How To Stop Update In Windows 10

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Automatic updates are a helpful feature of Windows 10, ensuring your system stays up-to-date with security updates and new features. However, there may be times when you would like to stop these updates temporarily – perhaps to save bandwidth, or to prevent an update that is causing issues. In this post, we’ll show you how to stop updates in Windows 10.

Method 1: Pause Updates

Windows 10 allows you to pause updates for up to 35 days. This is a temporary measure and updates will resume automatically after the pause period has ended. To pause updates, follow these steps:

  1. Press Win + I to open the Windows Settings app.
  2. Click on Update & Security.
  3. Select Windows Update from the left-side menu.
  4. Click on Advanced options.
  5. Enable the Pause updates option and choose the date you want the pause to end.

Your updates will be paused until the specified date, after which they will resume automatically.

Method 2: Disable Updates via Group Policy Editor

This method is only available for Windows 10 Professional, Enterprise, and Education editions. The Group Policy Editor allows you to disable automatic updates permanently:

  1. Press Win + R to open the Run dialog.
  2. Type gpedit.msc and press Enter.
  3. Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update > Configure Automatic Updates.
  4. Double-click on Configure Automatic Updates.
  5. Select Disabled, then click Apply and OK.

This will disable automatic updates permanently. To enable them again, simply follow the steps above and choose Not Configured or Enabled in step 5.

Method 3: Disable Updates via Registry Editor

This method works for all editions of Windows 10 but involves editing the registry, which can be risky. Be sure to create a backup of your registry before proceeding:

  1. Press Win + R to open the Run dialog.
  2. Type regedit and press Enter.
  3. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows.
  4. Right-click on the Windows folder, then choose New > Key. Name the new key WindowsUpdate.
  5. Right-click on the WindowsUpdate key and choose New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name the new value AUOptions.
  6. Double-click on the AUOptions value and set its data to 2 (for “notify for download and notify for install”).
  7. Click OK and close the Registry Editor.

This will disable automatic updates and notify you when updates are available. To revert the changes, simply delete the WindowsUpdate key you created in step 4.

Conclusion

While it’s generally recommended to keep automatic updates enabled, there are situations where you might want to disable them temporarily or permanently. Use one of the methods discussed above depending on your needs and Windows 10 edition, and remember that it’s important to keep your system up-to-date to protect it from security vulnerabilities.