Do Windows/Automatic updates happen when a PC is sleeping/standby

automatic-updateswindows 7windows-update

Mostly interested in doing it on some Win7 laptops, a lot of people seem to believe its not possible. However I can't find any definitive Microsoft documents detailing it either way:

  1. This old documentation (Server 2003) says its not supported
  2. This technet article details from May 2008 (& speaking about Vista) says 'Note that when your system is in sleep mode, it can still wake up at specified times to download and install updates'
  3. kb2799178 detailed that some Win8 PC's (mostly desktops) did support this capability via a setting in Control Panel->Action Center (& a 'Regular Maintenance' task in scheduled tasks)

Background: I have 20 Win7 laptops (Dell Latitude E5550) in a cart & I'd like updates to happen off-hours so users aren't bothered during work hours. We have a GPO that says to install them automatically & I believe it may make them restart

Best Answer

Yep, you can configure the "Enabling Windows Update Power Management to automatically wake up the system to install scheduled updates" GPO setting. It requires Vista or higher: GPO setting requires Vista or higher to work

Allowing scheduled wakeup will need to be supported and enabled in your BIOS too.

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