Windows Update helps get the latest fixes and security improvements, keeping your device running smoothly and staying protected. In most cases, you don’t do anything to get updates for your computer. Once updates are installed, you will have to restart your computer to complete the update process. If you can’t restart your PC immediately after updating, you can schedule a restart or set active hours. Active hours let Windows know when you’re typically at your PC. Windows will use that info to schedule updates and restarts when you’re not using the PC. There are multiple ways to set active hours in Windows 11. Below we’ll show you two ways you can set active hours in Windows 11.

How to select active hours for Windows Update in Windows 11

As mentioned above, once Windows has finished installing updates, in most cases, you will have to restart your computer for the process to complete. If you can’t restart your computer immediately, you can schedule a restart or set active hours. There are ways to do it: You can have Windows automatically adjust active hours based on your device’s activity or manually select your active hours.

Have Windows automatically adjust active hours based on your device’s activity

Based on your device’s usage, Windows can determine when it is active and when it’s not. Windows will then choose a good time when you will not be using your device to update and restart. To do that, select Start -> Settings -> Windows Update -> Advanced options > Active hours. On the Windows Update -> Advanced options settings pane, select the Active hour tile to expand. Then Adjust active hours, and select Automatically. After that, Windows will learn when to schedule an update and restart.

Select your active hours

If you do not want Windows to automatically set active hours for you, you can select your own. To do that, go and select Start -> Settings -> Windows Update -> Advanced options > Active hours. On the Windows Update -> Advanced options settings pane, select the Active hour tile to expand. Then Adjust active hours, and select Manually. Choose the start time and end time for your active hours. That should do it! Conclusion: This post showed you how set active hours for Windows Update in Windows 11. If you find any error above or have something to share, please use the comment form below.