to the edit menu and choose New > Key
- Name the key WindowsUpdate
- Now, repeat the above steps, except highlight WindowsUpdate and name the next keyAU
- With WindowsUpdate\AU highlighted, create a new 32-bit DWORD calledNoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers
- Right click on your newly created value and give it a value data of 1 (hexadecimal)
- Double check all the steps to make sure you did everything EXACTLY how I explained it
- Close Registry Editor... You're FREE!
Now, even with the gpedit.msc remedy, this will disable automatic restart on important updates, but it will still nag you a bit about restarting it. I don't mind this, personally, because I usually tell it to remind me in about 2-4 hours depending on what I'm doing. The feature is useful if it's just a notification (which is what this remedy will basically do), but when it starts making decisions on whether or not to restart or shutdown my computer is when I get very frustrated. Microsoft REALLY needs to fix this!
*** So why not just use "Download updates but let me choose whether to install them"? Because I still want it to automatically INSTALL them. I just want to choose when to RESTART my computer. There's a massive difference between automatically installing AND restarting to configure, and just automatically installing. I take care of my PC. I'm not stupid enough to never restart my computer, especially when it needs it. Please, Microsoft, don't insult my intelligence, and be a little more flexible! If I wanted to work with all this behind-the-scenes magic I'd spend more time in my Linux terminal...