If you change the duplex setting on an interface, the interface it is facing will continue to operate in whatever duplex mode it was already in until next time it is reset.
If you change the speed, that resets the interface, so it renegotiates on the way back up.
For example, you have 2 facing interfaces, both set to auto/auto. They have autonegotiated 100/Full.
- If you change one end to 100/Full instead of Auto/auto, both will remain on 100/Full. Next time you reset the interface, the one set to auto/auto will fail to negotiate and autodetect the speed as 100 and set the duplex to whatever the default value is - usually 100/Half (stupidly).