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I am on Windows 10 Home, Version 1909. I did quite a bit of research on how to completely disable windows updates. This involved disabling the following services

  • Background Intelligent Transfer Service
  • Update Orchestrator Service
  • Windows Update Windows
  • Update Medic Service

However after some time, these services magically re-enable themselves. This seems to work even when my machine is not connected to the internet. How exactly is Windows able to re-enable these processes by itself, and how can I prevent this? I am aware of the security implication of turning Windows Updates off. It's fine for my use case.

Edit: I am not sure why this gets down-voted and why a different question is linked that does not answer my specific question. I have already consulted the link (links to a closed post, which in turn links to another post with answers going back to 2017). One of the more recent answers points out that non of the other answers to completely disable Windows update works anymore, and proposes the solution to disable these 4 processes. However, this no longer works either because even Windows Update Medic Service (which can be turned off via registry hack) turns itself back on. Therefore, the question is by which mechanism does this happen. As it stands, for the Windows version I am using there does not seem to be a working solution.

braaterAfrikaaner
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  • It’s not necessary to disable those services to disable Windows Updates. See the duplicate of your previously asked question. – Ramhound Aug 12 '20 at 05:15
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    @Ramhound. This is incorrect. The only way to prevent windows from updating is to stop these services. However, they keep reenabling themselves. I already tried all the methods in the linked post and they don't work. The latest response there refers back to the 4 processes I point out and explains one has to disable them. But with the latest update, Windows has done something to make these processes reenable themselves. Logically, there has to be yet another process driving this. We need to find out which one this is and how to kill it. – braaterAfrikaaner Aug 13 '20 at 03:28
  • Windows Home is pretty much designed to not allow you to permanently disable updates. if you want to be able to fo that, you need Pro, as in the linked duplicate answers. – Tetsujin Aug 13 '20 at 09:14
  • @Tetsujin, I know it is designed to do that. That's why I am here and asking the question. I have Home not Pro, that's why the linked question is irrelevant. It should always be possible to do something about these things. It's going to boil down to making some very invasive hacks, possibly deleting some system files. Again, I don't care about the risk of doing this. If this can't be done, I would rather not use Windows. Can we start by figuring out how Windows Medic Service can re-enable itself? The process that does this would have to be disabled. What process is that? – braaterAfrikaaner Aug 13 '20 at 15:54
  • Your question has become an [XY Problem](https://meta.stackexchange.com/q/66377) You want to stop Win updates, therefore see the duplicates on how to achieve that. You have fixated on stopping services, which is not the solution to your problem, but a solution to what you *perceive* to be the solution to your problem... – Tetsujin Aug 13 '20 at 16:36
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    if you take the time to read through the answers to the linked post as well as my own post, you would be able to confirm that *none* of the solutions (changing accessible system settings, solutions that require different versions) outlined there, either work at all, or work any longer. The only thing that used to work until recently was disabling these processes (see answer to the linked post titled 2019 Update). However, now MS has found a way to turn this process back on. Please enlighten me, on what basis are you saying that this would not be the solution to my problem? – braaterAfrikaaner Aug 15 '20 at 20:46

1 Answers1

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  1. Head to the start menu and type services to launch the services App.

  2. Look out for Windows Update in the name list. Double click to open.

  3. In General tab under startup type, choose Disabled and under service status press the Stop button to stop the service.

  4. Then under recovery tab, in first, second and subsequent failures choose Take no action.

  5. Then press ok to confirm your modifications.

Sonu Langaya
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    Did the read the question? The OP said they already disabled the services, "However after some time, these services magically re-enable themselves" – spikey_richie Aug 12 '20 at 07:08