Disable Windows 10 Update in the Registry and with PowerShell

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Michael Pietroforte

Michael Pietroforte is the founder and editor in chief of 4sysops. He has more than 35 years of experience in IT management and system administration.

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It appears blogging about Windows Update in Windows 10 has become my new passion. This is my fourth post about the topic, and I am sure it won’t be the last.

With Group Policy

A previous post explained how you can disable Windows Update with the Group Policy Editor (Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Update).

After I published the article, I learned that disabling the policy is equivalent to option 1 (Never check for updates [not recommended]) in previous Windows versions.

Disable Automatic Updates in the Group Policy Editor

This inspired me to look for the corresponding Registry keys. For some reason, Microsoft keeps moving the location of the settings with every new Windows release.

In the Registry

In Windows 10 (final release), the Registry settings for automatic updates can be found here: HKLM:SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\. However, the WindowsUpdate key will only be created after you change the settings with the Group Policy Editor, and Windows will delete the key if you set the policy to “Not Configured.”

If you take a closer look at the Registry key, you will notice that it is in a Policies folder. Because Windows 10 Home doesn’t support Group Policy, these settings can’t be used for this Windows edition. Thus, you can use the procedures described here only with Windows 10 Pro and Windows 10 Enterprise.

If you really need to turn off automatic updates in Windows 10 Home, you can disable the Windows Update service as I described in my previous post. If I learn about the Registry settings for Windows 10 Home, I will post them here.

To disable Windows Update in the other Windows 10 editions, you have to set NoAutoUpdate to 1 in
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU.
If the corresponding keys don’t exist, you have to create them.

You can also copy the contents of the code below to a file with the extension .reg and then double-click it.

Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for what my guide will do to your computer. These changes are not documented, and you follow my instructions at your own risk!

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU]
"NoAutoUpdate"=dword:00000001

Note that new settings become active in the Windows Update app only after you check for new updates. Even rebooting the computer does not activate the settings.

The “Never check for automatic updates” setting in Windows 10

As you can see in the screenshot above, you will no longer be able to change the automatic update settings in the Windows Update app. If you want to enable automatic updates again, you simply have to delete the WindowsUpdate key with its sub keys. This is what the REG file below will do when you double-click it.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate]

With PowerShell

Group Policy offers more options than the Windows Update app offers in Windows 10. If you want to quickly switch between the different settings without navigating to the corresponding folder in the Group Policy Editor, you can run the little PowerShell script below. Make sure that you have admin rights and that you configured the PowerShell execution policy accordingly.

I didn’t implement all settings that the policy offers. For instance, I didn’t include the fifth option (Allow local admin to choose setting) because it has no effect on standalone machines.

I added the options for the scheduled time to configure when Windows will reboot after installing the updates, but you have to edit the values in the script if you want to use this feature. Note that these settings only have meaning if you use option 4 (Auto download and schedule the install). You can find out what the values mean if you in the Group Policy Editor. Also note that the scheduled time only affects updates that have not yet been downloaded and installed.

The script essentially mimics the actions of the Group Policy Editor when you choose between the different options or when you disable the policy. I added the values ScheduledInstallDay and ScheduledInstallTime to options 2 (Notify for download and notify for install) and 3 (Auto download and notify for install) because the Group Policy Editor does the same when you select these settings. But I guess it is not required.

Note that the script always deletes all previous automatic update settings including those that you configured with the Group Policy Editor.

As always, use at your own risk!

Clear-Host

Write-Host "0 -> Change setting in Windows Update app (default)"
Write-Host "1 -> Never check for updates (not recommended)"
Write-Host "2 -> Notify for download and notify for install"
Write-Host "3 -> Auto download and notify for install"
Write-Host "4 -> Auto download and schedule the install"

Write-Host "Enter any character to exit"
Write-Host
switch(Read-Host "Choose Window Update Settings"){
       0 {$UpdateValue = 0}
       1 {$UpdateValue = 1}
       2 {$UpdateValue = 2}
       3 {$UpdateValue = 3}
       4 {$UpdateValue = 4}
       Default{Exit}
}

$WindowsUpdatePath = "HKLM:SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\"
$AutoUpdatePath = "HKLM:SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU"

If(Test-Path -Path $WindowsUpdatePath) {
    Remove-Item -Path $WindowsUpdatePath -Recurse
}


If ($UpdateValue -gt 0) {
    New-Item -Path $WindowsUpdatePath
    New-Item -Path $AutoUpdatePath
}

If ($UpdateValue -eq 1) {
    Set-ItemProperty -Path $AutoUpdatePath -Name NoAutoUpdate -Value 1
}

If ($UpdateValue -eq 2) {
    Set-ItemProperty -Path $AutoUpdatePath -Name NoAutoUpdate -Value 0
    Set-ItemProperty -Path $AutoUpdatePath -Name AUOptions -Value 2
    Set-ItemProperty -Path $AutoUpdatePath -Name ScheduledInstallDay -Value 0
    Set-ItemProperty -Path $AutoUpdatePath -Name ScheduledInstallTime -Value 3
}

If ($UpdateValue -eq 3) {
    Set-ItemProperty -Path $AutoUpdatePath -Name NoAutoUpdate -Value 0
    Set-ItemProperty -Path $AutoUpdatePath -Name AUOptions -Value 3
    Set-ItemProperty -Path $AutoUpdatePath -Name ScheduledInstallDay -Value 0
    Set-ItemProperty -Path $AutoUpdatePath -Name ScheduledInstallTime -Value 3
}

If ($UpdateValue -eq 4) {
    Set-ItemProperty -Path $AutoUpdatePath -Name NoAutoUpdate -Value 0
    Set-ItemProperty -Path $AutoUpdatePath -Name AUOptions -Value 4
    Set-ItemProperty -Path $AutoUpdatePath -Name ScheduledInstallDay -Value 0
    Set-ItemProperty -Path $AutoUpdatePath -Name ScheduledInstallTime -Value 3
}