Windows how to turn off auto update

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Automatic updates in Windows 11 / Windows 10 are a feature that allows your PC to download and install the latest security patches, bug fixes, and feature enhancements from Microsoft. Automatic updates help keep your PC running smoothly and securely.

However, sometimes they can cause problems such as blue screen errors, missing drivers, incompatible applications, or server configuration issues. These problems can affect your device’s performance, stability, or functionality. If you encounter any of these problems after updating Windows 11 / Windows 10, you can try some troubleshooting steps to fix them.

By Default, When Will Windows Install Software Updates?

By default, Windows 11 / Windows 10 will install software updates at 3:00 A.M. every morning. This is to ensure that the system is up-to-date and secure without interrupting the user’s work or leisure time. You can change this setting by adjusting the active hours.

Should I Turn off Automatic Windows Updates?

There are several ways to turn off automatic updates in Windows 10 and Windows 11, such as pausing them for up to 35 days, setting your Wi-Fi as a metered connection, or disabling the Windows Update service. However, be aware that stopping automatic updates can make your system more vulnerable to viruses and malware, so you should always check for updates manually and install them as soon as possible.

One thing to consider regarding Windows Updates when on the go might be the amount of data transferred for downloading the packages. The volume of this “data overhead” for Windows updates depends on several factors, such as the size and number of updates, the settings for delivery optimization, and the network conditions. A typical monthly update can be around 200 MB to 500 MB in size, while a major feature update can be up to 4 GB. However, these numbers may vary depending on how often Windows Update checks for updates and what kind of updates are available.

⚠️ Please note: The methods described below are the same in Windows 11 as in Windows 10. However, bear in mind that we’ll be using screenshots from Windows 11, so your UI may look a little different.

How to Disable Automatic Updates Using Windows Settings

Via Windows 11 / Windows 10 Settings you can pause automatic Windows updates for up to 35 days. Once this time has passed Windows updates will be reactivated and downloaded again automatically.

1. Click the Windows button or hit the Windows key on your keyboard and open Settings 

    

2. Switch to “Windows Update” and pause automatic Windows updates as desiredYou can turn off automatic updates in Windows 11 / Windows 10 for 2, 3, 4, or 5 weeks. This is the easiest way to block Windows update downloads temporarily.

    

How to Disable Automatic Updates in Windows 11 / Windows 10 Permanently Using Group Policy

This option requires the Group Policy Editor which is missing in Windows 11 Home if you don´t install it manually.

If you disable automatic Windows updates using Group Policy, you will stop receiving any updates from Microsoft unless you manually check for them or use another method such as Windows Update Assistant. This means that your system may become vulnerable to security risks or compatibility issues over time. Therefore, it is recommended that you only disable automatic windows updates if you have a valid reason and a backup plan for keeping your system updated.

1. Open the Group Policy Editor with a search for “gpedit”

    

2. Open the “Configure Automatic Updates” group policy via double clickThe “Configure Automatic Updates” group policy is located in “Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Update\Manage end user experience” of the Group Policy Management Console.

    

3. Turn off the automatic Windows update checkerThe “Configure Automatic Updates” group policy has four options: Not Configured, Disabled, Enabled with scheduled installation, and Enabled with notify for download and notify for installation. Choose “Diabled” and “OK” to turn off auto updates in Windows 11 / Windows 10 completely.

    

   
   

4. Revert to “Not Configured” to turn on automatic Windows updates againIf the “Configure Automatic Updates” group policy is set to “not configured”, it means that Windows Update will use the default settings for downloading and installing updates.
    
