Windows Server 2016 updates and automatic reboots
I am trying to figure out the best way to control automatic reboots in Server 2016. You have to specify a time when the server will reboot and there doesn't seem to be a way to disable it. I also don't see a way to change the setting from "Available updates will be downloaded and installed automatically..." so I can't prevent the installation of the updates. Is there a GP that can control this? What happens if there is not WSUS server with which to control when the updates are pushed (and therefor hopefully restarts)? Any advice/online info would be great.
Hey guys - I'm a PM on the Windows Server team. The "Available updates will be downloaded..." text in the UI is a bug that doesn't represent the actual automatic update settings.
To verify the actual server settings, you can open the command prompt and run sconfig.cmd; in the menu, you should see option 5 set to Manual.
Disabling AU via the registry is documented here: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd939844(v=ws.10).aspx
You'll want to set NoAutoUpdate to 1 if you're using that method.
If you have questions or issues, please feel free to email me at brendanp @ microsoft.com and I can help to find the right contact.