Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP) increased the amount of flexibility and control SEP administrators have in deciding when SEP clients will initiate operating system restarts. For example; after upgrades or installations.
These options can be configured within the Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager (SEPM) console.

This article will describe each of the options and explain their function.

Note: Client versions before 12.x do not support most of the restart options that are available in this version of SEP. For instance, scheduled restart, hard restart, and auto restart are not supported by client versions before 12.x. Clients older than the 12.x version support only the Prompt and No Prompt options.

Restart Settings may be configured in the SEPM at the client-group level and in the Client Install Settings template for SEP client installations.

How to modify Restart Settings at the client-group level:

1. Login to the SEPM
2. Click Clients
3. Click the desired client-group (e.g. Default Group)
4. Click the Policies tab (top)
5. Underneath Location-independent policies and Settings, click General Settings
6. Select the desired Restart Settings options
7. Click OK to save changes

How to modify the Restart Settings for a Client Install Settings template:

1. Login to the SEPM
2. Click Admin > Install Packages > Client Install Settings
3. Double-click the Client Install Settings template you wish to modify or click Add Client Install Settings... to create a new template
4. In the Add Client Install Settings or Edit Client Install Settings window, click the Restart Settings tab
5. Select the desired Restart Settings options
6. Click OK to save changes

Overview of the Restart Settings restart methods:

Note: If it is not necessary to restart the computer in order to complete the installation or migration, then SEP will not reboot the computer even if Forced restart, Delayed restart, or Custom restart is chosen. SEP only restarts the computer when a restart is needed in order to finish the upgrade or migration process. This behavior is by design in order to minimize unnecessary restarts.

• Forced restart: Forces the computer to restart at the time you specify. The computer user does not receive an option to delay the restart.
• Delayed restart: Set the maximum time delay to restart the computer. The user will have the option to temporarily delay the restart, but only up to the maximum time you allow. When the allowed time is elapsed, the user is prompted that a restart is imminent, and has 5 minutes to save data and close applications.
• No restart: User's computer will not be restarted. When a restart on the user's computer is required, indication of a pending restart appears on the SEPM.
• Custom restart: This option allows customization of the computer's restart behavior.

Note: [Restart immediately if the user is not logged in] option is enabled with unmanaged client by default. If no user is logged-in to the system when the scheduled time expires, SEP will not wait for the user to logon to display the countdown prompt. Instead, it will directly restart the system.

Other Restart Settings options:

• Hard restart: Third party applications will not be able to prevent this restart. Unsaved user data could be lost.
• Restart immediately if the user is not logged in: If the user is not logged in when the restart request is sent, this option forces an immediate restart and overrides other pending restart actions.