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A Windows restart stops OBS and interrupts its YouTube stream. To reduce the risk, check for pending restarts before going live, set Windows active hours to cover the entire broadcast, and schedule known restarts after the show. For a one-time event, you can temporarily pause updates. OBS Automatic Reconnect may help with some connection interruptions, but it cannot keep streaming while the PC reboots.
Before the stream: prevent a scheduled restart
- Check for a pending restart. In Windows 11, open Settings → Windows Update. If Windows says a restart is required, schedule it for after the broadcast rather than leaving it pending during the show.
- Set active hours for the full broadcast. Open Settings → Windows Update → Advanced options → Active hours and choose a window that covers the stream, including setup and likely overruns. Active hours tell Windows when the device is expected to be in use and reduce the risk of an automatic post-update restart during that period. They do not block every restart in every circumstance: device-management policies, update deadlines, and Windows version can affect behavior. See Microsoft’s guidance on managing device restarts after updates.
- For an important one-off event, consider Pause updates. In Settings → Windows Update, use the pause control to postpone updates that may require a restart. Microsoft’s current support guidance describes a maximum pause of up to 35 days; that is an upper limit, not a recommendation to defer security updates for that long. Resume updates and install them after the event. The available controls depend on Windows version; see Microsoft’s pause-updates guidance.
Active hours are the better recurring safeguard: updates remain enabled and can install outside the selected window. Pausing is a stronger short-term postponement for a particular event, but it expires. Do not try to disable updates indefinitely; Microsoft says updates cannot be stopped entirely through the ordinary pause control. If this is a work- or school-managed PC, ask its administrator about restart policies instead of changing registry or policy settings yourself.
Will OBS reconnect after my PC restarts?
No. OBS Automatic Reconnect can retry certain output connections while OBS is still running. A Windows restart stops the OBS process and encoder, so there is nothing on that PC sending video during the reboot. OBS documents reconnect as an Advanced setting, not as protection against a system restart; see the OBS Studio overview and OBS connection troubleshooting.
To check the setting, open OBS → Settings → Advanced → Automatically Reconnect. Exact labels can vary by OBS release. Choose a retry delay and retry limit suited to your connection. This may help with a brief supported output disconnection, but it does not remove the need to restart the encoder after Windows reboots. For network interruptions, OBS recommends investigating connection stability, dropped frames, bitrate, and the route to the ingest server.
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How to recover if Windows already restarted
- After Windows starts, open OBS and check whether it is streaming. If it is not, start the encoder again.
- Open the scheduled stream in YouTube Studio’s Live Control Room. Confirm YouTube is receiving encoder data, then check whether the broadcast is live or still waiting for a go-live action.
- If needed, load the stream’s server URL and stream key in OBS. YouTube’s encoder workflow can load prior stream settings for returning streamers; see YouTube’s guide to creating a live stream with an encoder.
- Check that stream’s auto-start and auto-stop settings rather than assuming a restarted encoder will resume the same broadcast automatically. YouTube’s controls can start or stop a broadcast in response to encoder actions when enabled; details are in YouTube’s auto-start and auto-stop help.
- Verify the live status and, afterward, the archive. Do not assume an interrupted broadcast will rejoin seamlessly or preserve every segment. YouTube says streams under 12 hours are automatically archived, but that does not establish how an interrupted stream’s segments will be handled.
Check the stream before and during the show
- Test audio and video before going live, and monitor YouTube’s stream health and messages during the broadcast. YouTube’s live streaming troubleshooting guidance covers stream health checks.
- Keep the Live Control Room available so you can see whether YouTube is receiving the encoder feed.
- For a scheduled event, decide in advance who can restart OBS and verify the broadcast if Windows does reboot.
Windows 10: a lifecycle caveat
Windows 10 support ended on October 14, 2025. Microsoft says it no longer provides free Windows Update software updates, technical assistance, or security fixes for Windows 10 after that date. The click paths above focus on Windows 11; controls and update behavior can differ on older Windows versions. See Microsoft’s Windows Update FAQ.
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