How to Stop Automatic Forced Upgrade from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1?

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1. I let Microsoft “upgrade” me to Win 8.1 last yea – and thereafter, my keyboard produced random letters unless I held down the shift key. Microsoft help was helpless and hopeless. It took ages to get it back to Win 8.0, and I lost all my programs!! (All free off the net, but such a pain downloading them all again).

   My computer is a Lenovo desktop Essential H520s Slim Desktop PC and the forced update to 8.1 sneaked in there, even though I try to check updates before allowing installation.

   Followed your instructions – let’s hope it is fixed.

2. I followed these instructions and the update to Windows 8.1 proceeded upon restart anyways. I just want anyone who is reading this to know that it did not work as described. I uninstalled both updates and upon uninstalling the second one it said a restart was required, so I restarted and then here comes 8.1. I DO want 8.1 but I wanted to do a backup first. Now I can’t. Hopefully it will work out ok…..

3. Thank you for this information! I received the dreaded “update in 4-hours” thing and scrambled to find a way to stop it. I found this page, read through it and the comments as well. Thank you everyone. I was especially concerned by people saying they followed the instructions to a tee and still got updated to 8.1. I did the following: I also uninstalled KB2885699 as per a commenter above after looking at the link and the purpose of that update. IN addition, right before I restarted, I double checked that each of them had been in fact unistalled. Lo and behold, one of the three that I uninstalled was somehow still installed. So I uninstalled it again. I wonder if this may have been the problem with some other folks. So my one piece of advice is to double, triple check that they have been uninstalled before restarting. I sat here for two hours while my pc went through various machinations. It reconfigured to previous version, then I got a “failure to configure windows updates, reverting changes,” message that cycled about three different times and I started to think I was stuck in a loop. Just as I was about to give up, I got a message saying that the 8.1. update failed and I had 8. I tentatively logged on a Voila! And YAY! Not happy about a work day spent this way, but still happy. Thank you. Hope this helps someone.

4. Hi i was wondering if there was something simalure to this to stop windows 8.1 from force updating to windows 10. I recently upgraded to it with the auto update and then back tracked and now i can’t receive any updates because it keeps trying to force upgrade to windows 10 now.

5. I would like to go back to Windows 7. I am so annoyed that Microsoft keeps updating Window versions and forces us to use them whenever we buy a new computer. Do they ever consider that it may be difficult for older folks to learn these new systems? Do they even care? They should care, because older folks have the resources to buy new computers, and we don’t want to keep changing operating systems, so we don’t buy them.

6. this forest 8.1 on my PC when i removed KB2871389 ,KB3008273 F bill gates i am going to get an apple

7. LIFE SAVER. THANK YOU SO FLIPPING MUCH. this was so annoying.

8. Too late for me. Even though I deleted those updates MIcrosoft forced the win 8.1 and now I can’t go back as I did not have an updated restore system 🙁

9. I changed my settings to tell me availability and I will choose. But when I went into Installed Updates, these two are not listed. Now what do I do? My system says it is 8.1 needing these updates. I thought I had uninstalled it but it is still there Now what? Thanks for any help you can offer.

10. This windows 8.1 banner is disgusting. I made the big mistake of buying a pc with windows 8. What a joke. I’ve tried following the instructions to get rid of the banner but does not work. U have to come up with something better. Just go into u’r system and stop these banners from poping up. It’s an insult.

11. Hi I have a request I m not able to close the notice of ” finish updating to windows 8.1″ on the screen . I m not able to open the any buttons on the screen. Could you help me how to delete this notification window & stop the notifications. Thank you & looking forward.
    I greatly appreciate you for your suggestion in this regard.
    Thank you again.
    Teki

12. does not work . Althgough u disinstall the above kb2871389 it will be reinstalled once you restart your pc . why do they force you to install 8.1. i installed it and went back to windows 8 . windows 8.1 is not worth .

