Unlike its predecessors, Windows 10 doesn’t allow you to easily turn off automatic Windows updates. The classic Windows Update panel, which allowed users to turn off automatic updates, has been dropped from Windows 10, and there is no option under the Settings app to turn off automatic updates.
However, users running on Windows 10 Pro edition can make necessary changes to the default Windows Updates settings to notify users that updates are available (users can install if they wish to), and turning on this option will make sure that Windows 10 doesn’t automatically download and install updates. There is also an option to automatically download updates but notify users before installing them.
Important: Although the Registry Editor is present in Windows 10 Home edition, this method is not for Home edition.
Users on Pro edition can go through our how to disable Windows Update in Windows 10 guide for detailed instructions.
Turn off or configure automatic Windows Updates using Registry
Several users have asked us if it’s possible to configure Windows Update settings via Registry. The good news is that one can change the default settings of Windows Update by editing the registry. Besides that, all the Windows Update settings offered in Group Policy are available in Registry as well.
In addition to that, there is a way to completely turn off automatic updates (never check for updates) in Windows 10 using Registry.
In this guide, we will see how to turn off or configure automatic Windows Update by editing Registry.
Method 1 – turn off automatic updates
Method 2 – advanced settings to configure automatic updates
Method 1 of 2
Completely turn off automatic updates
Important: We recommend you create a manual system restore point before editing the Registry just in case if something goes wrong!
Step 1: Type Regedit in the Start menu or taskbar search box and then press Enter key. Click Yes button when you see the User Account Control dialog.
Step 2: In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows
Step 3: Right-click on Windows key (as shown in the below picture), click New and then click Key.
Enter the name as WindowsUpdate (no space between Windows and Update). Note that even after creating the New Key, you can right-click on it, and then click Rename to rename it as WindowsUpdate.
Step 4: Now that you have created WindowsUpdate key, right-click on WindowsUpdate key, click New, click Key, and then set its name as AU.
Step 5: Click on the AU key. On the right-side, right-click on the empty space, click New, click DWORD (32-bit) Value, and name it as NoAutoUpdate.
Step 6: Finally, double-click on NoAutoUpdate, and set its value data to one of the following numbers:
0 – To enable automatic updates
1 – To turn off automatic updates
When you turn off automatic updates using the instructions mentioned above, Windows will never check for updates. If you navigate to Advanced options of Windows Settings in the Settings app, you will see Never check for updates as the status under Choose how updates are installed section.
Method 2 of 2
More settings to configure automatic updates
If you don’t want to completely turn off automatic updates but want to control how the updates are installed, you can do so by following given below directions.
Step 1: Follow the instructions in the above method to create WindowsUpdate and AU keys under the following path:
Step 2: Select AU key, on the right side, create a new 32-bit DWORD and name it as AUOptions, and set its value as one of the following numbers:
2 – Notify before downloading and installing updates
3 – Auto download updates and notify for install
4 – Auto download updates and schedule the install
5 – Allow local admin to choose setting
So, if you want Windows always to notify you about an available update, you need to set the value as 2. Configuring Windows 10 to notify you before downloading updates is the best way to disable automatic updates as the updates won’t be downloaded without your knowledge.
And for those of you wondering, although Registry Editor is present in Windows 10 Home, it looks like these Registry tweaks don’t help you turn off automatic updates.
