You can postpone Windows 11 updates to avoid crashing your computer

Postponing Windows 11 updates is a good thing if you want to Reduce potential bugs in Microsoft-supplied updates. And it’s because supporting a huge Windows ecosystem is not easy, and failures accumulate more often than would be desirable.

If it’s a general recommendation for all types of software to keep it up to date with the latest code, especially for security reasons, to prevent exploitation of its vulnerabilities, the reality of Windows invites you to use a balanced strategy to keep your computer running smoothly. . Microsoft’s track record in providing Windows updates is not at its worst, reaching its worst moment in the 2018 and 2019 versions of Windows 10, which revealed a serious software quality control issue that embittered the existence of more than one.

Microsoft took note and announced the changes. Once the development model was found to be unsustainable, it returned to service packs, a strategy of only releasing feature and quality updates each year and releasing features more gradually. It is fair to recognize that the latest version of Windows 10 improved the situation and the same can be said for Windows 11. However, there are still random crashes and some teams and tasks, especially those dedicated to production, cannot afford it.

There are ways to postpone quality and feature updates without affecting security updates, which will continue to be installed through monthly or one-time fixes as needed. We will tell you how and in various ways, basically in order to block automatic updates that come from Windows Update, and always leave the door to their manual installation when we deem it necessary.

How to delay Windows 11 updates

Temporarily from Settings

The easiest way to put them off is suspend them temporarily from the internal configuration tool. The process is done with a few clicks and is reversible in the same way whenever you want.

Press the “Windows + I” keyboard shortcuts to access the system configuration or search for the tool in the Start menu.
Go to “Windows Update”.

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In the “Pause updates” section, view the options and see that you can choose from one to five weeks.

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You will have this number of weeks before automatic updates turn on again. Like the other options we offer you, management is reversible at any time in addition, you can always install updates manually from Windows Update as well as from the Microsoft Update Catalog.

A radical option with group policies

It is a tool for advanced users or administrators. It’s available for Pro, Enterprise, or Education, and from there you can also block Windows 11 updates. A radical option that can be easily done this way:

Enter the services section from the run command using “services-msc”. If it’s more convenient for you, you can also access it by entering “services” in the search box.

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Check “Windows Update” in your local services.

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Right-click and open its properties.

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There you can manage the operation of the service, including the ability to disable the automatic download and installation of Windows 11 updates.

Greater customization with Group Policy

Windows Group Policy Editor is an internal tool widely used in IT administration because it gives you more control over how your computer works or the ability to make some adjustments that are not available through other less advanced administrators, such as Control Panel or General System Settings. . From here we can also manage updates.

Use Windows Search to find “gpedit.msc”.
Go to “Computer Configuration> Administrative Templates> Windows Components> Windows Update> End User Environment Management”.
Click “Configure Automatic Updates” to enable the policy.

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You will see a number of options, the most interesting being the number 2, which prevents the automatic download of updates.

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If this option is enabled, Windows Update notifies you with a specific button that there are updates available that can be installed manually. A halfway option that allows you to block automatic updates, but know them in case you want to install them yourself.

Windows registry

You can manage your entire computer from the Windows registry, and Windows Update won’t be different. As always, when working on this extremely powerful database, we recommend that you make a previous backup.

Blocking

From here we have several options. The first is to block Windows 11 updates (remember that we talked about automatic updates because, as in previous cases), they can always be installed manually.

Enter the system registry. For example, using “regedit” from the secondary Start menu launch function (right-click Start menu) or using Search.
Go to “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Policies \ Microsoft \ Windows”.
In this path, create a new key (right mouse button) named “WindowsUpdate”.

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Open the newly created key and repeat the step to create another one called “AU”.
Enter this key to create a new 32-bit DWORD value named “NoAutoUpdate”.

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Double-click on “NoAutoUpdate” and change its value from 0 to 1.

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Click OK, quit the registry, and then restart your computer. The value name explains what we get: the automatic update feature in Windows 11 will be permanently disabled.

Personalization

If you don’t want to completely block updates in the same way, you can customize it the same way we did above with Group Policy.

Enter the system registry.
Go to “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Policies \ Microsoft \ Windows”.
In this path, create new keys from the previous “WindowsUpdate” and “AU” or access them if you have already done so.
Enter the AU key to create a new 32-bit DWORD value named “AUOptions”.

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Double-click on “AUOptions” and change the value number to get the available options:

«2»: Pre-notification of downloading updates.
«3»: Automatic download, but previous installation notifications.
«4»: Automatic download and installation programming.
“5”: Allows the local administrator to select a configuration.
“7”: Automatic download, but installation and restart notifications.

As you may have read, there are relatively few ways to block Windows 11 updates or better customize the automatic Windows Update feature. Although these updates can improve the environment and add new features, it’s not hard that they also cause random errors (some very serious) that can cause KO on your computer.

If you use it in production environments, you can’t afford any bugs and you prefer stability to new features, manage it before it’s too late. All exposed cases are reversible and independent of manual installations which you can do at any time.

Source: Muy Computer

Alice

Alice Smith is a seasoned journalist and writer for Div Bracket. She has a keen sense of what’s important and is always on top of the latest trends. Alice provides in-depth coverage of the most talked-about news stories, delivering insightful and thought-provoking articles that keep her readers informed and engaged.