13. Hi, I tried the upgrade to Windows 8.1
    Cause, I was incorrectly told by the saleswoman who sold me on my Toshiba Touch-Screen that I should use the 8.1 for the extra power and features.
    Unfortunately, the upgrade rendered my Touch-Screen in-operable …
    I went though hell trying to revert back from the 8.1 O.S.
    But finally got back and since then my Computer has run excellently.
    I love Toshiba, but my 31 yr. old Daughter tells me if I want perfection I should go to Dell and use the Apple system, but at age 59, I’m a little reluctant to changes, if there is one thing I’ve learned, in this tech age is they cause problems, ….
    One more thing, you would think that Toshiba and Windows OS could have offset this problem, before putting this Touch-Screen model on the Market.
    THX
    ROY

14. I do not have the two mentioned updates in my list. Recently on 12.18.15 my computer announced I had updates to install in 15 minutes. They changed my settings from simply telling me about updates to automatically doing them. I am still Win 8 and I keep killing with zone alarm “modern setup host” which is downloading these things.
    I am not overly fond of 8 but use it exclusively from the desktop and disabled annoying features and have a nice proper start button so it works like a computer, not an annoyance. I may wind up leaving it offline if there is no other way to stop it. My XP works fine online.
    I have a question, is it legal to hack into my computer and force what I do not want into it. I find it hard to believe that is in the EULA.
    Merry Christmas to all. Ron

15. I should also point out, On the day of the forced downloads, Dec 18, They were quiet numerous, over 50 and they will not uninstall even when I try it does not happen. I had no trouble without the updates and defend my computer well. On the Dec 15th one came in and installed without my knowledge at all and it was KB3069114. Prior to this 12 without my knowledge consent and contrary to setting were installed on Nov 09. Prior to this one only was installed on Oct 30th. Not sure what they are or were. Two more are waiting as “important” and not yet received as far as I know but may be in the computer in whole or part. KB3042058 7.1MB and KB3038936 5.8MB
    Seems more and more people are attempting to control what we do and want to know what it is we are doing.

16. Thank you a lot. I dont want to upgrade to windows 8.1 because it gives me issues with the fan and t=with the screen brightness. If you know a way to fix those issues i would be glad to hear them and then i will install windows 8.1

17. When 8.1 starts to install, just turn off your pc and that will prevent it from installing. When you start back up, it will revert back to 8.0. I’ve done it twice.

18. Thanks a lot. It worked for me. My advice is ‘check if your laptop manufacturer supports the Windows update before installing it and this info is usually available on web or from support’. In my case after upgrading to Windows 10 my laptop performance became poor and Dell told me that my Dell 14Z Ultrabook is not tested for Windows 10 and Windows 8.1 so I should roll back to Windows 8.
    Cheers!

19. Woke up in the morning to see that Windows was forcing me to update to Windows 8.1. I’ve already ran into so many problems with Windows 8 and read a bit about Windows 8.1., and there were many people who had problems with 8.1 as well. Windows 8.1, however, was said to be more advanced and safer and whatever other things they promised. I tried going through these steps since it said I HAVE to update in 4 hours. Did so, and said that I had to update. Sadly, this did not work for me. I restarted my desktop and it was already configuring the update. Now, I’m just hoping I won’t run into twice as many problems as I have in Windows 8. Crossing my fingers now.

20. sir i have also same problem
    after uninstalled when i restart my computer it will reinstalled,what should i do then

21. ^^ As mentioned in following article, set Windows Update settings to manual:

    https://www.askvg.com/windows-10-automatic-upgrade-on-your-computer-again/

22. I uninstalled the updates as suggested and restated and after 10 minutes I have 8.1. Bummer. I am not sure why we need to be forced to update to what we do not want or need. We are treated like Sheep or cows to the slaughter.

    So, I have a restore point, and was wondering if I use it will it go back to where it was? However, If it does, it seems once I shut down again it will happen again.

    The other option is to reset to the factory install, keep an eye on the updates.

    If someone as a solution that would be great.

