User reboots with Automatic reboot disabled

Hello,

You can try enabling automatic reboots with Deferrals! This gives the end user the option to say “not now, I’m busy” and then try again later. The admin can configure patch policies to provide a number of deferral choices spaced with a definable amount of wait time in between each reminder.

https://help.automox.com/hc/en-us/articles/5352112376724-Managing-End-User-Notifications#ManagingEnd-UserNotifications-DeferralSettings

Otherwise, we recommend determining a dedicated day of the week to push reboots with a patch policy or Worklet so the end users expect to have devices rebooted on a scheduled cadence.

Cheers,

Brandon

Good Afternoon, Brandon.  I’m in the same boat as OP.  We don’t want automatic reboots to occur, but need the end users to know when their system needs to be rebooted.

The solution that you provide doesn’t work for us, as it would eventually end in an automatic reboot (when deferrals limit is reached).  Is there not a way to send reboot notifications when ‘do not enable automatic reboots...’ option is enabled?

Thanks!

Charlie

Hi Charlie,

Thanks for your question. At the moment, Automox does not recognize reboots initiated manually by the user through Windows; it only recognizes those initiated by Automox as part of a policy (we are working on adding that detection in the future). That means the only way to notify end users about the need for a reboot is as part of a policy that will initiate the reboot.

If you want to notify your end users about a pending reboot, then we recommend you do so through a policy that allows the end user to reboot using that prompt or defer it until they are ready to reboot, or by creating a custom Worklet that leverages scripting of some kind.

You can accomplish this by allowing automatic reboots in the patch policy with a notification, so the end user is informed of the need for a reboot and can run it then or defer it as many times as you can configured.

Alternately, you can use a Worklet designed specifically for handling reboots that is set on a known schedule.
Here is an example: you can browse the Worklet catalog for a premade solution for Windows OS called:
​​​​​​Windows - Maintenance - Maintenance Window Reboots
This example Worklet lets you configure several parameters about when and how the reboots can be initiated, such as only during a specific window of time and only if the device needs a reboot. We also have similar worklets to schedule or push reboots for MacOS and Linux in the catalog.

You can also create your own Worklet from scratch that has notifications enabled that runs on a given day and then just inform your users that reboots will generally happen on that day or whatever schedule you set. Here’s our guide to set that up:
​​​​​​Creating a Reboot Worklet

All the best,
Brandon

Thanks for the information, Brandon!  I’ll look into the Worklet route.  Do you have an idea for when the reboot detection feature might be added?

I appreciate your help, and your quick response.

Charlie

Hi Charlie,

Glad that the info was useful to you!
I do not have an ETA for the reboot detection, but our team has determined that it will likely come after our next major Agent version release. Part of why the detection doesn’t happen now is that the Automox Agent is intended to be lightweight and not take a lot of action on its own. The next release version starts a process of adding additional functionality to the Agent so it can take more helpful actions and relay more active information back to the Automox console. Manual reboot detection would rely on those new components of a future Agent release.

If you want to learn more about what is coming up on our release roadmap, then you can attend our Product Roadmap Webinar (next week on Feb 21st; keep an eye out for emails with the registration details) or review our written roadmap linked below.
Product Roadmap
You can also find that link at the top of the community navigation panel.

Cheers,
Brandon