can't change windows update settings even though I am the administrator

Anonymous
2012-03-12T02:33:33+00:00

When I try to change the windows update settings, the options are greyed out and I get the message at the top "Some settings are managed by your system administrator."  However, I am the system administrator.  Creating another account and designating it the system administrator account does not help.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Settings

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Anonymous
2013-03-25T10:20:50+00:00

This was the only way I found to fix this:

Be very careful editing windows registry

For Windows Vista/7

Click Start and type regedit in the Search Programs and Files field. Then right-click on regedit in the programs list and select Run as Administrator.

Within the Registry Editor, navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU.

On the right side of the window, locate AUOptions and NoAutoUpdate. Delete both of these registry keys.

Reboot

You should now be able to edit Windows Update

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-12-27T21:07:43+00:00

    This was the only way I found to fix this:

    Be very careful editing windows registry

    For Windows Vista/7

    Click Start and type regedit in the Search Programs and Files field. Then right-click on regedit in the programs list and select Run as Administrator.

    Within the Registry Editor, navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU.

    On the right side of the window, locate AUOptions and NoAutoUpdate. Delete both of these registry keys.

    Reboot

    You should now be able to edit Windows Update

    it was v hard to find out these things, plz make it more clear, at last i found the au option but the second option named as NoAutoUpdate was not found at all. i deleted the au file and restarted it did nt work. i ve windows 7 ultimate 64 nit edition can u provide further help?

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-07-11T08:38:01+00:00

    Hi, this is the best solution in my eyes.

    1. Open RegEdit
    2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate
    3. on the right panel, double click where it says DisableWindowsUpdateAccess
    4. Now, on the pop up screen, make sure the value is set to 0 and not 1.
    5. Fixed :)

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-02-23T05:50:47+00:00

    If you are using windows 8, you will not see the 'AU' option in the regedit steps above. 

    I found that you will only see 'DisableWindowsAutoUpdate' , do not delete it, however, right click on it, select modify and change the value from '1' to '0' .... 

    Now windows will automatically update

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-02-23T05:49:41+00:00

    If you are using windows 8, you will not see the 'AU' option in the regedit steps above. 

    I found that you will only see 'DisableWindowsAutoUpdate' , do not delete it, however, right click on it, select modify and change the value from '1' to '0' .... 

    Now windows will automatically update

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments