How to Disable Automatic Updates in Windows 11

2023-06-06 19:05:15

Like its predecessor, Windows 11 performs many operations in the background while you use it. Most of them are important for everything to work properly, whether it’s providing notifications or scanning for viruses.

But by default, Windows 11 also automatically downloads software updates. This means that when you go to shut down your computer, you may be prompted to finish installing these updates.

However, you may prefer to have more control over which updates are installed and when those downloads take place. In this article we will see how to take a short break from updates or permanently switch to downloading them manually.

Here are four methods worth knowing.

Temporarily Stop Windows 11 Automatic Updates in Settings

This is by far the easiest method, but it is also the most limited. If you’re bombarded with updates right now but don’t want to have to manually check in the long run, it’s worth a try:

1. Open settings
2. Select Windows Update in the left pane – it’s usually at the bottom of the list
3. Under “More Updates” you will find an option to “Pause Updates”. Click the button marked “Pause for 1 week”, following which automatic updates will resume

However, this setting completely disables updates for seven days or until you resume them. There is no option to continue installing them manually, unlike the other methods explained in this article.

Disable Windows 11 Automatic Updates via Windows Services

If you’re looking for something a little longer term, using Windows Services is worth considering:

1. Press Windows key + R to bring up the “Run” window
2. Type ‘services.msc’ in the box and hit enter
   
3. In ‘Services (Local), scroll down the list until you find ‘Windows Update’ and double click on it
   
4. Under the “General” tab of the Properties window that opens, click the drop-down menu next to “Startup type” and choose “Disabled”.
   
5. Click “Apply” and then “OK” to save changes

Automatic updates will now be disabled, but you can still install them manually through Settings. If you ever want to turn them back on, just repeat this process, choosing “Manual” or “Automatic” instead.

Set up metered connection to stop Windows 11 automatic updates

A metered connection is basically any internet connection that has a limit on how much data you can use. As you’d expect, creating a metered connection in Windows 11 means updates won’t download automatically in the background. Here’s how to set one up:

1. Open Settings and select “Network & Internet” from the left pane
2. At the top of the page, click “Properties” next to the network you are using
   
3. Next to “Measured connection”, click the button to activate it
   
4. Once done, click on “Windows Update” in the left pane, then on “Advanced options”
5. Next to the section called “Download updates over metered connections”, click the toggle to turn it on
   

Without setting a limit for the metered connection, your usual browsing experience should not be affected. However, other background processes that rely on the Internet can also be disabled.

Disable Windows 11 Automatic Updates by Editing the Registry

The fourth and final method is to make changes to the registry. As such, it is important to proceed with caution and carefully follow these steps:

1. Press Windows key + R to bring up the “Run” window
2. Type ‘regedit.exe’ in the box and hit enter
   
3. In the pop-up window that appears, click “Yes” to confirm that you allow the changes.
4. Just above all folders you will find an address bar. Delete everything you see there and replace it with ‘HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindowsWindowsUpdateAU’, before hitting Enter once more
5. Right-click any blank space in the right half of the screen and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value
   
6. Give it the name ‘NoAutoUpdate’ and hit enter
7. Now double click on this new value and set its ‘value data’ to 1
   
8. Click ‘OK’ to confirm, then restart your device to apply the changes

As you can see, there are many options to disable automatic updates in Windows 11. All of them are reversible, which means you can easily re-enable them if the manual update process runs out.

For more tutorials like this, check out our full line of Windows How Tos. You might also be interested in our comprehensive guide to Windows 11.

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