Pending Reboot

Detect whether a Windows device is waiting for a restart and understand the reported restart reasons.

The Pending Reboot check looks for five restart indicators on Windows devices. Its result shows every reason detected. The check runs every 60 minutes by default. It does not restart the device or identify which program caused an indicator.

Steps

Go to Devices and open the device.
Click the Checks tab → Add Check → Pending Reboot.
Adjust Report as critical and Alert on pending file renames if needed.
Click Add Check.

Settings

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
Report as critical	boolean	No	off	Reports a pending reboot as Critical instead of Warning.
Alert on pending file renames	boolean	No	on	If disabled and a pending file rename is the only reason, that reason remains visible but the check status is OK. Other detected reasons still affect the status.

Results

Status	Condition
OK	The check completed without detecting a reason
Warning	At least one reason was detected (default), or the query returned no result
Critical	At least one reason was detected and Report as critical is enabled
Error	The query failed

First review the reasons shown and plan a device restart if needed. If an indicator remains afterward, investigate the associated Windows component or installation rather than just dismissing the check result.

Understand the reboot reasons

Component-Based Servicing: The Windows component servicing key RebootPending exists. After a restart, check whether component servicing is still pending.
Windows Update: The Windows Update key RebootRequired exists. Check update history and pending Windows updates.
Pending file rename: The PendingFileRenameOperations value under Session Manager is not empty; it can also include scheduled file deletions. Check whether an installation or update adds file operations again (see below).
Pending computer rename: The active and configured Windows computer names differ. After a restart, check whether the name change took effect.
Configuration Manager: The Configuration Manager key RebootData exists. Check whether a deployment still requires a restart.

Inspect a pending file rename

If this reason keeps appearing, read the Windows registry value checked by the check on the affected device:

Get-ItemPropertyValue `
  -Path 'HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager' `
  -Name PendingFileRenameOperations -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

Check whether operations remain after a restart or an installation or update adds them again. Do not change the registry value just to dismiss the check result.

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