Early versions of Windows 10 did not offer any control over Windows Updates. After hearing user feedback, Microsoft has added a few options and settings to control Windows Updates in recent versions. That said, Windows 10 still does not give you full control over the Windows Update service.
In this guide, we will see how to change the default behavior of Windows Update in Windows 10.
Pause Windows Updates
Method 1 of 3
Pause updates for 7 days
Step 1: On the Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update page, click on the Pause updates for 7 days option to immediately stop getting updates for the next seven days.
If you want to receive updates before the end of 7 days, click on the Resume updates button present on the same page.
Method 2 of 3
Pause updates for up to 35 days
Step 1: On The Windows Update page, click Advanced options to open the advanced settings page.
Step 2: Scroll down the page to see the Pause updates section. Here, select a date until which you want to temporarily pause updates on your computer. Note that you cannot pause updates again after 35 days without installing the pending updates.
Method 3 of 3
Pause feature & quality updates
Microsoft churns out two feature updates in a year. If you want to delay a feature update, you can do so for a year. That is, you can defer a feature update for up to 365 days. However, quality updates can be deferred for up to 30 days only.
To do that:
Step 1: On the Windows Update page, click Advanced options.
Step 2: In the Choose when updates are installed section, you will see two options:
A feature update includes new capabilities and improvements. It can be deferred for this many days.
A quality update includes security improvements. It can be deferred for this many days.
To defer the feature update, in the box below the “A feature update includes new capabilities and improvements. It can be deferred for this many days”, select the number of days until which you want to defer the feature update. As said, you can delay a feature update for up to 365 days.
To delay a quality update, select the number of days from the drop-down box below the “A quality update includes security improvements. It can be deferred for this many days” option. Quality updates can be postponed for a maximum of 30 days.
Do not download updates over a metered connection
Windows 10 allows you to configure the Windows Update settings to prevent it from downloading updates when you are on a metered connection. Here is how to do that.
Step 1: Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Advanced options.
Step 2: Turn off Download updates over metered connections.
NOTE: You first need to set a network as metered. Refer to our how to set a network as metered connection in Windows 10 guide for directions.
Limit Windows Update bandwidth
If you are on a relatively slow internet connection and want to limit how much bandwidth is used to download updates, you can do that as well.
Step 1: Go to Settings > Update & Security > Delivery Optimization page.
Step 2: Click the Advanced options link.
Step 3: In the Download settings section, select both Limit how much bandwidth is used for downloading updates in the background and Limit how much bandwidth is used for downloading updates in the foreground options.
Set the value by moving the slider. No need to restart or click any other button to save the changes.
You do not need to change or configure the Upload settings unless you have not turned on Allow downloads from other PCs option present on the Go to Settings > Update & Security > Delivery Optimization page.
Stop Windows Update from installing driver updates
With default settings, Windows 10 automatically downloads and updates device drivers. If you want to stop that, you can do that via the Registry.
Step 1: Type Regedit.exe in the Start/taskbar search and press the Enter key to open the Registry Editor.
Step 2: Go to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate
Step 3: On the right-side, right-click on an empty spot, click New, click DWORD (32-bit) Value and then name it as ExcludeWUDriversInQualityUpdate.
Step 4: Finally, double-click on the newly created ExcludeWUDriversInQualityUpdate value and set its value to 1 to stop Windows 10 from serving device drivers via Windows Update service.
View & Uninstall installed Windows Updates
Step 1: Navigate to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > View update history to view all recently installed feature and quality updates.
Step 2: To uninstall an update, click on the Uninstall update link located at the top of the page. This will open the classic Installed Updates window.
Step 3: Here, right-click on the update that you want to remove and then click the Uninstall option.
If you want to uninstall updates without booting into Windows 10, refer to our how to uninstall updates when your PC is not booting guide.
