Disable Windows 10 Updates

Change the Group Policy

If you have a Professional, Enterprise, or Education edition of Windows 10, you can turn off automatic updates. But the option is hidden.

1.      Press Win+R, type gpedit.msc,

press Enter. This brings up the Local Group Policy Editor.

2.      Navigate the left pane as if it were File Explorer, to Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Update.

3.      Find and double-click Configure Automatic Updates

4.      In the resulting dialog box, select Enabled.

5.      In the Options box, pull down the Configure automatic updating menu and select your preferred option.

The metered network trick

If you’ve got the plain old Home version of Windows 10, you can stop automatic updates by lying to your operating system. (Morally speaking, this doesn’t bother me a bit.)

But there’s a more serious caveat. It only works with a Wi-Fi network. Ethernet need not apply.

The trick is to tell Windows that you have a metered connection to the Internet—one that can only download so many bits per month without increasing your ISP bill. To tell Windows that you have a metered connection (whether you do or not):

1.      Select Start > Settings > Network & Internet.

2.      The Wi-Fi tab should already be selected in the left pane. In the right, main pane, select “Advanced options”.

3.      Turn on Metered connection.

You should do this for any Wi-Fi network you visit. The setting is only for that particular network.

You have two ways to manually update: You can turn off the metered connection option. Or you can simply use another network, even one with Ethernet.