4 Ways | How to Stop Windows 11 Update Pending Restart

If you see a 'Windows 11 update pending restart' message under the Windows updates menu and you don't know how to stop it. You've reached the right place. Continue reading this article as we'll help you out with how to stop Windows 11 update pending restart.

Windows frequently releases both feature and security updates, and these updates are necessary to keep our PCs secure from threats. The new features also help boost our productivity. However, if you don't want to migrate from Windows 10 to Windows 11 yet and you don't know how to stop the Windows 11 update pending restart notification.

Continue reading this article offered by EaseUS, as we're going to show you how to finally stop the Windows 11 update pending restart notification.

Why Is My PC Stuck on Windows 11 Update Pending a Restart

The reason why your PC's update menu shows and is stuck on the "Windows 11 pending to restart" notification is that your PC is upgradable to Windows 11, and Microsoft is pushing you to update your PC to try out the new features.

However, most apps and games aren't compatible just yet. If this is the same reason why you don't want to update your PC to Windows 11 to avoid incompatibility and disrupting your productivity, you can stop Windows from showing the notification.

Another reason could be that you've downloaded the update but haven't authorized Windows to install it on your PC yet, and Windows is asking you to restart your PC to finish the installation. Lastly, you could also see the message if the updated files are corrupted. 

In the below section, we'll show you how to do just that.

Pro Tip: Always Backup Computer to Prevent Data Loss

When you're changing the settings of your PC, it is possible to mistakenly delete or edit a file that can break your PC. Which is why backing up your PC becomes important. EaseUS Todo Backup is a great program that can help backup your computer to Cloud or external hard drive to avoid data loss. If you want to seek backup software, it can suit you well.

EaseUS Todo Backup Home is a practical and versatile backup and recovery utility that allows you to protect your data and computer. It lets you create a backup of your files, systems, disks, partitions, and computer apps and create automatic, scheduled, full, incremental and differential backups to meet your various backup needs.

In addition, it can help you to image a hard drive for your computer and create an iso image of your operating system. It is worth noting that you can have 250G free Cloud storage and a Security Zone to store your backups.

The following is what makes this backup software so recommendable and useful.

EaseUS Todo Backup is an all-in-one solution for your data security. So, what are you waiting for? Download and try it to back up your computer for data security.

Step 1. Launch EaseUS Todo Backup on your computer, and click Create Backup on the home screen and then hit the big question mark to select backup contents.

Step 2. To back up your Windows operating system, click "OS" to begin the backup task.

Step 3. Your Windows operating system information and all system related files and partitions will be automatically selected so you don't need to do any manual selection at this step. Next, you'll need to choose a location to save the system image backup by clicking the illustrated area.

Step 4. The backup location can be another local drive on your computer, an external hard drive, network, cloud or NAS. Generally, we recommend you use an external physical drive or cloud to preserve the system backup files. 

Step 5. Customiztion settings like enabling an automatic backup schedule in daily, weekly, monthly, or upon an event, and making a differential and incremental backup are available in the Options button if you're interested. Click "Backup Now", and the Windows system backup process will begin. The completed backup task will display on the left side in a card style.

How to Stop Windows 11 from Showing a Pending Restart

There are a total of 4 ways to stop your PC from showing the notification message saying Windows 11 update pending restart. You can try these 4 methods to help you get out of this problem. Let's come to the details.

1. Fix 1. Clear the SoftwareDistribution Folder
2. Fix 2. Pause Windows 11 Update
3. Fix 3. Modify the Windows Registry
4. Fix 4. Change Group Policy Settings

Fix 1. Clear the SoftwareDistribution Folder

Windows stores the update files in the SoftwareDistribution folder, and by deleting the files in this folder, Windows should stop bothering you to restart your PC to install Windows 11. Here's how to clean the SoftwareDistribution folder:

Step 1. Click on the "Start" button and then type "Command Prompt."

Step 2. Select "Run as administrator."

Step 3. Type and enter the command "net stop wuauserv" to stop the Windows Update Service.

Step 4. Now, type and enter "net stop bits."

