How to handle Windows 10 and 11 updates

Confused about how updates work in Windows 10 and Windows 11? Join the club. Over the years, Microsoft has made numerous changes to how Windows Update works, including how often major Windows updates are released and which users can delay updates. As a result, there have been lots of misperceptions about how Windows Update currently works and how to best use it.

With this article, we hope to make things clearer for you. We’ve delved deep into Windows Update and come up with answers to users’ most pressing questions: whether you have to accept all updates, whether you can uninstall existing updates, and how to reduce the bandwidth some updates use. We’ve also included some extras, like how to stop all updates if you want.

We’ve updated this article for the current versions of Windows — Windows 10 22H2 and Windows 11 22H2. The features that are described here and the screenshots you see may differ from what you see if you have an older version of Windows 10 or 11. Windows Update works the same way in Windows 11 as in Windows 10, although there are some minor differences in appearance, menu selections, and so on, which we’ll detail below.

All updates are not created equal

In Microsoft-speak, there are updates and then there are updates, like Windows 11 22H2. Microsoft refers to those major releases, which have their own version numbers, as feature updates. Microsoft used to differentiate by referring to “upgrades” and “updates,” but over time, the word “upgrade” seems to have disappeared from its lexicon.

Microsoft also releases frequent smaller updates called quality updates that, like the updates of old, fix security issues, squash bugs, and make relatively insignificant changes to Windows, typically under the hood. They’re delivered on Patch Tuesday, the second Tuesday of every month, and at other times as well. (There are a few other types of minor updates too, as we’ll detail later in the story, but for now we’ll lump those in with the quality updates.)

On the other hand, feature updates, like yesteryear’s upgrades, “install the latest new features, experiences and capabilities” of Windows, according to Microsoft. The first feature update for Windows 10 was released in November 2015 and the second in August 2016. For several years after that, Microsoft issued two feature updates a year, approximately six months apart — one each spring and one each fall.

With the November 2019 Update (version 1909), however, things changed a bit. That release did not include many new features and was more like what Microsoft used to call a “service pack,” with a variety of small changes and fixes. For the next few years, Microsoft continued this pattern — releasing a larger update in the spring and a smaller one in the fall — while still calling them all “feature updates.”

Since then, things have changed again. Windows 11 receives just one feature update a year, always in the fall. As for Windows 10, Microsoft has announced there will be no more feature updates beyond version 22H2. However, there will continue to be regular smaller quality updates for Windows 10 until the OS reaches end of support in October 2025.

If you use Windows 10 or 11 in a large business or educational organization, your IT department likely controls when feature and quality updates are rolled out to you using enterprise-level tools such as Windows Update for Business, Windows Server Update Services, or System Center Configuration Manager. If you use Windows 11 Home or Pro in an environment that’s not managed by IT, you can delay feature updates yourself. And if you use the Home or Pro edition of either Windows 10 or Windows 11, you can delay quality updates.

Delay or skip feature updates in Windows 11

Here’s how delaying feature updates in Windows 11 works: When a new feature update is released, rather than automatically installing it on your machine, Windows notifies you that it’s available with a message and a “Download and install” link in the Windows Update pane in the Settings app.

To get to the pane, select Start > Settings > Windows Update. If you see the “Download and install” link and don’t want to install the update, ignore the message; your PC stays as it is. At whatever point you want to install an update, click the link and follow the instructions.

There is one caveat, though. When your current version of Windows reaches what Microsoft calls “end of service” — the point at which Microsoft no longer supports it — Windows Update will install a more recent feature update whether you agree or not. For Windows 11 Home and Pro users, that’s 24 months after your current Windows version’s release.

Still, it’s theoretically possible to skip over some feature updates entirely. Since they’re released every year, you could install one version, decline to install the next one that’s released, and then install the one after that.

Note: If you’re having trouble with Windows Update — say, it won’t download a specific update or an update fails to install — we can help. See “How to troubleshoot and reset Windows Update.”

Pause quality updates in Windows 10 and 11

Windows 10 and 11 Home and Pro users can pause the minor updates that Microsoft issues in between the big annual feature updates for up to 35 days. As mentioned above, these quality updates address security issues, fix bugs, and so on, and they typically appear in Windows Update labeled as “Security Update” or “Cumulative Update.” While they’re meant to shore up Windows’ security or make it run more smoothly, they may cause more problems than they solve, and it’s a good idea to wait a while before installing them to see if problems are reported.

