Microsoft

Mossyback · Sep 10, 2025, 03:13 PM

Microsoft Upgrades

Is there a way to turn off MS upgrades? Every time that I get my setup working well along comes an upgrade that screws up something.

I have the MS setting that stops upgrades for 4 weeks but when that runs out, I’m into another upgrade. Is there another way to control this? Should I just put up with these interruptions and hope they don’t happen during an imaging session?

Hank

It depends. what version of Windows are you running? Home or Pro?

The brute force method involves stopping and disabling the Windows Update service…

The Pro version allows you to set a local group policy setting that turns off updates.

Google “Disable windows update using gpedit” for the step sequence.

Oh I’m retired IT and I usually don’t suggest disabling Windows Update, so the other way to handle this is to set aside the second Tuesday of every month and update your machine(s) then by opening up Windows Update from the settings.

I should have mentioned out-of-band updates that M$ releases more unpredictably (hence the moniker “out-of-band”) for more immediate threats. M$ generally does OOB updates because there’s a threat in the wild, so they want to get it out as fast as possible….

If you really want to disable updates entirely and have the update process under your control AND you have Pro, do the google search and follow the steps. It’s easy!!

I like to receive the updates for security reasons personally. But, my technique is to modify the “active hours” to nighttime. Then, Windows won’t auto reboot during an imaging session thinking it’s the middle of the night and a good time to do it.

Here are the instructions.

Gordon Pegue:

Mossyback · Sep 10, 2025, 03:13 PM

Microsoft Upgrades

Is there a way to turn off MS upgrades? Every time that I get my setup working well along comes an upgrade that screws up something.

I have the MS setting that stops upgrades for 4 weeks but when that runs out, I’m into another upgrade. Is there another way to control this? Should I just put up with these interruptions and hope they don’t happen during an imaging session?

Hank

It depends. what version of Windows are you running? Home or Pro?

The brute force method involves stopping and disabling the Windows Update service…

The Pro version allows you to set a local group policy setting that turns off updates.

Google “Disable windows update using gpedit” for the step sequence.

Oh I’m retired IT and I usually don’t suggest disabling Windows Update, so the other way to handle this is to set aside the second Tuesday of every month and update your machine(s) then by opening up Windows Update from the settings.

Jim Raskett · Sep 11, 2025 at 05:07 PM

If you have the Home version of Win 11, you can modify the registry ((REGEDIT) to disable automatic updates and manually update when convenient.

Hi Jim. Where do I look for REGEDIT?

Hank

Mossyback · Sep 12, 2025, 07:04 PM

Jim Raskett · Sep 11, 2025 at 05:07 PM

If you have the Home version of Win 11, you can modify the registry ((REGEDIT) to disable automatic updates and manually update when convenient.

Hi Jim. Where do I look for REGEDIT?

Hank

You’ll need to launch a Windows Command session as Administrator:

Click “Magnifying glass”, type Command, in the right-hand part of the search box, under Command Prompt, click on “Run as administrator”. Then you can type regedit into the resulting dos-like window at the command line to launch the tool.

If you have never ventured into the Windows Registry, be very very careful. An inadvertent deletion or alteration can really mess up your system. Be sure you understand exactly where to go and exactly what to modify!

Good luck.

Jerry Gerber · Sep 13, 2025, 12:28 AM

Mossyback · Sep 10, 2025, 03:13 PM

Microsoft Upgrades

Is there a way to turn off MS upgrades? Every time that I get my setup working well along comes an upgrade that screws up something.

I have the MS setting that stops upgrades for 4 weeks but when that runs out, I’m into another upgrade. Is there another way to control this? Should I just put up with these interruptions and hope they don’t happen during an imaging session?

Hank

Yes. Download this app: https://www.sordum.org/9470/windows-update-blocker-v1-8/

Microsoft makes it difficult to stop the updates, particularly with Windows Home 10 or 11. This little app doesn’t even need to be installed. Just place it in any folder and use it. It will stop all updates except virus updates, which I have never found to interfere with imaging.

Jerry

I confirm, I am using that app to block all windows update , repair etc… on my 2 mele under w11 pro. I don’t want any update to break my system in the middle of a shooting !

That application also permit to reactivate the win update in cas it is needed. By example to install some application you need the windows update to download some ms libraries , so you need to reactivate for that purpose, then you desactivate everything again once application installed.

Have you considered yet using winearo tweaker to block windows updates