23. This is really annoying that Microsoft force an OS upgrade without user consent. In the past I upgraded to 8.1 and I got several Blue Screens plus my laptop won’t sleep anymore. So, I stick with 8 Pro and get rid of this Banner and message to upgrade. Microsoft: if ain’t broke don’t fix it!

24. I bought this windows 8 computer, an HP Envy, in early 2014. It soon updated to 8.1 without a problem. In early May of 2016 it forced an upgrade to Windows 10. Somewhere during the upgrade, my computer completely lost access to ANY operating system. The self-repair files that stay on the hard drive did not even work. So I used my refresh disks to totally refresh Windows 8, and my what a great feeling that was! (I backup so I didn’t lose any data). I expected an eventual force upgrade to 8.1 so I waited. In the meantime I installed a small program to prevent a Windows 10 update. Well today July 12th was the day and the computer forced the upgrade to 8.1. But after HOURS I got a message that it didn’t work and was reverting back to 8. I found your instructions after the reversion and followed them however while uninstalling updates KB2871389 and KB3008273, and restarting as instructed, it appeared to go into another loop of installing 8.1 and reverting back to 8. So I will hope the option to turn off the updates will work. It appears as if my computer will NEVER make it from 8 to 8.1 without reverting. BTW I could never find the “Select updates to install” where I could’ve had the option to “Hide Update.” Best wishes, I will save this instructional page for the future.

25. I have had Win 8.1 from the time I bought my Dell laptop Inspirion 14, 7000. No problems whatsoever now for 3 years. Then I made the mistake of letting MS automatically download and install every poorly or unexplained update they arbitrarily decide to accost my system. I started having all kinds of problems from it auto going to airplane mode losing capability to select WIFI, to sending my system to sleep after 5 minutes, to the space bar no longer working, etc. etc. I got so fed up, I went into see the list of updates they deemed important or optional and uninstalled every single one that was not a security update. All of these updates came August 21, 2016 and right after that my system went weird. Now my system is working perfectly again. It sill won’t let me install a graphics upgrade and displays an error (80070103) , but I gave up on that one. I think some of those “recommended” updates are not necessary and cause all these ridiculous annoying problems people seem to suddenly have with their systems.

26. I have had Win 8.1 from the time I bought my Dell laptop Inspirion 14, 7000. No problems whatsoever now for 3 years. Then I made the mistake of letting MS automatically download and install every poorly or unexplained update they arbitrarily decide to accost my system. I started having all kinds of problems from it auto going to airplane mode losing capability to select WIFI, to sending my system to sleep after 5 minutes, to the space bar no longer working, etc. etc. I got so fed up, I went into see the list of updates they deemed important or optional and uninstalled every single one that was not a security update. All of these updates came August 21, 2016 and right after that my system went weird. Now my system is working perfectly again. It sill won’t let me install a graphics upgrade and displays an error (80070103) , but when I click on the error #, I go to MS and get absolutely no solution, but several guessed at fixes that make problems worse-nothing specific from MS. I find their updates extremely intrusive and I think some are for Win10 that are not compatible with my 8.1. I have come to distrust their updates not security related and even some of those worry me.

27. Additional comment to Kate: I decide what to have installed, so I can deselect (of course MS has them all automatically selected) anything not security related. I had to do that in previous Windows versions that also messed up my system outn a regular basis if if let them automatically install.

28. Hi,
    Id like to know how i can do that on windows PHONE…. i am using windows phone 8 on nokia Lumia 1320….although 8.1 in phone is better than 8…but still id like to stick with 8….but the phone regularly asks for update and has downloaded the update ready to be installed… i want to stop that… i wanna make this phone like there exists no win8.1…..it should stop updates dowload and never ask again …..can i do that…pls let me know..
    thanks

29. I can not even get to the control panel to do this,. I know if I restart, I will have problems tried that the other day

30. Microsoft needs to be banned from constantly putting this Update to 8.1 notices on computers. It is and invasion. And never trust Bill Gates.