[Tip] Force Windows 10 to Upgrade to New Feature Update Versions via Windows Update

We know that Microsoft regularly releases new feature updates or versions for Windows 10 operating system. Microsoft releases 2 feature updates every year. One feature update is released in first half of the year mostly in April or May month and the second feature update is released in second half of the hear mostly in October or November months.

Feature updates bring new features, changes and improvements to Windows 10 operating system and it’s always advised to upgrade to the latest feature update to keep your device safe and stable.

But sometimes the new feature update or Windows 10 version might contain known compatibility issues or bugs which affect specific hardware and devices. These known issues might cause certain computers to lose data or become not bootable.

That’s why whenever a new feature update is released to public, Microsoft publishes list of known issues and the company also restricts or prevents direct upgrade and installation of the new feature update in those devices via Windows Update. This process is known as safeguard holds as mentioned here.

If a device or hardware is present in known issues list, the user will be unable to download and upgrade to the latest feature update using Windows Update. If the user tries to check for updates on Windows Update, it’ll show “you’re up to date and no new update is available” message.

This is done to safeguard the user’s device from data loss and corruption. If Microsoft doesn’t block the feature update installation on such devices, users might face several issues and problems and their devices might become not bootable or corrupted.

There might be some Windows 10 users who may want to force Windows 10 to upgrade to the new or latest feature update. It might be possible that the known issue is a minor issue and doesn’t affect the user’s device or the user is ready to lose access to certain type of data. But the feature update will not be delivered to user’s device until Microsoft fixes and resolves the known issue.

Here is a good news for such users. There is a group policy and registry tweak which can be used to disable or remove such safeguard holds or upgrade blocks and force Windows 10 to upgrade to new feature updates even if there are known issues and feature update is not available via Windows Update on such devices.

Once you apply the group policy or registry trick, Windows 10 will be able to detect and find new feature update and will upgrade to the new feature update via Windows Update.

Remember! This method has been shared by Microsoft for testing and validation purposes. Since you are forcing Windows 10 feature update installation on a device which has known issues with the new Windows 10 version, it might cause problems and issues while installation or after installation finishes.

If you still want to force Windows 10 to upgrade to latest feature update in your device, following methods will help you:

METHOD 1: Using Group Policy Editor

1. Press WIN+R keys together to launch RUN dialog box. Now type gpedit.msc and press Enter. It’ll open Group Policy Editor.

2. Now go to:

3. In right-side pane, look for following option:

4. Double-click on the option and select Enabled option.

Click on Apply and OK buttons.

That’s it. Now open Windows Update and check for new updates. Windows 10 should now detect and upgrade to new feature update without any problem.

PS: In future, if you decide to restore default settings and apply safeguard or upgrade blocks for known issues, set the above mentioned option to Not Configured again in Group Policy Editor.

NOTE: Once you successfully upgrade to new feature update, Windows 10 will automatically reset the above mentioned policy to “Not Configured” even if you changed it to Enabled.

METHOD 2: Using Registry Editor

If you are using Home edition of Windows, you’ll not be able to run gpedit.msc command because this edition doesn’t come with Group Policy Editor.

If you can’t use or don’t want to use Group Policy Editor, you can take help of Registry Editor for the same task. Just follow these simple steps:

1. Press WIN+R keys together to launch RUN dialog box. Now type regedit and press Enter. It’ll open Registry Editor.

2. Now go to following key:

3. In right-side pane, right-click on empty area and select New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value option. Set the new DWORD name as DisableWUfBSafeguards and set its value to 1

4. Close Registry Editor and restart your computer to take effects.

After reboot, check for new updates in Windows 10 and now your device should be able to find and upgrade to latest feature update.

PS: In future, if you decide to restore default settings and re-apply safeguard holds for known issues in your Windows 10 device, delete the DWORD value created in above mentioned steps from Registry Editor.

Thanks gHacks for sharing it…

Also Check:

[Tip] Force Windows 10 to Stay on Existing / Installed Feature Update Version

[Fix] Windows 10 Feature Update Not Showing on Your Computer

[Guide] Things to Do After Installing Feature Update in Windows 10

How to Prevent or Skip Feature Update Installation in Windows 10