Everyone hates impromptu restarts when in the middle of something on the computer. Even if it’s potentially a small restart that’ll only take 5 to 10 minutes. Thankfully, you can schedule a restart for your Windows PC to update at a convenient time, so it does not disrupt your workflow.

With scheduling, Windows also allows you to define active hours on your PC so it won’t automatically restart the PC and will only install updates outside the designated hours.

Schedule Restart from the Windows Update Notification

Whenever your PC is ready to be updated/ once all updates have been installed, a notification banner arrives that asks you to restart your PC. You can reschedule the restart right from this notification.

From the Windows Update notification, click on the ‘Remind me later’ button to continue. This will bring a separate window to your screen.

Then, pick a day and time for the restart using the day and time selectors. Once configured, click on the ‘Schedule restart’ button to confirm.

Your PC will now update at the designated time set by you. Make sure your device is on and plugged in. However, if Windows is not able to restart the PC for Windows Update, you will receive a notification to restart the PC on your next login.

Schedule Restart for Update from the Taskbar

In case you missed the restart notification, you can also schedule it conveniently from the taskbar at any time.

To do so, right-click on the ‘Update’ icon on the taskbar.

Next, click on the ‘Schedule restart’ option.

After that, select the day and the time using the respective menus and click on the ‘Schedule restart’ option to confirm.

Schedule Restart for Update from the Settings App

If for some reason you are not able to schedule a restart from the notification or the taskbar, you can easily schedule the restart for the update from the Settings app.

First, head to the Start Menu and click on the ‘Settings’ tile to continue. Otherwise, press the Windows+I keys together on your keyboard to open the app.

Next, click on the ‘Windows Update’ tab from the left sidebar to proceed.

Then, click on the ‘chevron’ icon (downward arrow) and select the ‘Schedule Restart’ option.

Now, choose a day and time using the respective options and then click on the ‘Schedule restart’ button to confirm.

How to Set Active Hours on your Windows 11 PC

If you feel scheduling a restart every time you update your PC is a cumbersome task, you can also define active hours on your PC. Windows will always restart your PC outside those designated hours to make sure your work is not interrupted.

To do so, head to the Start Menu and click on the ‘Settings’ tile to proceed.

After that, click on the ‘Windows Update’ tab from the left sidebar.

Then, click on the ‘Advanced options’ tile to continue.

Now, click on the ‘Active hours’ tile. Next, click on the dropdown menu and select the ‘Manually’ option.

After that, adjust the ‘Start’ and ‘End’ times using the selection menus.

Your active time will be defined. And Windows will not automatically restart your PC during these hours after updates.

That’s about it, people. Hopefully, using this guide, you can schedule the restart for the Windows update of your PC and stop it from interrupting your workflow.