Step 5. Open "File Explorer" and navigate to this location C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution.

Step 6. Select all the files and press CTRL+SHIFT+DEL.

Fix 2. Pause Windows 11 Update

Alternatively, you can pause Windows 11 update to stop Windows from bothering you for 7 to up to 35 days. However, after this period, you can again extend the time frame if you still want to wait before updating your PC to Windows 11. Here's how to pause your Windows updates:

Step 1. Click on the "Start" button and search for "Settings."

Step 2. Select "Update and Security," and on the right side window, select "Pause updates for 7 days."

Step 3. However, if you want to stop Windows from notifying you to update to Windows 11 for more than 7 days, click on "Advanced options," and under the "Pause until" section, click on the "Select date" drop-down and select the maximum allowed date to pause the update.

Fix 3. Modify the Windows Registry

We hope you've used EaseUS Todo Backup to back up your computer because incorrectly editing the Windows registry can break your computer. Now, here's what you need to do:

Step 1. Press Win+R on your keyboard and type in "regedit" to open the registry editor.

Step 2. Navigate to the following location:

 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate

Step 3. Right-click on the right-side window and select "New" followed by "DWORD (32-bit) Value."

Step 4. Change the name of the value to TargetReleaseVersion and the data from 0 to 1.

Step 5. Now, right-click again and select "New," followed by "String Value."

Step 6. Name the String Value as TargetReleaseVersionInfo and open it by double-clicking it.

Step 7. Under "Value data," type "21H2" and press the "Enter" key.

Step 8. Restart your PC.

Fix 4. Change Group Policy Settings

Modifying group policies incorrectly can break your PC, which is why you should back up your PC before you proceed with changing the group policies. Now, here's what you need to do:

Step 1. Press Win+R and type gpedit.msc to open the Group Policy Editor window.

Step 2. Select "Turn off auto-restart for updates during active hours," followed by "Computer Configuration" and "Administrative Templates."

Step 3. Now, select "Windows Components," followed by "Windows Update."

Step 4. Select "Enable" and change the start and end times to your PC's active hours.

Step 5. Go back and select "Select the target feature update version," followed by "Computer Configuration" and "Administrative Templates."

Step 6. Lastly, select "Windows Components," followed by "Windows Update" and "Windows Update for Business."

Step 7. Click on Disable," followed by "OK."

If you like this post, you can share it on your social platforms to help more people.

The Final Words

We're hoping that this article has helped you show how to stop the Windows 11 update pending restart message on your Windows PC. All of our solutions were carefully chosen and are safe to use. However, backing up the PCs is very important if you're considering using methods that involve Registry files or Group Policy settings.

If you happen to mistakenly modify or delete a certain registry file or change the group policy, your PC may malfunction. Hence, backing up the PC is necessary. Thankfully, EaseUS Todo Backup is an amazing program that can back up your PC in no time, and you can follow our steps right away.

FAQs on How to Stop Windows 11 Update Pending Restart

Here are some more answers to your questions regarding Windows updates.

1. How to stop Windows update while it is downloading?

To stop a Windows update while it is downloading, open the "Settings" window and then open the "Updates" menu. On the right-side window, you should see the "Pause update for 7 days" option. Click on it, and the downloads will stop immediately and resume after 7 days. By pressing the "Pause update for 7 days" option once again, you can stop the updates for another 7 days.

2. What would happen if I shut down my PC while it was updating?

There is a high possibility that the system files will get corrupted, and your PC will struggle to boot up, or you might see problems with your PC later on. You can also run into a BSoD screen, and there is also a possibility that your storage device could get corrupted, and you can lose your data permanently.

3. How long does it take Windows to update a PC?

It depends on a lot of factors, such as the speed of your internet, the size of the update, and how fast the write speed of your SSD/HDD is. If the update size is small to medium and you have fast internet, the download will be fast, and if the write speed of your SSD/HDD is also fast, your PC will be updated in no time. However, if the internet speed is slow, the update size is larger, and the speed of your SSD/HDD is slower, it will take longer for Windows to install its updates on your PC.