How to disable updates on Windows 10 Pro and Home

• To disable updates on Windows 10, open Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update, and click “Pause updates.”
• You can also defer updates for up to 35 days on Windows 10 by configuring the “Select when Quality Updates are received” policy or Registry by modifying the “DeferQualityUpdatesPeriodInDays” DWORD.

UPDATED 12/2/2023: On Windows 10, updates are mandatory, and even though the new approach helps keep devices secure and up-to-date, they will often go out with bugs and problems that can negatively affect the experience.

While automatic updates won’t stop being a part of Windows 10, Microsoft is mitigating possible problems with an option that allows you to temporarily pause updates from downloading and installing for up to 35 days. However, some updates, such as definition updates for Microsoft Defender, will continue to download automatically to secure your device.

In this tutorial, I will teach you how to use the “Pause Updates” feature to prevent updates from being installed on Windows 10.

Disable updates temporarily on Windows 10 from Settings

To disable updates on Windows 10 Pro or Windows 10 Home, follow these steps:

1. Open Settings on Windows 10.

2. Click on Update & Security.

3. Click on Windows Update.

4. Click the Pause updates button to disable updates for seven days.

   

After you complete the steps, the device will no longer download updates for seven days.

Disable updates temporarily from Group Policy

If you’re using Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, or Education, you can use the Local Group Policy Editor to defer quality updates from being installed on your computer for up to 30 days.

To disable updates on Windows 10 through Group Policy, do the following:

1. Open Start.

2. Search for gpedit.msc and press Enter to open the Local Group Policy Editor.

3. Browse the following path

    Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update > Windows Update for Business

4. Double-click the “Select when Quality Updates are received” policy.

   

5. Select the Enabled option.

6. Under the “Options” section, enter the number of days to disable updates on Windows 10.

   

   Quick Tip: If you specify a starting date, your computer will defer updates for up to 35 days.

7. Click the Apply button.

8. Click the OK button.

Once you complete the steps, your device will not download and install updates for 30 days, but if you disable telemetry, this policy will not take effect.

If you want to revert the changes, you can follow the same steps, but on step 6, select the “Not Configured” option.

Disable updates temporarily from Group Registry

On Windows 10 Home, you won’t have access to the Local Group Policy editor, but you can pause cumulative updates for up to 30 days using the Registry.

To pause updates for more than seven days on Windows 10, use these steps:

1. Open Start.

2. Search for regedit, and click the result to open the Registry.

3. Browse the following path:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindowsWindowsUpdate

4. Double-click the DeferQualityUpdatesPeriodInDays DWORD.

5. Check the Decimal option.

6. Change the volume with a number between 0 and 30 representing the days to disable updates on Windows 10.

   

7. Click the OK button.

After you complete the steps, the computer won’t receive new updates for up to 30 days after they are released.

You can revert the changes at any time by following the same steps, but in step 5, change the value data to 0.

Update March 30, 2021: This tutorial was originally published in December 2016, and it’s been updated in March 2021 to reflect the new changes.

Update December 2, 2023: This tutorial has been updated to ensure correctness and reflect changes to the process.