How to Turn Off Automatic Updates for Windows 10

Prevent your Windows 10 device from updating automatically

Two laptops

Drew Angerer / Getty Images 

by Luis E. Chavez Saenz
Luis Chavez is a former freelance contributor to Lifewire and a System Administrator with 5+ years' experience writing about technology for end users.
Updated October 19, 2019

Windows 10, the latest version of Microsoft Windows, is set to automatically update whenever Microsoft releases new updates. However, as an end-user, you might not want some updates to install immediately. In times like those, it'll be good to know how to turn off automatic updates on Windows 10.

Does the Windows 10 Edition matter?

There are two editions of Windows 10 available to regular consumers: Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Professional.

Depending on which Windows 10 edition you own, you might have more or fewer options to prevent Windows 10 from updating when it wants to. Fortunately, even Windows 10 Home has a way to stop Windows 10 updates.

Instructions in this article apply to Windows 10 Pro v1903 build 18362.356.

How to Stop the Windows 10 Update Service

These steps apply to both Windows 10 Home and Professional. However, it will completely disable Windows Updates; you'll need to revert these changes when there's an update you'd like to apply.

  1. Launch Windows services by pressing Windows key + R. Once the Run window launches, type services.msc and select OK.

    Windows Run dialog box with services.msc listed.

  2. Once the Services window opens, find and select Windows Update, then select the Stop icon to stop the service.

    Viewing settings in Services.

  3. Once the service has stopped, right-click Windows Update and select Properties.

    Right-clicking and selecting Properties for the Windows Updates service.

  4. In the Properties window, select the Startup type dropdown menu, then select Disabled. Select Apply, then select OK.

    Setting the startup type to Disable in Windows updates.

  5. Exit the Services window and enjoy your Windows 10 device free of updates.

Turn off Automatic Updates Using Windows 10's Update Settings

If you own Windows 10 Professional, you can modify the Windows Update settings to defer updates or pause them entirely.

  1. Open the start menu and launch Windows Update.

  2. Select Advanced Options.

    Selecting advanced options in Windows updates.

  3. To pause updates, select a date in the dropdown under Pause updates and updates will be paused until your chosen date.

    Selecting a date to pause Windows updates to.

    This setting only disables updates temporarily for 35 days. You'll need to select a new date under Pause updates to disable again.

  4. To defer updates instead, select the desired Window Update servicing channel from the first dropdown menu, then set how long you'd like to defer the Feature Updates and the Quality Updates.

    Windows updates defer settings.

    Feature updates can be deferred for up to 365 days, while quality updates can be deferred for up to 30 days.

  5. Enjoy a Windows 10 device with updates temporarily disabled. To revert the changes, go to your Windows Update settings and ensure the defer days are set to 0.