One option which we will not look at in depth is to make registry changes to your Windows operating system to disable automatic updates.
This is a dangerous procedure and should only be taken by experienced users who have taken a full backup of their machine before attempting the registry changes.
Mistakes during this process can have serious negative effects on your computer and its performance. Windows Update is essentially just another Windows Service and can be turned off in a similar manner to other services. If you are using WiFi to connect your Windows 10 machine to the Internet, you have the option of setting up a metered connection. In a metered connection, bandwidth is conserved by only automatically downloading and installing priority updates.
For some reason, Microsoft only offers this option if you are using a WiFi connection. If you connect to the Internet through an Ethernet cable you will not be able to set up a metered connection. Users of Windows 10 Home edition are out of luck regarding this way of disabling Windows 10 updates.
If you opt for this solution, security updates will still be installed automatically. For all other updates, you will be notified that they are available and can install them at your convenience. This is the way Windows update worked in the past. Today, Microsoft wants to eliminate the need for novice users to engage in updates, but it has enforced this at the cost of flexibility for more experienced users.
From this point forward Windows should notify you that updates are available and it is your responsibility to make sure that they get downloaded and installed. Operating system, driver, and application updates can often lead to unexpected behavior on the computer on which they are installed.
One way to protect yourself and your machine from unanticipated problems is to perform a backup before installing updates to your system.
Unfortunately, when automatic updates are being installed without your approval , you cannot take this precautionary step and face the possibility of having to resort to an older backup if you need to go back past the update. Many updates need to reboot your machine when complete and certainly take up bandwidth while downloading. This can lead to slower response time and unforeseen reboots that can cause havoc with your work life. So there are indeed valid reasons to turn off automatic updates in Windows Just be careful not to turn the service off and forget to check for updates.
The new version of Wuau. You can find the correct version of Wuau. You can use the old version of Wuau. After the Automatic Updates self-updates, the new Wuau. If the computer you are using to configure Group Policy does not have the latest version of Wuau. In the Policy Templates dialog box, select Wuau. The settings for this policy enable you to configure how Automatic Updates works. Both URLs are required.
This policy enables client computers to self-populate computer groups that exist on the WSUS server. If the status is set to Enabled , the specified computer group information is sent to WSUS, which uses it to determine which updates should be deployed to this computer. This setting is only capable of indicating to the WSUS server which group the client computer should use.
You must actually create the group on the WSUS server. This policy specifies the amount of time for Automatic Updates to wait, following system startup, before proceeding with a scheduled installation that was missed previously. If the status is set to Enabled , a scheduled installation that did not take place earlier will occur the specified number of minutes after the computer is next started. If the status is set to Disabled , a missed scheduled installation will occur with the next scheduled installation.
If the status is set to Not Configured , a missed scheduled installation will occur one minute after the computer is next started. This policy applies only when Automatic Updates is configured to perform scheduled installations of updates. If the Configure Automatic Updates policy is disabled, this policy has no effect. In the details pane, click Reschedule Automatic Update scheduled installations , click Enable , and type a value in minutes. This policy specifies that to complete a scheduled installation, Automatic Updates will wait for the computer to be restarted by any user who is logged on, instead of causing the computer to restart automatically.
If the status is set to Enabled , Automatic Updates will not restart a computer automatically during a scheduled installation if a user is logged on to the computer. Instead, Automatic Updates will notify the user to restart the computer in order to complete the installation. Be aware that Automatic Updates will not be able to detect future updates until the restart occurs. If the status is set to Disabled or Not Configured , Automatic Updates will notify the user that the computer will automatically restart in 5 minutes to complete the installation.
In the details pane, click No auto-restart for scheduled Automatic Update installation options , and set the option. This policy specifies the hours that Windows will use to determine how long to wait before checking for available updates. The exact wait time is determined by using the hours specified here, minus 0 to 20 percent of the hours specified. For example, if this policy is used to specify a hour detection frequency, then all WSUS clients to which this policy is applied will check for updates anywhere between 16 and 20 hours.
If the status is set to Enabled , Automatic Updates will check for available updates at the specified interval. If the status is set to Disabled or Not Configured , Automatic Updates will check for available updates at the default interval of 22 hours.
In the details pane, click Automatic Update detection frequency , and set the option. This policy specifies whether Automatic Updates should automatically install certain updates that neither interrupt Windows services nor restart Windows.
