---
description: |
  The `windows-restart` provisioner restarts a Windows machine and waits for it to
  come back up. Learn how to use the `windows-restart` provisioner.
page_title: windows-restart provisioner reference
---

<BadgesHeader>
  <PluginBadge type="official" />
</BadgesHeader>

# `windows-restart` provisioner

The `windows-restart` provisioner initiates a reboot on a Windows machine and
waits for the machine to come back online.

The Windows provisioning process often requires multiple reboots, and this
provisioner helps to ease that process.

Packer expects the machine to be ready to continue provisioning after it
reboots. Packer detects that the reboot has completed by making an RPC call
through the Windows Remote Management (WinRM) service, not by ACPI functions,
so Windows must be completely booted in order to continue.

## Basic Example

The example below is fully functional.

<Tabs>
<Tab heading="HCL2">

```hcl
provisioner "windows-restart" {}
```

</Tab>
<Tab heading="JSON">

```json
{
  "type": "windows-restart"
}
```

</Tab>
</Tabs>

## Configuration Reference

The reference of available configuration options is listed below.

Optional parameters:

- `check_registry` (bool) - if `true`, checks for several registry keys that
  indicate that the system is going to reboot. This is useful if an
  installation kicks off a reboot and you want the provisioner to wait for
  that reboot to complete before reconnecting. Please note that this option
  is a beta feature, and we generally recommend that you finish installs that
  auto-reboot (like Windows Updates) during your _autounattend_ phase before
  the `winrm` provisioner connects.

- `registry_keys` (array of strings) - if `check-registry` is `true`,
  `windows-restart` will not reconnect until after all of the listed keys are
  no longer present in the registry.

```
  default:

      var DefaultRegistryKeys = []string{
        "HKLM:SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Component Based Servicing\\RebootPending",
        "HKLM:SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Component Based Servicing\\PackagesPending",
        "HKLM:Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Component Based Servicing\\RebootInProgress",
      }
```

- `restart_command` (string) - The command to execute to initiate the
  restart. By default this is `shutdown /r /f /t 0 /c "packer restart"`.

- `restart_check_command` (string) - The command to run after executing `restart_command`
  to check if the guest machine has restarted. This command will retry until the connection
  to the guest machine has been restored or `restart_timeout` has exceeded.

<Tabs>
<Tab heading="HCL2">

```hcl
provisioner "windows-restart" {
  restart_check_command = "powershell -command \"& {Write-Output 'restarted.'}\""
}
```

</Tab>
<Tab heading="JSON">

```json
{
  "type": "windows-restart",
  "restart_check_command": "powershell -command \"& {Write-Output 'restarted.'}\""
}
```

</Tab>
</Tabs>

- `restart_timeout` (string) - The timeout to wait for the restart. By
  default this is 5 minutes. Example value: `5m`. If you are installing
  updates or have a lot of startup services, you will probably need to
  increase this duration.

@include 'provisioners/common-config.mdx'
