The current Windows version, i.e. Win 10 is loaded with many features. But, it has taken away control of such superfluous features from its users. For instance, you can not disable Windows updates explicitly from the settings.
In this article, I’ll share a trick to disable Windows updates temporarily on a certain Wi-Fi network and also I’ll show you how to prevent Win 10 from rebooting randomly for updates.
I assume that your Windows PC is connected to the internet via Wi-Fi. If so, then this article will help you disable Windows updates without breaking the very same “feature”. If you are not connected to a Wi-Fi network then skip to the last method.
Prevent Windows from automatically downloading updates:
Step 1: Go to your wireless network properties. To do so open the Wi-Fi panel, just below the network’s name there is a link labeled “Properties”. Click on that.
Step 2: Set your network as a metered network. This prevents Windows from downloading Windows updates. For this, scroll down and you’ll see a button which is turned off by default.
Turn it on.
Now Windows won’t download unnecessary updates unless it is a critical patch/update which you should download.
To turn off random update reboots, follow these steps:
Step 1. Press the ‘Windows’ button, on the left vertical panel you’ll find a gear icon. That is Settings. Click on the gear icon to open Settings.
Step 2. Now inside the Settings, you can see an ‘Update & Security’ option in the lower-left corner. Click on it to open the ‘Update & Security’ settings.
Step 3. Click on ‘Change active hours’.
Step 4. This will open a window where you can set the active hours. 1st select starting hours, i.e. The usual time when you start working on your PC. 2nd, select the end hours, that is, the time when you are done working on your PC. And then save it.
Please keep in mind that you can provide a maximum of 18 hours as active hours.
In this time interval, Windows won’t reboot for updates.
There also another way to open the ‘Change active hours’ settings.
Windows Menu > Search for Change active hours> Select your work hours.
There is also a very aggressive method of disabling Windows Update services. I do not recommend it.
Stop The Windows Update Service
Windows update service is a Windows process that can be disabled at startup.
- Open the Run command (Win + R), and type services.msc and press enter.
- Find the Windows Update service from the Services list which appears and open it.
- In ‘Startup Type’ (under the ‘General’ tab) change it to ‘Disabled’
- Restart.
To re-enable Windows Update simply repeat these four steps, but change the Startup Type to ‘Automatic’.