   
   
5. Select “Enabled” to define the exact update beaviour

   When you choose “Enabled” in the “Configure Automatic Updates” group policy, you can specify how and when Windows updates are installed on your computer. You have different options to choose one of the available Windows 11 update methods:

   – Option 2 (Notify for download and auto install): This option notifies you before downloading updates and automatically installs them at a scheduled time.
   – Option 3 (Auto download and notify for install): This option automatically downloads updates and notifies you when they are ready to be installed.
   – Option 4 (Auto download and schedule the install): This option automatically downloads updates and installs them at a scheduled time that you specify.
   – Option 5 (Allow local admin to choose setting): This option allows the local administrator to choose one of the above options on each computer.
   – Option 7 (Auto download, Notify for install, Notify to Restar ): This option automatically downloads updates, notifies you when they are ready to be installed, and also notifies after installation for you to manually restart the PC

    

How to Disable Automatic Updates Using Windows Registry

One way to disable automatic updates on Windows 11 is to use the Registry Editor. As the Group Policy Editor is not available in the Home editions of Windows 11 / Windows 10 if you don´t install it manually, this method is the only one available there to turn off Windows automatic updates completely.

1. Open Search by pressing the Windows key or hitting the start button, type “regedit” and start the “Registry Editor”

    

2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows

    

3. Right-click on “Windows”, select “New” and then “Key”This step can be ignored if the registry key folder “WindowsUpdate” exists already.

    

4. Name the new registry key “WindowsUpdate”

    

5. Right-click “WindowsUpdate”, select “New” and click “Key”

    

6. Name the registry key “AU”

    

7. Right-click in the right pane and choose “New” – “DWORD (32-bit) Value”

    

8. Name the DWORD “NoAutoUpdate”

    

9. Disable Windows 11 update downloads and installationDouble-click the DWORD “NoAutoUpdate”, write “1” in “Value data” and save via “OK”.

    

10. Optional: Set automatic update behaviorInstead of completely turning off automatic updates in Windows 10 / Windows 11 you can use another registry edit to choose additional settings, just like in the Group Policy Editor. To do that, right-click again in the right pane and choose “New” – “DWORD (32-bit) Value”.

     

11. Name the DWORD “AUOptions”

     

12. Set the desired option for Windows updates

    Double-click on “AUOptions”, set the desired option in “Value data” and save with “OK”. The value of this DWORD determines the various Windows 11 update methods. According to Microsoft, these are the possible values:

    – 2: This option notifies you before downloading updates and automatically installs them at a scheduled time.
    – 3: This option automatically downloads updates and notifies you when they are ready to be installed.
    – 4: This option automatically downloads updates and installs them at a scheduled time that you specify.
    – 5: This option allows the local administrator to choose one of the above options on each computer.
    – 7: This option automatically downloads updates, notifies you when they are ready to be installed, and also notifies after installation for you to manually restart the PC

    By default, Windows 11 uses value 4. To disable automatic updates, you can change it to value 2 or 3. However, this method is not recommended as it may cause security issues or compatibility problems.
     

    

How to Turn Off Automatic Updates in Windows 11 / Windows 10 Using a Metered Connection

You might want to consider to stop automatic updates in Windows 11 / Windows 10 using a metered connection for specific environments. A metered connection is an internet connection that has a data limit associated with it. Setting a metered connection in Windows can help reduce your data usage by preventing some apps and updates from using too much bandwidth. You can set a metered connection for Wi-Fi, Ethernet, or Cellular networks in Windows 10 by following some simple steps . This can be useful if you have a limited or expensive data plan, or if you want to save data for other purposes.

The Windows Store’s ability to update apps automatically can be a very useful tool, but it can also be a nuisance. Often, users will notice that the service host network service is taking up a lot of their bandwidth and slowing things down. Like automatic Windows updates, you might want to turn off automatic updates for apps, as shown in our other guide.

The automatic update feature, as the name suggests, automatically downloads and installs new updates in Windows. This is quite useful as newer updates contain security patches, bug fixes, and additional features. However, they aren’t always reliable as recent updates can contain bugs and security vulnerabilities of their own.

Windows updates generally come in the form of a feature and quality update. Feature updates bring massive changes to your operating system, and while they are automatically downloaded, you will need to manually install them. On the other hand, quality updates get automatically downloaded and installed, but you can choose to turn them off.

