-
To disable updates on Windows 10, open
Settings
>
Update & Security
>
Windows Update
, and click
“Pause updates.”
-
To turn off Windows 10 automatic updates, open
Group Policy
>
Computer Configuration
>
Administrative Templates
>
Windows Components
>
Windows Update
, open the
“Configure Automatic Updates”
policy and disable it. -
On Windows 11 Home, open the
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows
Registry key, create a
“WindowsUpdate”
and
“AU”
keys, and then set the
“NoAutoUpdate”
DWORD to
“1.”
On Windows 10, you can turn off automatic updates in at least three ways through the Settings app, Group Policy, and Registry, and in this guide, I will show you how. System updates are mandatory on Windows 10 to keep devices secure and up-to-date with the latest performance improvements and changes, but they can sometimes ship with bugs and other problems that can negatively affect the experience.
While automatic updates won’t stop being a part of
Windows 10
, you can temporarily prevent the system from downloading them through the Settings app. In addition, you can modify the system settings through the Group Policy Editor and Registry to prevent the system from downloading updates automatically as soon as they are available. However, this won’t technically disable the feature since you can always check for updates manually, but it’s the best way to “disable” updates.
In this
guide
, I will teach you how to automatically prevent updates from being installed on Windows 10. If you have a Windows 11 device, you can use these
instructions to disable automatic updates
.
-
Disable automatic updates from Settings
-
Disable automatic updates from Group Policy
-
Disable automatic updates from Registry
Disable automatic updates from Settings
To disable updates on Windows 10 Pro or Windows 10 Home, follow these steps:
Open
Settings
on Windows 10.
Click on
Update & Security
.
Click on
Windows Update
.
Click the
Pause updates
button to disable updates for seven days.
After you complete the steps, the device will no longer download updates for seven days.
Disable automatic updates from Group Policy
If you’re using Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, or Education, you can use the Local Group Policy Editor to disable quality updates from being installed automatically on your computer.
To disable automatic updates permanently from Group Policy on Windows 10, use these steps:
Open
Start
.
Search for
gpedit
and click the top result to open the
Group Policy Editor
.
Open the
“Manage and user experience”
folder in the path:
Double-click to open the
“Configure Automatic Updates”
policy.
Choose the
“Disabled”
option to disable automatic Windows Update permanently.
Click the
Apply
button.
Click the
OK
button.
Once you complete the steps, the system will no longer download and install updates automatically on Windows 10, but you can check for updates manually through the “Windows Update” settings page.
If you want to undo the changes, you can enable automatic updates using the same instructions, but in
step 5
, select the
“Not Configured”
option.
Disable automatic updates from Group Registry
On Windows 10 Home, you won’t have access to the Local Group Policy editor, but you can pause cumulative updates through the Registry.
To disable Windows 11 updates from the Registry, use these steps:
Open
Start
.
Search for
regedit
and click the top result to launch the
Registry Editor
.
Navigate to the following path:
Right-click the
Windows
(folder) key, select
New,
and choose the
Key
option.
Name the key
WindowsUpdate
and press
Enter
.
Right-click the newly created key, select
New,
and choose the
Key
option.
Name the key
AU
and press
Enter
.
Right-click the
AU
key, select
New,
and choose the
“DWORD (32-bit) Value”
option.
Name the new key
NoAutoUpdate
and press
Enter
.
Double-click the newly created key and change its value from
0
to
1
.
Click the
OK
button.
Restart the computer.
After completing the steps, you can check for updates manually, but Windows 10 will stop automatically downloading updates.
Update July 12, 2024:
This guide has been updated to ensure accuracy and reflect changes to the process.