Unlike feature updates, these updates install automatically by default, so you’ll need to put them on pause to prevent that from happening. To pause updates on a week-by-week basis for up to 35 days, in Windows 10 head to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update and click Pause updates for 7 days. In Windows 11, go to Settings > Windows Update and next to “Pause updates,” click Pause for 1 week. After seven days you can do this several more times, a total of five times to delay the updates for 35 days.

Windows Pro users can alternatively use group policy settings or the enterprise-level Windows Update for Business (WUB) tool to control the timing of update delivery.

Control the hours during which Windows updates

We live in a working world in which the idea of a nine-to-five job has fallen by the wayside. Working hours for you may start at 6 a.m., or they may start in the afternoon and last past midnight. And so for many people, the hours at which Windows installs updates has been problematic, because it interrupts their work. You can control when update installations take place, though, so they don’t interrupt your work.

Control the update hours in Windows 10

To control the update hours in Windows 10, on the Windows Update screen, click Change active hours. On the screen that appears, you can manually select the hours you’re active on your PC by clicking the Change link next to your current active hours. On the screen that appears, select the hours you typically use your computer. Updates won’t be installed during those hours. Note, though, that the total number of active hours can’t exceed 18.

You can alternatively trust Windows to decide which hours you’re most likely to be working (based on your past activity) and set your active hours for you. On the “Change active hours” screen, move the slider underneath the text “Automatically adjust active hours for this device based on activity” from Off to On.

Your system may or may not need to restart in order to install Windows updates. Typically, updates that add virus definitions for Microsoft Defender don’t need the system to restart, while other updates do. By default, your PC will restart to finish installing the updates only during non-active hours.

If you’d like Windows to alert you, via a system tray icon, when your PC needs to reboot in order to finish installing an update, go to the Windows Update screen and click Advanced options. In the “Update notifications” section on the screen that appears, move the “Show a notification when your PC requires a restart to finish updating” slider to On.

When an update has been downloaded but not yet installed, you’ll see it listed on the Windows Update screen. If you want the downloaded update to immediately install, on the Windows Update screen click Restart now. If you want to have your PC restart at a specific time, click Restart options and select the day and time you want your PC to restart. And if for some reason you want Windows to always install updates and restart your PC right away (essentially ignoring your active hours), click Advanced options from the Windows Update screen, and on the screen that appears, in the “Update options” section, move the “Restart this device as soon as possible when a restart is required to install an update” slider to On. (Your PC must be turned on and plugged in.)

One last update option, while we’re here: You can ask Windows Update to install not just updates for Windows, but also for other Microsoft products, such as Microsoft Office. To do that, on the Windows Update screen, click Advanced options, and in the “Update options” section of the screen that appears, move the slider from Off to On underneath “Receive updates for other Microsoft products when you update Windows.”

Control the update hours in Windows 11

You control the update hours in Windows 11 in much the same way as you do in Windows 10, although the screens that let you do that differ somewhat. On the Windows Update screen in Windows 11, click Advanced options, then click the down arrow next to Active hours. In the area that appears, click Adjust active hours, and from the drop-down menu that appears, select Manually. Separate controls appear for “Start time” and “End time.” Select your new hours.

To tell Windows to automatically select your active hours for you, select Adjust active hours, and select Automatically. The other options described above are the same in Windows 11 as Windows 10, with only one difference: there’s no option for installing updates for other Microsoft products.

Next page: Stop updates, uninstall problematic updates, more →

Stop Windows updates entirely

There’s also a sneaky, little-known workaround for any version of Windows 10 or 11 that can prevent Windows from installing updates entirely (except for important security updates). But you can’t do it on a case-by-case basis — you either install all updates or none at all.

Since all Windows 10 and 11 users have the ability to delay updates, there’s less need for this trick. But if you want to delay a quality update by more than 35 days or if you’re using an older version of Windows 10, it can still come in handy.

To use this workaround, you need to tell Windows that you’re on a metered connection — in other words, that you’re being charged by how much data you use. By default, this feature is turned off for Wi-Fi and Ethernet connections but turned on for cellular data connections. Here’s how to turn it on for Wi-Fi and Ethernet connections in Windows 10 and 11.