So, if you want to skip some of the updates that are known to be glitchy or avoid having to sit through an update installation in random intervals, you can try turning off the Windows automatic updates feature.

From Settings

The simplest way to turn off automatic updates is from Settings. However, you can only temporarily turn off automatic updates or pause them for a certain amount of time from Settings. After the set time is up, you will need to install new updates to be able to pause it again.

While this won’t be useful if you want to permanently disable Windows updates, it can come in handy when you want to temporarily stop updates due to reasons like bugs or known vulnerabilities in the newer updates.

1. Launch Settings by pressing Windows + I
2. Click on the Windows Update tab in the left sidebar.
3. Besides Pause updates, click on the drop-down menu to select how long you want to pause the updates for.
   
4. You can click on the same drop-down menu to extend your pause time if you want. (You can pause your updates for up to 5 weeks at a time.)
   
5. If you want to resume your Windows updates early, you can click on the Resume updates button.

From Windows Services

You can permanently turn off your Windows updates by disabling the Windows update service startup. This service handles the detection, download and installation of all new Windows updates on your computer.

1. Press Windows + R shortcut key to open Run box.
2. Type services.msc and press Enter to open Windows Services.
3. Locate the Windows Update service and double-click it.
   
4. Next to Startup type, select Disabled from the drop-down menu.
   
5. Click on the Stop option, and select Apply and OK.

The above steps will make sure the Windows update service will not start automatically whenever your computer boots up. However, you need to make sure there are no applications like Windows update assistant on your computer that can start the Windows update service. You can uninstall Windows update assistant to prevent this from happening.

From Group Policy Editor

Another way you can permanently disable your Windows automatic updates is from the Group Policy Editor. However, this utility tool is only available for the Pro and Enterprise edition of Windows. So, this method will not be useful for users with Windows Home edition.

1. Launch Run box with the Windows + R shortcut key.
2. Type gpedit.msc and press Enter to open Group Policy Editor.
   
3. Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update > Manage end user experience
4. Right-click the Configure Automatic Updates policy and select Edit.
   
5. Select the Disabled option.
   
6. Click Apply and OK.

After you disable this policy, Windows won’t perform automatic updates, but you will still be able to manually check for updates, and download and install them.

Additionally, you can also configure this policy to set up how your Windows automatic updates get installed or downloaded.

1. Follow the above method till Step 4.
2. Select the Enabled option.
3. From the drop-down menu under Configure automatic updates, select how you want your automatic updates to behave. (If you want to turn off automatic updates, select 2 – Notify for download and auto install.)
   
4. Click Apply and OK.

From Registry Editor

You can also turn off Windows automatic updates from the Registry Editor. Furthermore, unlike the Group Policy Editor, the Registry Editor can be accessed in all editions of Windows to disable automatic updates.

However, editing your Registry can have some serious consequences if done improperly. So, you should first backup your Registry

1. Open Run Utility by pressing Windows + R keys.
2. Type regedit and press Enter to open Registry.
3. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows
4. Right-click on the Windows key, select New, and click on Key.
   
5. Type WindowsUpdate as the new key’s name. (If the key is already present, skip these steps.)
6. Right-click the WindowsUpdate key, select New, and click Key.
   
7. Name the newly created key as AU and select it.
8. Right-click on the blank area in the right panel, and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
   
9. Set the new entry’s name as NoAutoUpdate.
   
10. Double-click on the NoAutoUpdate entry and set its value as 1.
    
11. Click Ok and exit Registry.
12. Restart your computer.

Disabling automatic updates in Registry is pretty much the same as disabling it in Group Policy Editor. In fact, you can also configure how your Windows automatic updates get installed or downloaded from Registry.

