how do i stop downloading and installing windows 11

Thank you for that further information. What a total mess right? My son just upgraded to Windows 11 yesterday without a hitch. Everything is working so now I'm inclined to quit fighting it and just do it.

It won't be until next week and I'll report back.

Hang in there!

Whatever you do, don't rely on a created restore point. I created one before downloading Windows 11 and it was gone afterwards. Manual back up of registry or other changes is what I am doing.

Also I came across 'Create Recovery drive' in windows 10 and have done that too.

This is so bad that we have to do this, not happy but will persevere. Susan

HI PortlandMT, This is interesting and at the same time I found what appears to be almost the same information on the Microsoft site.

MY question to you is, did you actually allow Windows 11 to download and then do this or did you do this from Windows 10?

In the video I followed and found the Downloads file as directed.

He selected and deleted all "the unimportant" files leaving only the cache.

I"m not a tech, but I can usually follow clear instructions HAHA but I wasn't sure how I know how unimportant these files are and have not felt quite ready to delete them.

So for now I will try and work my way through this version. It does remind me to back up the registry before I mess with it! https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/program-is-not-listed-in-add-remove-programs-after-installation-0866db2a-f8d9-fb0f-16d2-850f5072e536.

I will watch for your further thoughts, thank you, Susan

I would have to do an upgrade to Windows 21H2. I currently have Edition Windows 10 Home

Version   20H2. Then after that, I could go into the registry and do what you did. I find this to be an awful situation.

I'll let you know what I decide.

Yes, modifying the registry is the only way to stop Windows Update from downloading and installing the Windows 11 upgrade. This article was extremely helpful to me: https://www.howtogeek.com/765377/how-to-block-the-windows-11-update-from-installing-on-windows-10/

It explains the whole process WITH screenshots. It was very simple!

Also, I believe it is important to delete Windows Update Cache. Windows itself says that it is completely safe to delete everything out of the SoftwareDistribution/Download folder. See the following YouTube video and Microsoft forum articles:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHerbmtWV6o

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/cwindowssoftwaredistributiondownload-deleting/7121844b-82bb-4a53-ad52-3a93fcfc9ffb

I restarted my computer and ran Windows update and it updated the current version of Windows 10 (21H2) and there's no sign of Windows 11 upgrade notifications. I am super pleased, however, it took WAY too much of my time to figure out this one, simple thing! Windows can be so unintuitive sometimes.

Here is where you can figure out what the latest version of Windows 10 is (this will be important for modifying the registry to update the version of Windows you want to get updates for): https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/release-health/release-information

Also, you may find it helpful to reset Windows Update. You can do so using Windows Update Troubleshooter: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-update-troubleshooter-19bc41ca-ad72-ae67-af3c-89ce169755dd