Windows Update - How to fix "Some settings are managed by your system administrator"

I can share / comment on that subject of seeing a message like this:

Often accompanied by a message like this:

And from the Control Panel Action Center you might see:

The problem has nothing to do with you account or how you are logged in.  Logging in as Administrator will not help.

It is extremely unlikely to be a malware infection (never seen it).

Other things to try that in my experience will not help:

Safe Mode

Clean Boot

sfc  /scannow

System Update Readiness Tool

Windows Update Troubleshooter

Messages like that about "...by your system administrator" are Group Policy settings and in this case a Policy has been applied to Windows Update by someone or some-thing - probably your antivirus/antimalware application as it wants to protect your system from changes.

The quick fix is to just remove the suspicious Group Policy registry key causing the problem.

First make a manual System Restore point (just in case).

Open a Command Prompt window as Administrator:

Carefully enter (or copy/paste) the following command, press the Enter key and respond in the affirmative:

reg   delete   HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU

For 64-bit systems also enter this command:

reg   delete HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU

Now check your Windows Update settings.

For those that are interested here are more details about problem:

I don't know all the possible ways these Policies may have been set but I know how to fix it.

Make a System Restore point (just in case) because there is no undo or quit without saving in the Registry Editor.

Then launch the registry editor (regedit.exe) as Administrator:

Navigate to this location:

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

If you see the AU key (AU= Automatic Updates) right click and delete it:

For 64 bit systems repeat the process at this location:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Policies\Microsoft\Windows

Close registry editor and check Windows Update again.

No reboot should be needed but do it anyway to be sure the adjustments "stick".

Only Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate, and Windows 7 Enterprise support the Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) so if you did not change the policy yourself somebody or something changed it for you.  It could be some previous Windows Update troubleshooting suggestions or sometimes malicious software that likes to mess with such things.

Other possible afflictions where you might see a similar message are Command Prompt, Task Manager, System Restore, Registry Editor (regedit.exe), etc. and these are all things that you might use to find and remove malicious software.  Sometimes the malicious software is very clever but you can always outsmart it.

Another common example afflicting System Restore settings:

Notice all the messages end with "...by your system administrator".  That is the clue the problem is a Policy.

Some malicious software likes to disable these things to make it harder to find and remove it in hopes that you will be fooled into reinstalling your entire Windows when you really don't have too.  Sometimes folks that don't understand the problem will tell you a complete reinstall is the "only solution" when it is not.

Another possibility is some third party program you have installed that is "protecting" your system a little too much.

You should follow up with some malware scans with the free versions of Malwarebytes and AdwCleaner both of which you can get from here:

https://www.malwarebytes.com/

Malware scanners may not undo policy changes because the scanners can't tell if the policy changes are legitimate or not so they might report them as PUM (Potentially Unwanted Modification) or they might not report the Policy changes as a problem at all.

The important things is to recognize the problem as a policy change by looking at the error message (get a screen shot) and then check the Policy section of the registry.

For the daredevils that want to see more about how it works and have the Group Policy Editor here's how:

Launch Group Policy Editor and navigate to Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, Windows Update, Configure Automatic Updates and make it looks like this:

Now check the registry for the Windows Update and AU keys and you will not be able to change your WU settings until the policy is manually removed or Not Configured.