How to disable Windows 10 automatic updates? That’s a question that seems to be asked around a lot, as clearly, it’s a pain point for a lot of the users.
It is usually recommended to let Windows do its thing, but I understand the viewpoint of not having that option, since in many cases, new updates and features can slow down your device, and in plain and simple terms, catches users off-guard when they restart their devices, and they see windows trying to update itself. The work interruption flow, along with unpreparedness with updates, in itself, is a big annoying factor!
To disallow this Windows 10 default behavior, in this post, we’ll go over 3 methods by which you can disable Windows 10 automatic updates completely!
Method 1: Windows Update Settings
Step 1
To disable automatic updates with this method, the first step is to open the “Windows update settings.” To do so, type in Windows Update settings in the start menu, and open it.
Step 2
On this window, click on “advanced options” to further tweak the update settings.
- The option to receive updates for other Microsoft products as well.
- The option to download updates over metered connections. I believe you need to configure metered connections, but basically, it works similarly to how your cellular data plans are monitored for usage.
- The option to automatically restart the device as soon as possible when it is required to install an update.
- The option to display a notification when your PC requires a restart. This actually might be good to know, but in my opinion becomes moot, since everything else is turned off.
What to Do With Pause Updates
Here, you have a choice to hold off from installing the updates for a maximum of 35 days. To reuse this feature, you’ll have to install updates once, and then renew again for 35 days. Alternatively, you don’t have to do anything here since what you do above will help, in conjunction with other methods described below.
Method 2: Blocking Windows 10 From Checking for Updates in the First Place
Installing Windows 10 updates, or restarting to finish the updates is the second step. What precedes all of that is the step of checking for updates in the first place.
What if you could prevent Windows from looking for updates? The answer is, yes, you can! For its core functionalities, Windows typically has a set of services that it keeps running in the background or foreground. For instance, there is a service to make sure your printer works the way it’s supposed to. Similarly, there is a service to check for updates.
To disable the Windows update service, follow the steps below:
- Press the Windows key + R.
- Type services.msc, and hit okay.
- From here, look for “windows update” service. Once you do, select it > right click > and go to properties. See the screenshot below for visualization.
- Within the properties, select the following 2 options:
- For startup type, make sure it says “disabled.”
- For your own assurance, Stop the service.
- Once both items are executed on, proceed with applying the changes, and okay-ing it.
- You may have to restart your laptop/PC once for the changes to go into effect.
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Method 3: Meter Your Wi-Fi Network
As slightly touched upon before, a metered connection limits how much data can be used. When you set your Wi-Fi as a “metered” connection, Microsoft says that not all updates will be installed automatically. The chances are that some might, but not everything will be set to priority.
It sounds like priority will only be given to most critical updates. For peace of mind, this isn’t necessarily the best option/method to go with; however, it can certainly be used in combination with methods 1 & 2.
To Set your Wi-Fi as a metered connection, follow the steps from the Microsoft link above, or you can refer to the screenshot below.
Conclusion
Personally, I am all for getting all the latest Windows 10 updates, especially because I always look forward to getting the most up to date definitions for Virus protection. For the unaware, I don’t use an anti-virus software since I rely on Windows Security, with the combination of Malwarebytes.
Plus, based on how and for what purpose I use my laptop, my hardware configurations are more than enough to support all the heavy updates; so, I really don’t mind.
Nonetheless, I can understand why some folks might not want this feature enabled and working in the background by default. Consequently, they’re trying to learn how to disable windows 10 automatic updates.
Hopefully, these 3 methods help!