How to Enable or Disable Automatic Restart on System Failure in Windows
Information
Whenever a critical error (ex: BSOD) is detected in Windows, Windows will restart itself by default to prevent any possible damage to your computer as a safety measure. The problem is that the error message on the screen only display on the screen very briefly (less than a second) before the PC restarts. If you turn off automatic restart on system failure, you will have time to read and write down the error message to help when troubleshooting.
This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable an automatic restart of your computer on system failure in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8.
You must be signed in to Windows as an administrator to be able to do the steps in the tutorial below.
This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable an automatic restart of your computer on system failure in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8.
You must be signed in to Windows as an administrator to be able to do the steps in the tutorial below.
Note
If you disable automatic restart on system failure, Windows will hang on the error screen indefinitely until you manually restart the computer to escape from the error message.
OPTION ONE
Enable or Disable Automatic Restart in "Startup and Recovery"
1. Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click/tap on the System icon.
2. Click/tap on the Advanced system settings link on the left side, and close the System window. (see screenshot below).
3. If prompted by UAC, then click/tap on Yes (Windows 7/8) or Continue (Vista).
4. Click/tap on Settings under Startup and Recovery. (see screenshot below)
5. Do step 6 or 7 below for what you would like to do.
6. To Enable Automatic Restart on System Failure
NOTE: This is the default setting.
A) Under System failure, check the Automatically restart box, click/tap on OK, and go to step 8 below. (see screenshot below step 7)
7. To Disable Automatic Restart on System Failure
A) Under System failure, uncheck the Automatically restart box, click/tap on OK, and go to step 8 below. (see screenshot below)
8. Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below step 4)
OPTION TWO
Enable or Disable Automatic Restart using a REG File
Note
The .reg files below are for the registry key and value below.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl
AutoReboot DWORD
0 = Disable
1 = Enable
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl
AutoReboot DWORD
0 = Disable
1 = Enable
1. Do step 2 or 3 below for what you would like to do.
2. To Enable Automatic Restart on System Failure
NOTE: This is the default setting.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the .reg below, and go to step 4 below.
Enable_Auto_Restart_on_System_Failure.reg
3. To Disable Automatic Restart on System Failure
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the .reg below, and go to step 4 below.
Disable_Auto_Restart_on_System_Failure.reg
4. Save the .reg file to your desktop.
5. Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.
6. If prompted, click on Run, Yes (UAC Windows 7/8) or Continue (UAC Vista), Yes, and OK to approve merging the .reg file.
7. You can now delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.
OPTION THREE
Enable or Disable Automatic Restart in a Command Prompt
1. Open an elevated command prompt in Windows or a command prompt at boot, and do step 2 or 3 below for what you would like to do.
2. To Enable Automatic Restart on System Failure
NOTE: This is the default setting.
A) In the command prompt, copy and paste the command below, press Enter, and go to step 4 below. (see screenshot below)
wmic recoveros set AutoReboot = True
3. To Disable Automatic Restart on System Failure
A) In the command prompt, copy and paste the command below, press Enter, and go to step 4 below. (see screenshot below)
wmic recoveros set AutoReboot = False
4. When finished, you can close the elevated command prompt if you like.
That's it,
Shawn
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