I manage a Windows Server 2019 instance hosted on Azure, and it unexpectedly rebooted during the day yesterday, which caused our production system to go down. I saw the following message in the System Event Log: 'The process C:Windowssystem32svchost.exe (MyServerSQL) has initiated the restart of computer MyServerSQL on behalf of user NT AUTHORITYSYSTEM for the following reason: Operating System: Service pack (Planned)'. I thought I had disabled the 'reboot after update' setting in the Windows Update Manager, but clearly, I missed something. What steps can I take to ensure the server does not reboot on its own unless I specifically allow it?
4 Answers
If managing this is too much, it might be worthwhile to consider hiring a Managed Service Provider (MSP). They can help take care of these kinds of issues for smaller companies that don’t need full-time IT staff.
You might want to adjust your update policy to 'Download updates and notify me to install them.' This way, you will need to log in once a month to manage and install updates manually, which should prevent any automatic reboots.
Make sure to check the actual settings under 'Configure Automatic Updates.' It seems like the default '3' setting might still allow for unwanted reboots. Switch it to '2 - Notify for download and auto install' for more control.
If you're not keen on the reboot craze, consider scheduling updates for times that won’t interrupt your work, like overnight. However, be careful as some environments can’t afford to restart even then.
Yeah, scheduling can be tricky. We just hold off on the reboot until a planned downtime but still push out the necessary updates ahead of time.
Honestly, keeping your server set to automatically update and reboot might be the best route. You can just adjust the timing so it doesn't interfere with your work. Check out Microsoft's guidelines on scheduling update installations for best practices.
You could also apply a local group policy as a more robust solution. It essentially achieves the same goal of controlling when updates are installed and reboots are initiated.