The Infamous “Checking for Updates, Do not turn off your PC”

How frustrating it can be when you are about to sit for online Teams Meeting, and then you get the message “Windows is checking for Updates, 0% Completed, Do not turn off this PC“. When you are coding, When you are gaming especially real world games like Far Cry 6, Red Redemption, etc., When you showing office Presentation, getting stuck in the Windows is checking for Updates can really be frustrating. We can minimize this by configurating the Active Hours, Pause Updates during our crucial work, etc. Let’s check out each option in detail.

Important: While Surprising Windows Updates from Windows 11 can be quite annoying some times, it is highly essential to keep your system up to date for Device Security, Performance, Stability, Device Compatibility with latest Applications, and Hardware, Glitches, etc. As a long time Windows user, I sincerely advise my users to keep their Windows Up to Date.

Different Measures to avoid Surprise “Windows Checking for Updates Reboot”

1. Configure Active Hours.
2. Make sure Get me up to date option is disabled.
3. Pause Updates for 1 Week during your crucial works.

1. How to Adjust Active Hours on Windows 11?

Kindly use the following steps to access Active Hours on Windows 11 and then adjust it.

• Go to the Windows Settings using the keyboard Shortcut Win Key + I.
• From the Left pane, click on “Windows Update“.

• Under More Actions, select Advanced options.

• Here, you can find the option “Active Hours“. This will let Windows 11 know that it should not restart during these hours. Drop Down the option to get Adjust Active Hours.

• In Adjust Active Hours, you can find two options, 1. Automatically, and 2. Manually.

• By default, Automatic option will be selected. Windows 11 will analyze the user’s pattern of working and then adjust active hours accordingly. For Example, if you doing Work From Home for an IT Company, with office timing from Morning 9 to Evening 7, then you will more likely to be working on these hours. Windows 11 will study these pattern and adjust the Active Hours may be from 9 AM to 10 PM everyday. It tries its best to be accurate and cause less discomfort for the users.
• The Manual option is much convenient. Here, we can just specify the Active Hours. Let’s take my work schedule. I am active with my computer from morning 10 AM till 10 PM. Hence, you can manually enter the Start Time and End Time. In my case, I can set the Start time as 10 AM, and End time as 10 PM. My Active Hours is now set from 10 AM to 10 PM. This will inform Windows not to do any Reboot for Updates during these hours. The Auto Update window will now be after 10 PM till Morning 9.59 AM. Kindly set your Active Hours as per your convenience.

2. Configure “Make sure up to Date” option on Windows 11

This option is very crucial because when this option is enabled, then Windows will restart as soon as possible even during the Active Hours. However, the system will notify 15 minutes before restarting. Yet, this option has the power to overrule Active Hours. Hence it is suggested to disable this option to use Active Hours effectively on Windows 11.

• Open the Windows Settings and click on Windows Update from the Left Pane.
• Click Advanced options, and you can find the option “Get me up to date“. By default, this option will be disabled. However, it is a healthy practice to check the current status of it. For some reason, if this option is enabled, you can toggle the switch of Get me up to date to OFF.

3. Pause Windows Updates for 1 Week

This is an optional procedure, and you can consider for some extra ordinary situations. For example, you have a office presentation in another two days, then just to be cautious and avoid any surprises, you can enable “Pause Windows Updates for 1 Week” option. This option, as the name says, will pause the updates for one week. The following are the steps to access this option on Windows 11.

• Go to Windows Settings and click Windows Update.
• Under More options, you can find “Pause Updates“. Click on “Pause for 1 Week” button.

• That’s it. Windows Update is now paused for 1 week. After one week, this option will be disabled automatically.

Take Away

Surprise Windows Updates, and Reboots can be very annoying especially when we are doing something very important, yet, Updating Windows is highly crucial for the system safety and effective functioning. With options like Active Hours on Windows 11, Get me up to Date, Pause Windows Update for 1 week, etc., we can control how and when these Windows Updates can Happen. With more options, you can control it more effectively!

Have Queries?

We hope you are satisfied with our above article, and if you have any queries, kindly let us know in the Comments. For more awesome insights, stay tuned to Winsides.com. Happy and Safe Computing!