How to stop Windows from applying updates

When faced with the situation to prevent Windows from downloading updates when you need to avoid restarting your PC or applying updates because the server is currently in use (in production), you can take specific actions to delay (stop) or pause updates. In tis article, you will learn How to stop Windows from applying updates. Please see how to disable automatic Windows updates via Windows Settings, and how to Fix Windows cannot check for updates in Windows 8, 7, and 10.

Note: There are different ways to have this accomplished, but for this specific use-case, we want the updates but do not want it to be applied yet. 

Also, see how to Check if Windows Updates were installed via the Registry Editor, and how to “Allow a blocked app: Application blocked unable to run and apply settings“. Also, see “how to stop an application from starting up automatically on macOS“.

Steps to Pause Windows Update Download

When you are unable to proceed due to Windows Updates waiting to be applied. Kindly follow these simple hints to stop the update service from running

1.    Simply Stop the Windows update service by using this command from the CLI

net stop wuauserv

2.    Or go to services and search for Windows Update (right click and select stop)

To show the running service using Powershell, run

tasklist

Or navigate to services to see if the Windows update Service is running

I hope you found this blog post on how to stop Windows from applying updates helpful. Please let me know in the comment session if you have any questions.