Microsoft offers weekly and sometimes daily updates for their operating systems which are still in their support lifecycle. These updates include security improvements, bug fixes, software and hardware updates and much more. Although it’s recommended that you keep your system up to date to avoid things like malware using bugs in your system to infect it some people want to decide for themselves when they want to update their computer.
In this tutorial, we will show you how you can turn off / deactivate automatic updates in Windows 10. Once you’ve completed the tutorial Windows will no longer update without your permission and will give you a notice once updates are ready to be downloaded.
Method 1 can only be used on Windows 10 systems running Windows 10 Pro and above. This method will not work in Windows 10 Home. Microsoft has sadly prevented disabling automatic updates in the Home edition of Windows 10.
This might be the easiest method however if you are running Windows 10 Home Edition then this method is not suited for you since your version does not include Group Policy Editor.
1. Press the Windows and R key at the same time, a run window will appear.
2. Once the Run window is shown type gpedit.msc in it and then click on OK.
3. Wait for Group Policy Editor to appear, once it´s shown unfold Administrative Templates under Computer Administration
4. Once you´ve unfolded Administrative Templates continue to unfold Windows Components
5. Now scroll down till you find Windows Update and click on it.
6. Find the option labeled “Configure Automatic Updates” and double-click on it.
Configure Automatic Windows Update
7. Change Not Configured to Enabled
8. Then under “Configure Automatic Updating” choose “2- Notify for Download and Notify for Install”
9. Once you’ve done that click on Apply and then on OK.
Windows will now no longer automatically install Windows Updates instead Windows will now ask you if and when you want to download the updates.
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With automatic updates, you don’t have to search for updates online or device drivers for your Windows PC. Windows Update automatically installs important updates as they become available. If automatic updates are disabled, Windows will stop downloading and installing updates for your system, instead, you need to check for updates and install updates manually. This article describes how to enable or disable automatic updates for all users who use Windows 7/8/10.
How to Enable or Disable Automatic Updates via gpedit.msc
Following steps are taking Windows 10 as an example to enable or disable automatic updates via Local Group Policy Editor. Here's how:
Step 1: Open the Local Group Policy Editor.
Step 2: In the left pane of Local Group Policy Editor, navigate to the following path:
Computer ConfigurationAdministrative TemplatesWindows ComponentsWindows Update
In the right pane of Windows Update, double-click on the Configure Windows Updates policy to edit it.
Step 3: Then select what you need:
If you choose to enable automatic update, select one of the four options:
1. Notify for download and auto install. Users will be notified when updates are ready to be download.
2. Auto download and notify for install. Windows will download updates in the background. When the download is complete, users will be notified that they are ready to install.
3. Auto download and schedule the install. You can set a time to automatically download updates when it is available. you need to enter a time in the Scheduled install time drop-down.
4. Allow local admin to choose settings. With this option, local administrator will be allowed to use the settings app to select a configuration option of their choice. Local administrators will not be allowed to disable the configuration for Automatic Updates.
If you select the Disable option, any update that is available on Windows Update must be downloaded and installed manually. To do this: go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update.
Click on the Check for updates button in Windows Update.
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Microsoft has introduced a host of new features with Windows 8.1 update. There are well over 50 cool features in the latest version of Windows operating system. One of them is automatic app updates, a feature that will help users who have installed hundreds of apps from the Store.
Unlike Windows 8, in Windows 8.1, you don’t need to manually download and install updates for installed Modern apps. Windows 8.1 automatically downloads all available updates for installed updates and installs them for you. In simple words, this feature updates all installed apps to the latest available version.
That means, unlike in Windows 8, the Store tile on the Start screen doesn’t show you available updates and it automatically updates all apps to the latest available version.
Even though this is a fantastic feature and it’s advisable to keep this feature turned on in order to effortlessly update apps, users who prefer to go through change log before updating installing updates might want to disable automatic app updates feature.
NOTE: Turning off automatic app updates stops automatically installing app updates and doesn’t prevent installing Windows updates. Also note that this feature in no way affects desktop applications.
