Did your Win10 update blocking experiment work?

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Mine didn’t. I had Automatic Update set to Disabled, but got the new cumulative update installed anyway. Winver reports 10586.218. I think I know the
[See the full post at: Did your Win10 update blocking experiment work?]

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Worked for me. Hid cumulative update and installed the other three: malicious software removal, adobe flash player (plug in was updated but ran it anyway) and a definition update. Restarted and show up to date with cumulative update still hidden. I had metered connection on and have wushowhide on my desktop as a reminder. I’ve always manually installed updates since reading your Vista for Dummies book years ago. I’m a light computer user so this looks like a good fix for people like me.

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I had the benefit of your note above, Woody, so I ran wushowhide as specified in steps 3 and 4 here: http://www.infoworld.com/article/3053701/microsoft-windows/block-windows-10-forced-updates-without-breaking-your-machine-part-2.html
*before* checking Windows Update, and it worked for me as it did for Bob. It is blocking the cumulative update.

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Woody, I don’t know if just opening The Windows Update app by itself makes any difference, but certainly clicking the button Check for updates triggers immediately the scan and the update if any is available. This is regardless of the Group Policy or the Registry configuration.
Just in case this is not widely known, there are 2 logs which can be viewed with the Event Viewer and which show the activity of the Windows Update. They are under Windows Logs/Setup and Application and Services Logs/Microsoft/Windows/WindowsUpdateClient/Operational. There is another one for troubleshooting available only by using PowerShell.
Saying that, my test has succeeded as expected.
Just an addition to what was discussed previously. It appears that the Defender definitions are in the list of updates which can be hidden and they can be delayed or skipped like any other update.
I don’t know yet if non-hidden Defender definitions are installed automatically if Automatic Update is disabled in policy – I expect that they are not installed automatically but can be installed manually by clicking Check for updates (if not hidden with wshowhide).

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Hi Woody

I have windows pro 10 version, i had the group policy in place to notify for download and notify for install for Configure automatic Updates . I ran Wushowhide program before i opened settings /windows update. I did hide the cumulative win 10 1511 update.and closed the program, I opened windows update and saw that the cumulative update was downloading. However it did not install. I went back to Wushowhide again and checked the updates. the Cumulative update was not in list. I shutdown PC and restarted it again in a few minutes. The Cumulative update was not there and only security updates were listed. But none were install. They are in “waiting to be downloaded ” status. So it appears that the Wushowhide program and group policy settings are doing their job here.

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Yes (he says, hanging his head in shame) I did click the Check for updates button.

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Given that there are two or more steps to remember, and that missing the sequence results in unwanted CU downloads, I left my devices on Metered Connections today, then waited for Microsoft to issue its monthly security bulletins.

Flash Player for Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 was in there, so I fired up IE 11 and went over to the Microsoft Update Catalog. I already have the Active-X Control in IE 11, and allow it in my AV program. So once found, the update for Win 10, v.1511, both 64-bits and 32-bits got downloaded as standalone installers. (I have a 64-bits laptop and a 32-bits WIMBoot tablet.) From there, the process works just like any Flash Player update downloaded from Adobe as a standalone installer.

The MSU installer sets a Restore Point at the beginning of its run. (That’s what “initialize” means, as well as checking that the installer is the right version for the Windows environment in which it is to be run.)

I prefer familiar methods to get lone updates, exactly because with anything unfamiliar, I may flip the wrong switch at the wrong time and get unwanted, untested updates. I may venture out into the Wushowhide and Group Policy method sometime in the future, but for now, MS Update Catalog did the job just fine for all my needs.

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BTW, for those interested, standalone MSU installers do update the Updates History and the Windows Update Logs. So there is no reoffer when the metered connection is lifted later.

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Never mind, this is what tests and snapshots are for, i.e to fail 🙂

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I am wondering if it is not too much work involved in using the Microsoft Catalog. Otherwise the msu installers actually launching wusa.exe behind the scenes should behave very much like the updates installed from WU which include logging. I normally use the Microsoft Catalog only either to check for drivers flagged by the logs but not installed or to download bad behaving patches which require manual installation, but not as routine updating. One of those well-known bad behaving patches for Windows 10 is Update for Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Update 4 Redistributable Package (KB3119142), offered only as update if an older version is installed already.

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Woody, you are a Buddha – enlightened but human.

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Not sure how enlightened, but 100% human – to wit, fallible.

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🙂

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We each have our perceptions of what is difficult and what is more or less work. I would find an unwanted update, especially a Win 10 CU, to be more work to remove than to not run the risk in the first place.

That said, if the Carboni Method works and we get the sequence of execution nailed down, this may become my preferred way to manage Windows 10 Pro updating in the future.

As with Windows updates, I don’t like being a beta tester, and the Carboni Method is still in my judgment in beta testing here and at Infoworld.

The important thing is to get updated for what is deemed safe, and avoid updates which need further evaluation. How we each arrive at this goal does not matter to me.

I am only offering an alternative which most readers here can easily learn how to use. For me, the Windows Updates Catalog is not difficult to search, but others may find it more difficult. To each our own.

As I stated, the main advantage to the Catalog method is that the Metered Connection is never opened up to possible Microsoft mischief.

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It is great if this works for you as it allows granularity in what is installed on your computer. All other methods except for Noel’s do not allow granularity but they are “all or nothing” style of updating. With Windows 10 is even easier to use the Catalog as there are only few updates each cycle compared to the other Operating Systems.
Maybe I should mention here for other readers that Microsoft transitioned from http to https for the Catalog not long ago and old links everywhere pointing to the http access may not work as intended. If http is replaced with https everything starts working.
I posted the same information few months ago on one of the Microsoft’s forums answering to a question there.

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I prefer the Carbonaro Effect to the Carboni Method: install all updates a.s.a.p. and they work just fine. It’s magic!

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All true, and it is nice not to be looking for a dozen or more items in the Catalog. But I would not use it in place of the Carboni Method. Only when one or two critical patches need immediate attention, but Woody is at MS DEFCON-2. Flash Player is one of the few items which fall into this category for me.

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Glad you don’t experience the issues mere mortals have. If there weren’t a problem to be solved, rest assured no one here would be working so hard with no pay to solve it.

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Woody;
Re: Stopping Win10 forced updates.

Maybe old news but thought this info might be useful. I have no idea how the blockers work or if they are legit.

Two Windows 10 tools to block automatic updates
By Martin Brinkmann on December 18, 2015 in Windows – Last Update: December 18, 2015

http://www.ghacks.net/2015/12/18/two-windows-10-tools-to-block-automatic-updates/

1.
Win Updates Disabler
http://www.site2unblock.com/win-updates-disabler/

2.
Windows 10 Update Blocker Version 0.5
http://jjstellato.blogspot.de/

Not free: Buy for $2.99 at:
http://jjstellato.bigcartel.com/product/windows-10-update-blocker

JF

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The “Carboni Method” is just an alternative to automatically updating. None is better than the other and the Carboni Method and other similar methods are just filling a gap for people who are missing old functionality and would like to have more control after moving to Windows 10.
The general advice on this site is still to install all Windows 10 updates after a reasonable delay which would allow Microsoft to correct any potential issues if any.

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