The Windows 10 Update service, which coordinates the operation of the "Update Center" and the installation of new packages, is somewhat annoying for many users. Not only is the download and integration of updates into the system going on in the background, but also some installed components can cause quite serious failures in the OS. Just the other day, it became known that the latest released packages after installation lead to the fact that when you reboot, a blue screen appears, which is almost impossible to get rid of. Let's see how to stop Windows 10 updates if they are in the active phase of downloading or installing them. Several techniques are also proposed to completely deactivate such processes. For both cases, there are several options for action, which use only the tools of the operating system itself.
How to stop Windows 10 updates if they are running, the easiest way?
In principle, if a pop-up message appears in the system tray that there are updates available or a redirect to a serviceupdates occur, for example, through a regular antivirus, everything is simple here.
How to stop Windows 10 updates? Elementary! Disconnect the network cable (if you have a wired connection) or disable Wi-Fi. Please note that when you reconnect, downloading updates without further deactivating them in the system settings will continue.
But it also happens that the user does not see the activation of the download process with his own eyes, but receives a message about installing updates only when the computer is turned off or restarted. A blue screen displays progress with a warning that you cannot turn off the computer at this time. In the case of using the restart through the "Start" button, a line will be shown with a proposal to restart and install updates. Doing this is not recommended. Further actions will be discussed separately. But when the installation has already begun, you need to forcibly turn off the computer or laptop by long pressing the power button, then boot in safe mode and cancel the installation. But more on that later.
Disable wireless update
The question of how to stop Windows 10 updates when using a Wi-Fi-based wireless connection is even easier to solve (although there is no pause button as such to suspend these processes in the system).
To do this, in the system tray, through the notification icon, you must select the activation of the "Airplane" mode. This mode disables allwireless connections. Windows update download pause does not work in this option for wired networks. But, again, when the wireless connection is restored, the download will continue.
You can also use the option of setting a metered connection, in which the system will not download updates. This method, by the way, is suitable for all those users who really have traffic restrictions, and not just for pausing downloads or installing available packages.
Pause update via command line
In general, by and large, the above actions can lead to failures and errors when installing updates. Therefore, to properly pause a download or installation, only one main tool is used - the command console (cmd in the Run menu).
It is necessary to register three commands in it:
- net stop wuauserv - stop the Windows Update service;
- net stop bits - deactivate the intelligent transfer service;
- net stop dosvc – stop the Delivery Optimization service.
Reactivation of all components is done in the same way, only in the stop commands it is changed to the start parameter. When executing both shutdown commands and reactivation commands, a system reboot is not required.
Deactivating Windows 10 Update through the Options Menu
With a question about how to stop Windows 10 updates manually,understood a little. Now let's see what tools the system offers the user if he wants to disable the search and installation of updates altogether.
Disabling Windows 10 Update Center can be done in several ways. The first method is to use the options menu and the corresponding update and security section, and then enter the additional options for the "Update Center", where it is necessary to enable the reboot notification in the installation method selection list (in this case, the system will restart without your consent will not), check the box next to the line "Defer updates", and also deactivate receiving updates from several places.
Windows 10 Local Group Policy Editor
Now let's move on to the main tools that allow you to partially or completely disable the Windows 10 Update service. The solutions proposed for consideration are in many respects similar to each other, since, by and large, they duplicate each other. And first, let's look at the Windows 10 Local Group Policy Editor, which is called by the gpedit.msc command, entered in the Run menu.
Here, in the configuration through administrative templates and system components, go to the "Update Center" section and edit the automatic update settings. By double-clicking or through the RMB menu, a window with settings is called up, where “Disabled” is set as the current parameter,after which the changes are saved by pressing the OK button.
Service Section
Yes, indeed, the above method allows you to disable the search and installation of updates, but, so to speak, only at the global level, since the service itself remains active at the moment. Thus, the essence is to not only turn it off, but also stop its current action. For this, as is already clear, the corresponding section is used, called from the Run console, by the services.msc command (you can also use the administration menu for access).
In the editor you need to find the "Update Center" and go to edit the settings, using either RMB with a choice of properties, or double-click. Disabling is done by pressing the "Stop" button, and in the startup type, so that the service does not work in the future, the disabled startup type is set.
System Registry
Finally, complete deactivation of updates can be done through the system registry. The editor, like all previous tools, can be called through the "Run" menu by entering the command regedit.
Here you need to use the HKLM branch and the SOFTWARE and Microsoft sections, where you go through the policy and update directories to the final AU directory, as shown in the image above. As a rule, there is no key responsible for disabling receiving updates, so you will have to create it manually (32-bit DWORD parameter), assignits name is NoAutoUpdate and by editing the parameters set the current value to one.
As you can see, these actions are a repetition of group policy settings, but the registry has a higher priority. This means that you can change the policy settings in the registry, but the settings in the registry cannot be changed in the policies.
How to cancel the installation of updates?
In a situation where the updates are still installed, there are several ways to undo the changes made. In the simplest case, canceling Windows 10 updates is done by restoring the system to a point that preceded the time the packages were installed. Again, updates will not be installed only if you follow the steps above to deactivate the relevant services.
On the other hand, you can still use the same options menu and the update and security section, where in the "Update Center" you need to go to view the update installation log, select the latest or unnecessary packages and use their removal.
Similarly, you can uninstall updates through the "Control Panel", in which the section of programs and components is selected, after which the transition to viewing installed updates is carried out by clicking the hyperlink on the left. Next, an unnecessary package is selected, and its removal line is called via RMB.
Finally, to remove updates, you can use the command console, in which you firstyou need to display a complete list of installed packages on the screen (wmic qfe list brief / format: table line), remember or write down the required package number (they all start with the letters KV), and then enter the uninstall command wusa / uninstall / kb: number, where number corresponds to the update number, which is indicated after the combination of letters.
How to avoid installing unnecessary or problematic service packs
But, suppose the user did not completely disable the update, and does not want to install some packages during a second search. In this case, their automatic integration can be disabled.
To do this, in the "Update Center" settings, a manual search for available updates is set, after which unnecessary ones are selected in the results found, and then the hide command is used. Similarly, updates are disabled through the programs and components section with the option to view installed packages.
To remove system build updates, you must use the restore point with the option to return to the previous version. But this option can only be used if the user has not deleted the Windows.old directory, which stores all previous configurations. If this folder does not exist on your hard drive, you can perform a factory reset of the system with a full reset.
Prohibition of updating drivers
With questions related to how to stop Windows 10 updates and the services responsible for them, I think everything is already clear. It remains to consider the ban on spontaneous installation of drivers.
To do this, the "Run" console is called, the line rundll32 newdev.dll, DeviceInternetSettingUi is written in it, after which the line providing a choice to the user is activated in the options selection window that appears, and the item is activated that prohibits installing drivers from the "Update Center" itself "".
Note: If you still need to install driver updates, use automated utilities like Driver Booster that download the latest software from device manufacturers' websites and then integrate the new drivers into your system without user interaction.
Afterword
That, in fact, is all about stopping, completely or partially disabling the installation of updates in Windows 10. However, despite the presence of a fairly large number of tools that allow you to perform such operations, it is not recommended to completely deactivate update services, since the main packages are intended mainly for patching security holes and installing updates for some of the major platforms that may be involved when using modern programs or games. The best option would be to set parameters in which the system is allowed to search for available packages on its own, but leave the choice of installation to the user. So you can immediately exclude the installation of unnecessary or potentially failed updates.