1. Follow the above method till step 7.
2. Right-click on the blank area in the right panel, and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
   
3. Name the new entry as AUOptions.
   
4. Double-click the AUOptions entry and set its value to one of the following options:
   
5. Click OK and exit Registry.
6. Restart your Computer.

Turn On Metered Connection

Lastly, you can use a simple and effective workaround of turning on a metered connection to stop automatic updates. The metered connection reduces the data usage of your PC, but it also ensures no updates except critical security updates are being automatically downloaded.

1. Press Windows + I to launch Settings.
2. Click on Network & internet from the sidebar.
3. Select Wi-Fi or Ethernet depending on your network type.
   
4. Toggle on Metered connection. (If you’re connected through Wi-Fi, you will need to click on your Wi-Fi properties first.)
   

Additionally, if your Windows updates are still getting downloaded over a metered connection, make sure to toggle off the Download updates over metered connection option in Settings > Windows Update > Advanced options.

Windows 10 offers Feature Updates (New Version of Windows 10) twice in a year (spring and fall) and monthly Quality Updates (maintenance and security).
Quality Updates (AKA Cumulative Updates) are smaller in size and install within minutes on the computer, while Feature Updates take up a long time.
On both Windows 10 Home and Pro Versions, the Quality Updates can be delayed or deferred up to a period of 35 days.
If you are using an older option of Windows 10, you won’t find the option to defer Windows updates. In which case you can use methods 2 & 4 as provided below.

1. Set Metered Connection

An easy way to Stop Windows 10/11 from automatically downloading updates is to set the WiFi connection on the computer as being Metered.
Go to Settings > Network & Internet > Select WiFi in the left-pane and click on your WiFi Network Name in the right-pane.

On the next screen, scroll down and move Set as metered connection toggle to ON position.

If you are connected to Ethernet, select Ethernet in the left pane, click on your active Ethernet Network in the right pane and enable Set As Metered Connection option on the next screen.

2. Disable Automatic Updates Using Administrative Tools

If you are using an older version of Windows 10, you can disable Auto Updates by signing into your Admin Account and following the steps below.
Right-click on the Start button and click on Run. In Run Command window, type services.msc and click on OK.

On the Services screen, right-click on Windows Update and select Properties in the menu that appears.

On Windows Update Properties screen, click on Startup type down-arrow and select the Disabled option.

Make sure you click on Apply and OK to save this change on your computer.
After disabling Updates using this method, it is important that you periodically check for Updates by going to Settings > Update & Security > Check for Updates.
You may see a message reading “updates were stopped on your computer” or similar. In such cases, click on Retry to download and install available updates on your computer.
If your computer has missed multiple updates, you may have to click on Check for Updates multiple times, until your computer says that it is up to date with Updates.

3. Delay Auto Updates up to 35 Days

Windows 10 also provides the option to Pause Updates for up to 35 Days.
Go to Settings > Update & Security > Select Windows Update in the left-pane. In the right-pane, scroll down and click on Pause updates for 7 days option.

This will Pause Updates on your computer for a period of 7 days.
If required, you can keep clicking on Pause Updates for 7 more Days option, until you reach 35 days and Pause Updates option becomes grayed out.

4. Delay Auto Updates Until a Selected Date

Windows 10 also provides the option to delay Auto Updates up to a selected date.
Go to Settings > Update & Security > Select Windows Update in the left-pane and click on Advanced options in the right-pane.

On the next screen, click on Pause until drop-down and select the Date up to which you want to stop Windows Auto Updates.

This will delay Windows Updates on your computer, until the specific date that you selected in the drop-down.
When the selected date arrives, Windows will automatically download and install the available updates on your computer.

Why Users Want to Disable Auto Updates

A common reason for disabling Auto Updates on a Windows 10 computer is to prevent the possibility of your work being interrupted during working hours.
Another reason for disabling Auto Updates is to prevent chances of an Update causing problems or becoming incompatible with Apps and programs installed on the computers.
After disabling or delaying Auto Updates, it is recommended that you periodically check for Updates and install them manually on the computer.

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