For Windows 10 Wi-Fi connections:

1. Go to Settings > Network & Internet > Wi-Fi.
2. Click Manage known networks.
3. Click each Wi-Fi network to which you connect, and click Properties.
4. On the screen that appears, scroll to the “Metered connection” section and move the slider to On.

For Windows 11 Wi-Fi connections:

1. Go to Settings > Network & internet > Wi-Fi.
2. Click the arrow next to “Manage known networks.”
3. Click the arrow next to each Wi-Fi network to which you connect.
4. On the screen that appears, in the “Metered connection” section move the slider to On.

For Windows 10 Ethernet connections:

1. Go to Settings > Network & Internet > Ethernet.
2. Click your internet connection.
3. Scroll down to the “Metered connection” section and move the slider to On.

For Windows 11 Ethernet connections:

1. Go to Settings > Network & internet > Ethernet.
2. In the “Metered connection” section, move the slider to On.

When you do that, Windows will minimize the data you use, and one of the ways it does that is to stop automatically downloading Windows updates. Keep in mind, though, that if you connect to another Wi-Fi or Ethernet network, you’ll have to turn that setting on for that network as well.

If you use this technique to stop Windows updates from installing, you can check for reports about problematic updates. If nobody complains, you can turn off metered connections and then let the updates install; if there are issues, you can wait until the fix is available.

View your update history and uninstall updates

Microsoft has a less-than-spotless record when it comes to the reliability of Windows updates. On multiple occasions, users (especially Windows 10 Home users) have installed the latest update, only to find it wreaking havoc on their systems or rendering them entirely inoperable. Those snafus likely played a role in Microsoft’s change of heart in allowing Home users to delay updates.

Windows also now has safety net that will try to uninstall problematic updates that harm your PC, without you having to take action. If your computer won’t start properly after you install an update, Windows will diagnose the problem and try to fix it. If it can’t, it will uninstall a recent Windows update or driver update that might be causing the problem and block it from reinstalling for 30 days. See details from Microsoft.

If you’re still encountering problems after an update or if you’re using an older version of Windows 10 or 11, you can uninstall some problematic updates yourself, but not necessarily all of them.

First, see what updates have been installed on your PC. In Windows 10, select Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > View update history. In Windows 11, select Settings > Windows Update, and click the arrow next to “Update history.” On the screen that appears under “Update history,” you’ll see a list divided into up to five sections: Feature Updates, Quality Updates, Driver Updates, Definition Updates and Other Updates. The Feature Updates section shows the major updates — for example, Windows 11 version 22H2.

The Quality Updates section lists the more mundane, and more frequent, updates to Windows that fix bugs, improve security, and add minor features. Driver Updates, as the name implies, shows all the drivers that have been updated. Definition Updates lists all the antivirus and anti-malware updates for Windows’ built-in anti-malware tool. Other Updates lists miscellaneous updates, such as to the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool.

You get information about any of the updates slightly differently depending on whether you’re looking for details about a feature update, a quality update, a definition update, a driver update, or an “other” update. For feature updates in Windows 10, on the “View update history” screen, go to the “Feature Updates” section, look for the update for which you want details, and underneath the date it was installed, click See what’s new in this update. For quality, definition, driver, or other updates, go to the appropriate section, look for the update for which you want details, and click it. In Windows 11, on the “Update history” screen, click See what’s new to the right of a feature update or Learn more next to other types of updates. Note that you may only be able to see details about the most recent feature update.

When you click to get details about a feature update, you’ll be sent to a page full of tips, videos and other content about the update. For quality and other updates, you’ll be sent to a web page with a detailed written description of the update. With definition updates, you’re sent to a general page with information about Microsoft’s security software. Driver updates don’t have any information beyond what the update page shows, which is the name of the manufacturer, the version number of the driver, and the date of the update.

If you want to uninstall a feature update like Windows 10 version 22H2 listed in Feature Updates, you’ll have to do it within 10 days of the upgrade being installed. After that point you’re out of luck; the update will stay. If you do want to uninstall it in that 10-day time period, in Windows 10, go to Settings > Update & Security > Recovery. In the “Go back to the previous version of Windows 10” area, click the Get started button and follow the series of prompts. In Windows 11, go to Settings > Windows Update > Advanced options and click the arrow next to Recovery. (Note that the options to uninstall won’t appear if it’s beyond the 10-day period.)

