WIRES-X and Windows Updates/Restarts

I am creating this document as a tutorial for those who are Wires-X node managers like myself. I have heard many people complain about Windows updates. While I won’t go into the legitimacy of this complaint, I will explain some issues involving Wires-X and Windows Update, and more importantly how to fix the problem.

I am no expert on Wires-X, HAM radio (I am only a General) or really anything. However, I do have over 20 years of extensive in the field IT experience and training before that.

Explanation:

So, there is an issue with Windows Update and Wires-X. For most they do not get the updates unless they manually authorize them or if the machine does, it will hang on restart. This is because Wires-x Software is communicating to the Operating System (Windows) that it is in the process of doing something and this prevents a shutdown or restart from happening without a user present to override this issue. This is a problem for many because their node or server is located somewhere in which they are not looking at it daily.

In defense of my beloved Microsoft, this is not their doing. This is a Yaesu issue. The Wires-X software is telling Windows to continue running. This is the same concept as when you shut down or restart and Windows says, hey, you are using Word and haven’t saved what you are doing.

Another thing that occurs is Wires-X Software can get a bit “glitchy” if it runs for too many hours without a reboot. Initially my solution for both was to simply set an automated task to reboot the machine daily. This worked for everything but large “major feature updates” these are what they used to call a service pack. These must do their own special shutdown procedure. Since a task does a standard restart, these never get installed without user intervention. After thinking about this for a while I have come up with the solution of still having a daily restart at about 3AM, but also there is a registry key that can be added which tells Windows, that if something is running on the system, no matter what it’s saying to Windows, Windows will go ahead and kill it for whatever restart is needed. After testing these methods are working flawlessly. Effectively, my Wires-X node now runs automatically without any intervention required.

On a side note it is good to have remote control software on this machine too (Google Remote Desktop is 100% free) so that if you are away from the machine you log in remotely.

Step by Step Fix:

Adding the Registry Key (if you aren’t good with this type of thing, I will be placing the key on my website where it can be downloaded soon):

1. Press the Windows Key and R Simultaneously, this will open the Run Box.

2. Type regedit in RUN or Start search box and press Enter. It’ll open Registry Editor.

3. Now go to following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

4. In right-side pane, right-click on empty area and create a new String AutoEndTasks and set its value to 1

5. That’s it. Close Registry Editor and restart your computer to take effect.

Now Windows will automatically end task of all running apps without showing you “This app is preventing…” message on screen whenever you want to sign out, restart or shut down your computer.

Adding the scheduled task for daily reboot:

1. Press the Windows Key and R Simultaneously, this will open the Run Box.

1. Type taskschd.msc in start search and hit Enter to open the Task Scheduler.

2. In the Actions Panel on the right, click on Create Basic Task.

3. Give it a name and a description if you wish and click Next.

4. When asked When do you want the task to start, select what you want. Click Next.

5. Select the Start date and time.

6. Clicking Next will bring you to the Action page. Here select Start a program and click Next.

7. Type shutdown on the Program/script space and /r /f /t 0 in the Add arguments box. If you want the shutdown to commence after say 60 sec, type 60 instead of 0 here.

8. Click Next to review all and finally click Finish. Your computer will restart at the designated day and time.