How do I disable Automatic Update for Windows Update

Anonymous
2013-10-18T00:55:44+00:00

I just bought a Surface RT, and updated to 8.1. My PC says it's set to automatically update, and it's not providing me with any obvious way to disable automatic updates.

Automatic updates for a computer's operating system have proven irritating and problematic for me in the past, and I would like to avoid that headache if at all possible.

Please for the love of God tell me I can disable automatic updates.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Windows update

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Anonymous
2013-12-31T02:24:55+00:00

I have been reading a lot of posts on here...

Basically, Microsoft support will only post what there told to post.

This is how you turn Auto Updates on or off on Windows RT.

  1. Hit the Windows button.
  2. Type view local services and click it.
  3. Find Windows update and right click Startup Type.
  4. Go to Properties, you'll see Startup type again.

5. Click disable and apply.

Turn it on in the same way.

" I will bust my RT back to 8 "

The truth is out there....

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-05-05T01:34:33+00:00

    Do you know if there is a setting to simply disallow the device from restarting to install updates when running only on battery power? It sometimes likes to do this when left unattended and ends up screwing itself up when it dies in the middle of installs.

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  2. @CmdrKeene 90,631 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2015-05-05T00:23:30+00:00

    We can absolutely help you fix that.  Are you using a Windows RT tablet, or did you post into this conversation by mistake?

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-05-05T00:10:52+00:00

    everytime there is an update my computer crashes and looses 7 programs--8.1 sucks

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  4. @CmdrKeene 90,631 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2015-05-05T00:03:24+00:00

    Considering how often "safe" websites like HuffPost, Yahoo, Fox, Google, and others have unwillingly infected users just by viewing their pages (sources here), just because you practice good habits doesn't necessarily mean you don't need to plug a zero day attack vector.

    But if you really need to:

    Businesses get a UI tool (or server-side administration) to modify this behavior on machines they control with Group Policy, available in Professional Edition.

    Consumer versions don't have those workgroup focused administration tools, but can do the same thing with PowerShell or modifying the registry config directly with this value:

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU]

    "NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers"=dword:00000001

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