Step 1: Switch to the Start screen and click or tap Store tile open Windows Store.
Step 2: Move the mouse cursor to the upper-right or lower-right corner of the screen to see the Charms bar and then click or tap Settings to reveal the Settings charm. If you on a touch device, swipe-in from the right-edge of the screen to see the Charms bar.
Step 3: Here, click or tap App updates to see App updates page.
Step 4: Turn off the option titled Automatically update my apps to disable this feature. That’s it! From here on, Windows will not automatically update installed apps and you will need to manually update apps.
And if you want to prevent users from accessing Windows Store and installing apps, you can do so by disabling Windows Store in Windows 8/8.1.
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Unlike its predecessors, Windows 10 doesn’t allow you easily turn off automatic Windows updates. The classic Windows Update panel, which allowed users to turn off automatic updates, has been dropped from Windows 10, and there is no option under Settings app to turn off automatic updates.
However, users running on Windows 10 Pro edition can make necessary changes to the default Windows Updates settings to notify users that updates are available (users can install if they wish to), and turning on this option will make sure that Windows 10 doesn’t automatically download and install updates. There is also an option to automatically download updates but notify users before installing them.
Important: Although the Registry Editor is present in Windows 10 Home edition, this method is not for Home edition.
Users on Pro edition can go through our how to disable Windows Update in Windows 10 guide for detailed instructions.
Turn off or configure automatic Windows Updates using Registry
Sim 4 hair package. A number of users have asked us if it’s possible to configure Windows Update settings via Registry. The good news is that one can change the default settings of Windows Update by editing registry. Besides that, all the Windows Update setting offered in Group Policy are available in Registry as well.
In addition to that, there is a way to completely turn off automatic updates (never check for updates) in Windows 10 using Registry.
In this guide, we will see how to turn off or configure automatic Windows Update by editing Registry.
Method 1 – turn off automatic updates
Stop Windows 8 Automatic Updates
Method 2 – advanced settings to configure automatic updates
Method 1 of 2
Completely turn off automatic updates
Important: We recommend you create a manual system restore point before editing the Registry just in case if something goes wrong!
Step 1: Type Regedit in Start menu or taskbar search box and then press Enter key. Click Yes button when you see the User Account Control dialog.
Step 2: In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindows
Step 3:Right-click on Windows key (as shown in the below picture), click New, and then click Key.
Enter the name as WindowsUpdate (no space between Windows and Update). Note that even after creating the New Key, you can right-click on it, and then click Rename to rename it as WindowsUpdate.
Step 4: Now that you have created WindowsUpdate key, right-click on WindowsUpdate key, click New, click Key, and then set its name as AU.
Step 5: Click on AU key. On the right-side, right-click on the empty space, click New, click DWORD (32-bit) Value, and name it as NoAutoUpdate.
Step 6: Finally, double-click on NoAutoUpdate, and set its value data to one of the following numbers:
0 – To enable automatic updates
1 – To turn off automatic updates
When you turn off automatic updates using the above mentioned instructions, Windows will never check for updates. If you navigate to Advanced options of Windows Settings in Settings app, you will see Never check for updates as the status under Choose how updates are installed section.
Method 2 of 2
More settings to configure automatic updates
Windows 8 Automatic Updates Not Working
If you don’t want to completely turn off automatic updates but want to control how the updates are installed, you can do so by following given below directions.
Step 1: Follow the instructions in the above method to create WindowsUpdate and AU keys under the following path:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindows
Step 2: Select AU key, on the right-side, create a new 32-bit DWORD and name it as AUOptions, and set its value as one of the following numbers:
2 – Notify before downloading and installing updates
3 – Auto download updates and notify for install
4 – Auto download updates and schedule the install
5 – Allow local admin to choose setting
So, if you want Windows to always notify you about an available update, you need to set the value as 2. Configuring Windows 10 to notify you before downloading updates is the best way to disable automatic updates as the updates won’t be downloaded without your knowledge.
And for those of you wondering, although Registry Editor is present in Windows 10 Home, it looks like these Registry tweaks don’t help you turn off automatic updates.