Resolved Disabling overnight booting.

Hi, all. I haven't been around in a while. I have an issue that is probably easy to fix for someone who is familiar with Windows 10. After shutting down my desktop at night, I'll come down and go to boot up my system in the morning and it's running. During the night something allows it to boot up. Just tell me it's not the "alphabets". LOL.
Seriously, it must have some setting that I can adjust...something that allows a boot during the night. I've had system updates that interrupt my daytime hours with time consuming updates so, I have no idea what is causing or allowing this.
Any advice is appreciated.

 

It is probably Windows Update and it is best to just leave it. If you look at Windows Update settings, you can tell it your "active hours" to prevent it from rebooting during the hours you normally use the computer.

You can also change the time Windows Updates reboots your computer (if needed) to apply critical updates. By default it is 3:30am.

You should NOT disable this feature. Keeping Windows fully updated is probably our #1 user responsibility when it comes to computer security.

 

It also could be Automatic Maintenance. You can easily turn this off:
Go to this path in Control Panel;
Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Security and Maintenance\Automatic Maintenance OR Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Security and Maintenance\ then click the down arrow to the right of "Maintenance" and then look for and click on "Change maintenance settings". UNCHECK "Allow scheduled maintenance to wake up my computer at the scheduled time".

 

Shut down is still putting the computer into a sleep mode because the power supply is still delivering +5Vsb standby voltage to several points on the motherboard. To completely shut down a computer, you must either unplug the computer from the wall, or (if you power supply has one) flip the master power switch on the back of the power supply.

Therefore, a sleeping computer can still be woken up - it just takes longer to boot.

Unless you are an experienced, advanced Windows user, it is recommended you don't pull the plug (or flip the switch). This is because Windows Update applies many critical updates in the middle of the night so it can reboot without disrupting the user's computing session. As I noted above, keeping Windows fully updated is one of the most important user responsibilities necessary to keep our computers and us safe and secure.

It should also be noted that Microsoft implemented automatic maintenance features for a good reason - it keeps our computers running optimally. These include Disk Optimization (defragging for hard drives), indexing, malware scans and more. And I note the feature works. Might something go wrong? Sure. But the risks are minimal.

Disabling these features is like not wearing your seatbelt because you don't want to get trapped in a car fire. Is it possible? Yes. Likely? No. Are you better off wearing your seatbelt? Absolutely.

 

Understand, this is NOT a Microsoft thing. It is an ATX Form Factor requirement that ATX power supplies maintain that +5Vsb voltage across the motherboard whenever the PC is simply shutdown - regardless the OS installed.

And note shut down is NOT the same as powered off. Shutdown, in the case of computers is really just putting it in standby mode. The same, by the way, as happens when you "shutdown" your TV - and, for that matter, any device that has a remote control.

Note that notebooks are different. For one, they are proprietary. They also hibernate (PCs don't). So for sure, for safety reasons, portable electronic devices should not suddenly start up in mid-flight, hospital critical care unit, explosive environments, or elsewhere where that would present a safety hazard. I should have been more specific and stated PCs.

 

Again, laptops work differently than PCs. I am not really talking about laptops because each laptop maker has their own way of doing things. Windows basically just accommodates the hardware makers.

On a PC, for example, with DDR4 RAM, data is kept alive in the RAM while the computer sleeps. IMO, this is a great thing. I don't understand what you have against Fast Startup. I love it. Unlike XP, modern versions of Windows don't need to go through frequent full boots. I've gone weeks without rebooting with no problems and would have kept going if some program or Windows update did not require a reboot.

You can manually tell Windows Update in W10 when to schedule reboots. If you don't want it in the middle of the night, change it. See https://lifehacker.com/prevent-windows-10-from-automatically-restarting-your-p-1723647582

 

I don't know. One source from almost 6 years ago? And where is this "well established" fact this "gimmick" is causing disk corruption? And do you think Microsoft has done absolutely nothing to address the problem since then?

From what I can find that corruption only affected a few "encrypted" disk images made by some programs - not all. BitLocker users, for example, were not affected. It also affected some of those few users who have dual-boot (Linux and Windows) systems.

What I see happening is [once again ] Microsoft and the OS are being blamed because a program is not compatible with the OS! That is not the OS's fault.

The Pros and Cons of Windows 10’s “Fast Startup” Mode

Fast Boot is working perfectly for 100s of millions of users. I am not going to recommend disabling it because a few users see problems with infrequent scenarios. Now if a user is intent, like you, to have their computers fully shut down for whatever reason, that's fine. Disable fast boot but they need understand they are bypassing great "hardware" features that take advantage of that feature - particularly systems using DDR4 RAM.

 

Yes, because exceptions don't make the rule. And actually the discussion is about the OP's problem and there is no indication Fast Boot has anything to do with it.

So not intending to drive this topic further OT, I will step out.