How can I stop Windows from automatically updating?

Question

Windows just decided to wake my computer from standby and start applying an update without my say-so in the middle of the night. I was made aware of this because I was awakened by the sound of the fans going full blast.

When I opened my laptop's screen, the screen was completely black and unresponsive, so I assumed it was a problem and forced a shutdown. When I booted the computer, then the update view came up. Luckily there didn't seem to be any data corruption despite the forced shutdown, but this combination of behaviors can be extremely dangerous.

I really need Windows 11 to stop doing this. It is alarming and frustrating. However, the only way to do so is by temporarily pausing the updates. I don't want that because then I'll forget about the pause or will have to reapply the pause every X weeks.

I'm aware that through services.mcs, I can turn off the updates completely, but this is an unnecessarily drastic measure. I still want to be made aware of any new updates that have been lined up. I want to be reminded by having the option to update when I'm shutting the computer down as well as by the small orange icon on the bottom right corner. I just want Windows to stop automatically applying these updates. It is very aggravating to see Windows bypassing me on decisions like this and disturbing my sleep.

Answer 1

It is insane how my computer will run updates while it is in SLEEP mode so that when I return to the PC and need to use it I have to wait for updates I don’t want installed at all. I've already installed Linux and I am using it as much as possible because windows has decided that if I want their Os I need their absolute trash browser, their trash AI (so so so trash just spyware really) and a constant stream of updates that undo changes I've made to the system to disable this ****. Someone needs to make a better version of this platform already

Answer 2

So what I'm reading is that I CANNOT turn off auto-update. I can only allocate a 6 hour window MINIMUM where it will still update?

I emphasize this because "- Press Win + R, type gpedit.msc, and navigate to:

Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update > Manage end user experience > Configure" doesn't exist on my computer.

Answer 3

Thank you for the fix! we'll see what happens