Stop upgrade to Windows 11

ok found more answers and providing some links

To update the domain with the latest Admin templates so the options are there for the GPO

(Hard to see but all the screen shots for how to do it via GPO was using the Local GPO not the domain one)

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-client/group-policy/create-and-manage-central-store

also got info from here http://woshub.com/install-update-group-policy-administrative-templates-admx/

Now from this site they mention one more Reg key (I have not seen on other sites) that matches up with the GPO "ProductVersion" https://www.pdq.com/blog/how-to-block-the-windows-11-upgrade/

I hope this helps out. I have not verified that this actually stops the update or not still testing but wanted to share info that I found.

I think like everyone else that MS needs to provide another solution since windows 10 and windows 11 are both 21h2 and soon to have a 22h1 (I am guessing for both).

We should not block 21h2 from windows 10 but until a better block is presented I don't think we have a choice.

It is funny that everyone is pointing to the article at MajorGeeks and no actual article from MS!!!

and a few talk about doing this in GPO but the options to set as described do not exist and no one has explained why yet

It would be nice to know if and when a version of Windows 11 is released that has no longer these 'early bird' issues. To know when it is safe to try again.

Exactly. I assist people with their common computer problems. My user is not very adaptable a far as technology goes and his computer is compatible with and updated to Win 11 when he didn't expect and it threw him for a loop. I backed it out, installed this kludge. Now I'm researching these issues so I can keep his computer on Win 10 but get security and bug updates.

My other question is: What is the support plan for Windows 10? I heard you can keep using it until 2025, but if you look at the above Win 10 chart 21H2 is only supported until 2023, a year from now. If they keep using the same version strings, how's that going to work.

I think MS is trying to pull a fast one by forcing those they can onto Win 11 whether we like it or not. Same ol' MS BS, different year.

thanks for the explanation. Then I'm also curious about these answers.

My laptop automatically updated to Windows 11 (before I reversed it) and that caused so much trouble that I thought something was seriously wrong with my system. I described these in another post . The computer couldn't start up anymore, that resulted in stopcodes and caused me hours to figure out what could cause the problem and how to solve it (no solution found). Reversing the update back to Windows 10 immediately made all problems go away.

So, now I don't dare to update to Windows 11 again anymore.

Although I think my system should be capable to handle Windows 11.

It would be nice to know if and when a version of Windows 11 is released that has no longer these 'early bird' issues. To know when it is safe to try again.

In the table of contents you can see, it also has a part about 'how to continue getting Windows 10 updates'

Before I posted anything to this thread, I had looked over those instructions in great detail. I did see the section about 'How to continue getting Windows 10 Updates.' That article is dated Nov 6, 2021 and describes to set the TargetUpdate item to 21H1. It states (emphasis mine):

"If you followed the above methods exactly, you have prevented your Windows 10 PC from getting any updates after the 21H1 update. This means it will block any Windows 10 updates, too, which you probably don’t want to do.

To get around that, keep an eye on the Microsoft Docs site to check for newer versions of Windows 10. Once you see a new update there, say 21H2, then in the steps above where you entered “21H1”, change that to “21H2” (without quotes).

That will allow you to continue to get Windows 10 updates while blocking the Windows 11 update."

But if you look at the "Window 11 Current Versions" I posted above. You will see that the first Windows 11 version is also 21H2.
Win 11 was (according to the table) released on Oct 4, 2021 and the Win 10 21H2 release was on Nov 4, 2021. So if a user is on a system that supports Windows 11, and changed the TargetVersion to 21H2, will the system be upgraded to Win 11 or will Win 10 be updated because is has a later release date?

I don't have a Win 11 compatible machine so I can't test it. When there are future updates and patches for either version how does the user prevent Windows 11 from being installed. I have no idea. All I know is what I read in these articles. Someone with more in depth knowledge of the release plans, and how Update works, will need to clarify that for me or tell me where I've interpreted this incorrectly.

To me, setting the version string to the same value causes no end of confusion.