Cancel a pending upgrade to Windows 11

No one on this thread understands the issue, please read carefully. I have the same issue.

I upgraded to Windows 11 and reverted back to Windows 10.

Now with Windows 10, it continuously tries to download and install Windows 11 again. See below:

The best I can do is Pause Updates. Doing so doesn't allow me to update Windows 10. I'm being forced to Upgrade to Windows 11 (I didn't ask to do this, in fact I just reverted from Windows 11).

I want to cancel the Upgrade to Windows 11 which initiated on its own without my consent. The current status is how it shows above. Ready to download and install Windows 11 but no way to stop it.

What I want:

• Windows 10 to stop Upgrade to Windows 11 process
• Ability to update Windows 10 without it upgrading/installing to Windows 11
• Windows 10 with the ability to update

This will probably only work for the Pro/Enterprise version but I figured it's worth bringing up:

01.) Pause Windows Update

02.) Open 'Edit group policy'

03.) Navigate to Computer Configuration>Administrative Templates>Windows Components>Windows Update>Windows Update for Business

04.) Double click 'Select the target Feature Update version'

05.) Select 'Enabled'

06.) Put in the target Windows 10 version you want. I put: 21H2

07.) Click 'OK'

08.) Open CMD or PowerShell as Administrator

09.) Type in: gpupdate /force

10.) Press Enter then close CMD/PowerShell

11.) Restart Windows Update service.

12.) Resume updates and the pending Windows 11 upgrade should disappear and if you're not on the target version, it will start upgrading to the target version.

It's worth noting, I'm not sure if the Windows 11 update will come back after you disable the feature. Please also note that once your target version expires, you will need to manually update it again or disable the feature.

I had this issue as well. After reverting back to Windows 10, the following seems to have resolved it for me, and cancelled the pending Windows 11 upgrade.

1. Add the following registry key using CMD/PowerShell as Administrator
   1. REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate /v ProductVersion /t REG_SZ /d "Windows 10"
   2. This key instructs Windows to only receive Feature Updates for the Windows 10 product
2. Click 'Pause updates' in Settings > Windows Update
3. Restart the Windows Update service (wuauserv)
4. Click to resume updates in Settings > Windows Update
5. Check for updates to verify that it does not attempt the upgrade again

Hope this helps and resolves your issue!

Here is the window

Is the update downloading?

If not, you can just select Stay on Windows 10 on the banner and it will not ask you for the upgrade.

You will continue to receive support and updates for Windows 10 until October 2025.