How To Disable Windows 10 Forced Updates – 5 Different Methods

Short Bytes: Windows 10 forced updates are one of the most controversial features of the OS and the company has been facing much flak over this issue. Today, I’m going to tell you 5 different methods to disable Windows 10 forced updates.
Each week we are presented with the new numbers that claim that more and more users are hopping upon the Windows 10 train. This was possible due the simple and smooth upgrade process by Microsoft. If you still haven’t got Windows 10 upgrade, you can refer to out simple and helpful Windows 10 upgrade tutorial. However, amid all the new features and smooth upgrade process, some controversies were bound to come in the limelight. Actually, it’s a long list- starting from forced updates to shadowy privacy policies. Redmond fiddled with the idea of Windows 10 forced updates to make the OS more stable and efficient. Windows 10 Pro users have the option to delay Windows 10 forced updates, but if you are using Windows 10 Home, you can’t do much about it.

However, great in intentions, the updates don’t work out this way and have caused problems to the users.
So, the question remains: How to disable Windows 10 forced updates?
Today, we are going to tell you the answer to this question by four different and useful methods. These methods to disable Windows 10 forced updates give you more control as a user:

Method 1: Mark your WiFi connection as metered to disable Windows 10 forced updates

I’ve already written about this method in detail in a previous article. Visit this link to disable Windows 10 forced updates by marking your WiFi connection as metered.

Method 2: Stop the Windows 10 update service from the startup

In reality, Windows 10 updates are just another Windows process. So, you can stop this process using these simple steps:
1. To make changes in startup to disable Windows 10 forced updates, open the Run command by pressing Windows + R. Now, type services.msc and hit Enter.
2. Now, in the list of processes, located the Windows Update service and open it by clicking.
3. To disable it, under the General tab, find Startup Type and change it to Disable.

4. Now restart your Windows 10 PC to disable Windows 10 forced updates.
To restart the Windows updates in Windows 10, simply follow these steps and change the Startup Type to Automatic.

Method 3: Windows 10 Home patch lets you turn off automatic app updates

This option works only for the app updates. If you wish to continue receiving Windows 10 security updates and bug fixes, you can use this method.
In the Cumulative Update 5, Microsoft has enabled the option to turn off the automatic app updates. If you don’t have this patch, go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update and make sure to receive the latest Windows patches.
After this, open the Store app and click the Profile button in the toolbar. Here you can toggle the switch of automatic updates to disable Windows 10 forced updates.

Method 4: Disable forced Windows 10 updates by making changes in the Group Policy Editor

The option to disable Windows 10 forced updates is invisible by default. However, you can tweak few settings in the Group Policy Editor to re-enable the pleasant option to stop your computer from downloading the updates from Microsoft.
(Windows 10 Home users can’t use this option as it is only for Preview builds of Windows 10 Education, Pro and Enterprise editions.)
Follow these simple steps to make the hidden settings visible and disable Windows 10 forced updates:
1. In the Windows 10 desktop search, type Group Policy Editor and open the tool.
2. Find the Computer Configuration and click on the Administrative Templates folder to expand it.
3. Now select All Settings and then find the Configure Automatic Updates entry in the new window.

4. Double-click on it and enable it by choosing the Enable button located at the lop-left.
5. After this step, you’ll also be able to change the Options located at the bottom. From the drop bar, choose the option saying Allow local admin to choose settings to disable Windows 10 forced updates.

Now the option for disabling the automatic updates download is enabled in Control Panel. Follow the steps below to enable this option:
1. To disable Windows 10 forced updates, go to Control Panel and select System and Security.
2. Here, click on Windows Update and select Change settings. Here, you can see the option that Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them. Select this option and now your Windows 10 PC will check for updates, but download and install them only after your permission.

Method 5: Disable specific Windows 10 updates

After facing much Microsoft flak over the forced updates, Redmond has also released a tool that allows the users to disable or hide a specific Windows 10 update. You just need to download this tool from Microsoft’s website and install the tool. Follow the instructions and disable the problematic updates as a part of the disable Windows 10 forced updates.

Did you find this tutorial helpful?