No More Automatic Forced Upgrade to Windows 10 Feature Updates

Automatic updates functionality has always been the most irritating and controversial issue for Windows 10 users. Windows 10 automatically checks for new updates and downloads and installs them without user’s permission. Many times users don’t want to install new updates as the update might be incompatible with their computer hardware or may implement new features which users don’t want.

Related: Fixing Windows 10 Automatic Updates Installation Problem

Similarly feature updates are also automatically downloaded and installed in Windows 10 machines without any prior notice to the end-user. Feature updates are newer versions of Windows 10 which bring new features, functionality, improvements and fixes. You can consider them as service packs for Windows 10.

Microsoft releases 2 feature updates for Windows 10 every year. Once feature update is released in first half of the year most probably in April month and the second feature update is released in second half of the year most probably in October month.

Related: Too Much Confusion About So Many Windows 10 Versions

First these feature updates are released to Windows Insiders in form of builds for testing purposes and once all bugs and issues are fixed, the final build/version of a feature update is released to public. Following topic always lists the latest Windows 10 Insider Preview build released to testers:

New Windows 10 Insider Preview Build for PC Available for Download

Windows 10 automatically upgrades users computers to the new feature update whenever available. There is also a major issue which is important to share here!

If you check Windows Updates page in Settings app, you’ll find “Check for Updates” button. If you click manually on “Check for Updates” button, you immediately become a seeker i.e. advanced user and Windows 10 checks for all available updates including optional testing updates from C and D release. Actually there are 3 types of Windows updates: B, C and D. B release updates are regular and officially released updates which are released on Windows Update at Patch Tuesday (also known as Update Tuesday) every month. These updates are released on every 2nd week (2nd Tuesday at 10:00 AM Pacific Time) in the month. On the other hand, C and D release updates are optional updates which are released in 3rd and 4th weeks of the month respectively. These updates are released for advanced users to test the non-security fixes that will become a part of B release updates next Patch Tuesday. C release and D release updates are optional and Windows 10 doesn’t download and install them automatically. By default, Windows 10 checks for B release updates only.

Related: [Important] If You Click “Check for Updates” Button in Windows 10

Windows 10 Feature updates are also released in the same manner. First the feature updates are released to advanced users only who manually click on “Check for updates” button. After some days or months, these feature updates are distributed to all Windows 10 users via Windows Update.

So once you click on “Check for Updates” button and a feature update is available for advanced users, it’ll automatically start downloading in your computer and you’ll have no way to stop the upgrade process. Similarly if a feature update has been released for all users via Windows Update, your Windows 10 device will start upgrading to the new feature update automatically and here will be no option provided to prevent it from happening.

It was a major problem in Windows 10 and recently several Windows 10 users faced problems when Windows 10 October 2018 Update was installed in their computers automatically via Windows Update.

More Info: Microsoft Pulls Windows 10 October 2018 Update Due to Bugs and Issues

Finally Microsoft has acknowledged the issue and the company has modified the Windows Update process to download and install the feature updates.

Now if a feature update is available, Windows 10 will no longer download and install it automatically. Instead it’ll notify the user that a feature update is available for download and will provide a “Download and Install Now” option on Windows Updates page to start the upgrade process.

So now no feature update will be installed automatically and users will have full control over feature updates download and installation. If a Windows 10 user wants to upgrade to new feature update, he can click on “Download and Install Now” option present on Windows Updates page.

There are 2 things to note:

1. This change to Windows Update process is present under upcoming Windows 10 May 2019 Update at the moment but very soon this functionality will be brought to previous Windows 10 versions such as Windows 10 April 2018 Update version 1803 and October 2018 Update version 1809 via an update by late May.

2. Despite of this Windows Update process change, a feature update will still automatically download and install in computers which are having older Windows 10 versions reaching end of support.

Also Check:

[Tip] Disable “Check for Updates” Button in Windows 10

How to Prevent or Skip Feature Update Installation in Windows 10

[Good News] Windows 10 will Automatically Uninstall Problematic Updates