CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonwindows-10
Prashant Kumar
Prashant Kumar

Reputation: 701

Check if windows 10 system needs a restart after automatic update using python

I have a bunch of python script that run on a scheduled basis in a windows 10 based system, sometimes after windows 10 automatic update, the OS will ask for a restart to finish the update and after some time it would restart automatically if not done manually which might mess with automated python script runs.

I am looking for a pythonic solution where I would query the OS if it needs a restart and upon getting the appropriate response I would trigger the appropriate solution

import necessary_libraries

isRestartRequired = check_if_restart_is_needed() // returns true or false

if isRestartRequired == True:
    notifyUser()

Is this programmatically possible with python?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 1403

Answers (2)

EdF
EdF

Reputation: 86

The following seems to work for me:

  1. Install the PowerShell script Reboot pending:

    Install-Module -Name PendingReboot

  2. Check it works in Powershell:

    Test-Pending Reboot

  3. Call it from python using:

import subprocess
def restart_needed()->bool:
    """Uses Windows Powershell tool to figure out if a windows
        reboot is pending. True indicates one is due."""
    cmd:list[str]=["powershell","-Command","Test-PendingReboot"]
    res:bytes=subprocess.run(cmd,capture_output=True)
    output_text:str=res.stdout.decode("utf-8").strip()
    restart:bool=output_text.endswith("True")
    return restart

Upvotes: 1

Alex
Alex

Reputation: 846

I personally don't think there is a dedicated library for that. I also don't think you should check that for updates individually, as that will likely require searching for the information about each and every update online (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/308547/how-to-know-if-a-windows-update-will-require-a-reb.html).

So you'll likely have to figure out a way how to determine whether Windows is going to reboot or not, and then manually perform that check (by running a system command or utility) in Python. Now your question sounds more like "Which mechanisms Windows use to reboot the machine during the update, and how to check whether any of them is invoked". Please note that there might be a bunch of such mechanisms, and they are most probably undocumented and may change in future. You can learn the basics on MS website, but they don't provide good amount of details there (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/update/how-windows-update-works).

You can check the list of possible reboot status locations in How can I check for a pending reboot? (it looks quite promising), and implement these checks in Python afterwards using some function that allows you to check the output (Running shell command and capturing the output).

If you decide to use that approach, please capture a PC that requires a reboot and verify that one of the 4 sources mentioned in the answer indeed contains the reboot flag. I did it for my laptop yesterday - it was pending reboot, and some entries indeed contained that marker. Make sure you check that for your infrastructure as well.

P.S. If you have full control upon your entire infrastructure, you might look into PowerShell Gallery PendingReboot module mentioned in the referenced SO post (if it's installed on the machine, you can use just one command instead of four), or make yourself familiar with brilliant (and completely useless probably) opinion of MSDN guy https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20151203-00/?p=92261 : In this specific case, the idea would be to change the design from “Install the update, and then postpone the reboot until a convenient time” to “Wait for a convenient time, then install the update and reboot immediately.”

Upvotes: 0

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