Anyway to not update to 24H2 but still get security updates?

Yes, I will add a registry key for the targeted feature update. If you target 23H2, you will not get 24H2. Here is the registry command for that:

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate" /v ProductVersion /t REG_SZ /d "Windows 11" /f && reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate" /v TargetReleaseVersion /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f && reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate" /v TargetReleaseVersionInfo /t REG_SZ /d "23H2" /f

You can never prevent a new version of Windows from installing. You can certainly delay receiving it, and I'll show you how I do that. But no matter what you do, you will eventually receive 24H2, because updates are cumulative. Microsoft's goal is for all Windows machines to be up-to-date, so you will receive missing components from 24H2 in whatever version of Windows follows 24H2.

My method is based on my opinion that almost nobody needs to get a new version of Windows on the first day it's available to the public. Only if your computer is experiencing a problem that is specifically addressed in a new version of Windows do you need to have that new version as soon as possible. Everyone else should wait.

We should wait because even though new versions of Windows are tested on literally millions of Windows Insiders, that's only a drop in the bucket compared to the more than one-and-a-half billion users of Windows.

I set my PC to delay receiving new versions of Windows for 90 days. That doesn't mean I'll get the new version on the 91st day - it means my computer isn't even eligible to receive a new version of Windows until the 91st day. It can take Microsoft 6 months or more to send a new version of Windows to its users.

90 days is usually long enough for Microsoft to discover problems in a new version of Windows and either fix them, or prevent parts of an update from going out to configurations that won't succeed with them.

This method has worked well for me. I have not had to uninstall an update since Windows 8.

This is what happens when you listen to some vague rumours and then potentially can do real harm to your own computer trying to bypass the update by doing regedit stuff. Listening to some random guy on the internet telling you to do a regedit when you don't know what you are doing in the first place is the most dangerous thing to do on the internet.

The green stuff is your security updates.

Feature updates like 24h2 (the red stuff) will ALWAYS be under a separate button which you have to individually press to download and install.

Why do you need to pause your updates? As long as you don't press the red stuff, then you don't update to 24h2, period.

This is what happens when you listen to some vague rumours and then potentially can do real harm to your own computer trying to bypass the update by doing regedit stuff. Listening to some random guy on the internet telling you to do a regedit when you don't know what you are doing in the first place is the most dangerous thing to do on the internet.

The green stuff is your security updates.

Feature updates like 24h2 (the red stuff) will ALWAYS be under a separate button which you have to individually press to download and install.

This is a lie. I just had my second computer forced to upgrade to Windows 24h2, no option to avoid. Reboot now or reboot later to upgrade, that was it. And for the second time my computer was made unstable and crashed with continuous problems. This on two perfectly stable, new computers. Games, new drivers, etc.. Crashes and BSOD.

Windows 24h2 problems is not a rumor. In my household it has had one hundred percent kill rate on computers I own. Microsoft just hasn't acknowledged how deep the problem lies yet.

This method has worked well for me. I have not had to uninstall an update since Windows 8.

Please don't just post a bunch of old wives tales and scare people.

Microsoft refined its update thing because this nightmare thing a bunch of times.

1. Microsoft had a major screw up with the windows 10 1809 feature update when people lost files. All the end-users did was pressed the update button on patch tuesday to get a security update and they got the feature update as well. But then the 1809 feature update had bugs which caused the OS to lose people's files.
2. So after that fiasco 6 years ago, feature update is now a separate download/install with a separate button. When you press the normal update button, all you get is the security update.
3. To further safeguarding against that, Microsoft started a phased rollout. Many people don't even have the option to download/install a feature update on the first day of the rollout. Microsoft probably won't even offer you the option to download/install the feature update on the first day of the rollout.
4. Microsoft also enforces a forced feature update on people's computer 4 months before your end-of-life date. So the end-of-life date for windows 11 23h2 is Nov 2025, so Microsoft will force an update on your windows 11 23h2 computer in July 2025. Unless your computer is managed by an IT department, you can't avoid this forced update via regedit.

To tell people to do all these acrobatic things when (a) their computers probably won't even get an offer to update in the first place, (b) you don't have to accept the offer and (c) the forced install is 10 months away (which they can't bypass via regedit).