How to Pause or Stop Windows 10 Auto Updates, Download and Install

Automatic updates download and installation is a major issue in Windows 10. Windows Update in Windows 10 doesn't ask users before downloading and installing available updates which can waste a lot of Internet bandwidth if the user is using a limited Internet connection. Also sometimes a user may want to use older version of a hardware driver in his Windows 10 device if the new driver is not compatible or giving problems to the user but automatic updates in Windows 10 will reinstall the latest driver automatically without asking the user.


Now Microsoft has started listening Windows 10 users complaints and feedback and that's why they have added new options to Windows Update settings to defer/delay and pause automatic updates download. These new options are available in newer Windows 10 versions such as Creators Update or later.

Now you can defer updates up to 365 days i.e. a year and completely pause updates download for 35 days.

If you also want to use these features in Windows 10, following steps will help you:

STEP 1: Opening Windows Update Settings Page

Open Settings from Start Menu or press WIN+I keys together to directly launch Settings app.

Now go to Update & security -> Windows Update page and click on "Advanced Options" link given at the bottom in right-side pane.


It'll open Windows Update advanced options page.

Alternatively, you can directly launch Windows Update advanced options page using "ms-settings:windowsupdate-options" command in RUN dialog box.

STEP 2: Defer or Delay Windows Updates Download

On Advanced Options page, under "Choose when updates are installed" section, you'll find following 3 options:
  • Choose the branch readiness level to determine when feature updates are installed
  • A feature update includes new capabilities and improvements
  • A quality update includes security improvements

The first option "Choose the branch readiness level to determine when feature updates are installed" is set to "Current Branch" by default which means new updates will be downloaded and installed on your computer as soon as they are released to public by Microsoft. If you want to delay updates download, change its value to "Current Branch for Business" using drop-down box which means the new updates will be downloaded on your computer when the updates are released for enterprises which takes some time obviously.

Second option "A feature update includes new capabilities and improvements" can be used to defer/delay feature updates which can be considered as service packs for Windows 10. Feature updates are huge in size and adds new features, functionality and fixes bugs, issues in Windows 10.November Update, Anniversary Update, Creators Update all of these are actually feature updates. So if you don't want your device to upgrade to a new version of Windows 10 as soon as its released by Microsoft, you can set this option to up to 365 days using drop-down box.

The third option "A quality update includes security improvements" option can be used to defer security, stability and performance related updates for up to 30 days.

STEP 3: Pause Windows Updates Download

Apart from deferring Windows updates download, you can also pause updates download in your Windows 10 device.

On Advanced Options page, under "Pause Updates" section, you'll find an option to turn on/offpause updates feature. You can temporarily pause automatic updates download on your Windows 10 device for up to 35 days. Just set the toggle button to ON to pause updates.


Note: Once you pause updates download, after completion of 35 days or after manually resuming the updates, Windows 10 will automatically search for all available updates and if it finds new updates, it'll download and install them automatically. After that only you'll be able to pause updates again in your computer.
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