Windows 7 – Shutdown button changes to Install Updates and Shut Down
When Windows 7 downloads and installs updates, the shutdown button in the Start menu automatically changes to Install Updates and Shut Down. If you don’t like this behavios, and want the button to simply display the last used option, then there is a way to change this behavior in Windows 7.
This require you to change the Windows registry, so be sure to first make a backup of the registry, so you can restore that in case anything goes wrong, or you want to revert the change.
To change the behavior:
- Open the Registry Editor (type “regedit” in the Start search box and press Enter).
- In the registry editor, navigate to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU
If it does not exist, create it, by using the the Edit -> New -> Key menu option. - Now select the Edit -> New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value option.
- Enter NoAUAsDefaultShutdownOption as the name for the new entry.
- The value assigned to the new DWORD value should be 1.
In case the value already exists, change the value from 0 to 1. - Close the Registry Editor.
That is it. After the next Windows Update the Shutdown button will no longer be changed to the Install Updates and Shut Down option.
You can always still access the Install Updates and Shut Down option via the regular shutdown menu, since it will be the botton option in that menu. And if you do want the old behavior back, simply change the value from 1 to 0 again.
This registry change also applies to Vista, where the shutdown button is changed by Windows Update in the same way:
Software Tip
