How to disable automatic updates on Windows 10

• 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:

1. Open Settings on Windows 10.

2. Click on Update & Security.

3. Click on Windows Update.

4. 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:

1. Open Start.

2. Search for gpedit and click the top result to open the Group Policy Editor.

3. Open the “Manage and user experience” folder in the path:

   Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update > Manage end user experience

4. Double-click to open the “Configure Automatic Updates” policy.

   

5. Choose the “Disabled” option to disable automatic Windows Update permanently.

   

6. Click the Apply button.

7. 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:

1. Open Start.

2. Search for regedit and click the top result to launch the Registry Editor.

3. Navigate to the following path:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows

4. Right-click the Windows (folder) key, select New, and choose the Key option.

   

5. Name the key WindowsUpdate and press Enter.

6. Right-click the newly created key, select New, and choose the Key option.

   

7. Name the key AU and press Enter.

8. Right-click the AU key, select New, and choose the “DWORD (32-bit) Value” option.

   

9. Name the new key NoAutoUpdate and press Enter.

10. Double-click the newly created key and change its value from 0 to 1.

    

11. Click the OK button.

12. 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.