Even if you want to uninstall the update within the 10-day period, however, the option to go back to the previous version of Windows might not appear. If that’s the case, you won’t be able to uninstall the update. The selection won’t appear if your Windows.old folder has been deleted. That folder holds the previous version of Windows, so if it’s not there, you can’t revert to the previous version.

You can, however, uninstall quality, definition, driver, and other updates. In Windows 10 go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > View update history and click the Uninstall updates link at the top of the screen. On the screen that appears, click on the update you want to get rid of, then click the Uninstall link above the list. In Windows 11, go to Settings > Windows Update, click the arrow next to “Update history,” and click the Uninstall updates link in the “Related settings” section towards the bottom of the screen.

Note, though, that you won’t be able to uninstall all updates. Not every update listed in the update history list will appear on the screen that lets you uninstall updates, and you can’t uninstall any that don’t appear there. And when you click some updates that do appear on the uninstall updates screen, the uninstall button vanishes.

Use peer-to-peer networking to install updates

When it comes to updating Windows 10 and 11, Microsoft borrowed a technique from peer-to-peer networking software such as BitTorrent in order to help distribute updates more efficiently. If you want, you can tell Windows that you want updates delivered from other PCs via peer-to-peer networking in addition to getting them from Microsoft servers.

Why would you want to do this? If you have multiple Windows 10 PCs on a network, you can save bandwidth, because the update can be delivered from Microsoft’s servers to one PC on your network, and that PC can then deliver the update to the other Windows 10 PCs. Same goes for Windows 11 PCs.

To turn this feature on in Windows 10, select Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Advanced options. On the “Advanced options” screen, scroll way down and click the Delivery Optimization link. Underneath the “Allow downloads from other PCs” section on the next screen, move the slider to On, then choose “PCs on my local network.” If you choose “PCs on my local network, and PCs on the Internet,” the PCs on your network will get updates from other PCs on the internet — but your PCs will also send updates to those other PCs as well, and so you could end up using additional bandwidth.

In Windows 11, select Settings > Windows Update > Advanced options. On the “Advanced options” screen, scroll down and click the arrow next to Delivery Optimization. Underneath the “Allow downloads from other PCs” section on the next screen, move the slider to On, then choose “Devices on my local network.” If you choose “Devices on the internet and my local network,” the PCs on your network will get updates from other PCs on the internet — but your PCs will also send updates to those other PCs as well, and so you could end up using additional bandwidth.

Bonus: Get into the fast lane with the Insider Program

Are you the kind of person who needs to be first to try out new technologies? If so, you’ll want to become part of Microsoft’s Windows Insider Program. When you do that, you’ll get a sneak peek into what’s coming in future Windows updates before everyone else. Keep in mind, though, that when you do this, you’re somewhat of a guinea pig, because Microsoft uses the program to find bugs and problems with updates.

To find out how to become an Insider and learn about your options for receiving preview builds, see “How to preview and deploy Windows 10 and 11 updates.”

More resources

Computerworld can help you stay up to date with Windows 10 and 11 updates in a variety of ways:

• If Windows Update isn’t working properly, see “How to troubleshoot and reset Windows Update.”
• Advanced users and admins can use a command-line tool called DISM to install Windows updates. See “Using DISM to install Windows updates” for details.
• To get details about every update to Windows 10, go to “Windows 10: A guide to the updates.”
• To get details about every update to Windows 11, go to “Windows 11: A guide to the updates.”
• Our blogger Susan Bradley keeps an eye out for problems with Windows and Office updates and offers helpful patching advice.
• For information about builds sent out to Windows Insiders, which preview in-development features that may make their way into upcoming versions of Windows, see “Windows 10 Insider Previews: A guide to the builds” and “Windows 11 Insider Previews: What’s in the latest build?”
• You can also dig into in-depth looks at major Windows feature updates — for example, our review of Windows 11 22H2.

If Microsoft makes any further changes to its update policies, we’ll include them in this article, so check back.

This story was originally published in December 2015 and most recently updated in July 2023.