How to block Win10 version 20H2

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Microsoft’s ready to push that puppy out the update chute. You don’t want it until it’s been thoroughly tested, and tested again. Susan Bradley and I
[See the full post at: How to block Win10 version 20H2]

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geekdom, thokur, Lars220, abbodi86, CyGuy, lmacri

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woody wrote:

You don’t want it until it’s been thoroughly tested, and tested again.

Ah, but I do want it, as soon as Microsoft releases it.  I want to test it.  And I want to test it again.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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thokur, WSDKS01

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[EP]

then this thread is not meant for you, bbearren
move on

I already got 20H2 only on a test PC since IP (insider preview – build 19042.450) and already updated it to build 19042.546.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by EP.

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migongo, NaNoNyMouse, PKCano

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What about 20H1 (2004)?  Are you recommending skipping that?

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See Woody’s ComputerWorld article here.

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woody, CyGuy

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For people reading bbearren post,  I want to tell you that he (since he is an expert)  can restore its OS as if nothing had happened so he can test  the new version and play with it.

so if you don’t know much about that I would ask to refrain from installing that update.

 

Just someone who don't want Windows to mess with its computer.

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bbearren

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Thanks, this was timely as I just bumped my first system up to 2004.

Under Windows Update for Business in group policy, is it recommended to enable the “Select when Quality Updates are received” and “Select when Preview Builds and Feature Updates are received”?  Do these policies implement the “Choose when updates are installed” settings that used to be under Advanced Options?

 

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AKB2000016 Guide for Windows Update Settings for Windows 10 – there is information on the settings at the top. Sections 2 & 3 are for Home and Pro, Section 4 deals with v1909 specifically and Section 5 deals with v2004. Screenshots below the text.

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davefox

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Thanks!  I opted for the group policy approach (method 2) rather than trying to recreate all the registry keys.

After making the group policy changes, I went back into the registry to see if my policy settings were reflected in new or modified registry keys.  I saw no changes.  I rebooted and looked again, refreshed a few times and still saw nothing.

So I got another cup of coffee, came back 5 minutes later, and – voila! – all the registry values were there, including “TargetReleaseVersion”.  I gather that gpedit doesn’t directly write to the registry, but that there’s some process that came through and made the changes.  Is that what you’ve seen?

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wavy

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I’m still using the GUI deferrals for v1909 with the “2 setting in GP.
For v2004, I am also using deferrals set in GP (instead of TargetReleaseVersion) + the “2” setting.

For v2004, I suspect the manual settings in the Registry that matched the GUI settings in V1909 will go away ( did not pursue checking if they continued to worked after two or three months). But I suspect they won’t be there in 20H2.

Sometimes it takes a while for the equivalent GP settings to show up in the Registry, sometimes not. Who knows, it’s Microsoft! 🙂

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PK – in your AKB2000016 you footnote the following under the section “Setting Target Release Version:”

NOTE: It should also be noted that if the device is not updated before it reaches EOS, the device will automatically be updated once it is 60 days past end of service for its edition.

However, if I’m understanding correctly, Microsoft offers a way around this in their Windows Update for Business Walkthrough document. Under the section there “I want to stay on a specific version,” the second paragraph states the following:

When you set the target version policy, if you specify a feature update version that is older than your current version or set a value that isn’t valid, the device will not receive any feature updates until the policy is updated

Is this a way around the 60-day EOS limit?

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Well, to me it says three things:
When you specify target version policy, feature update deferrals will not be in effect. So it would seem TargetReleaseVersion superseded deferrals.

It also says, in TargetReleaseVersion,  if you specify a feature update version that is older than your current version or set a value that isn’t valid, the device will not receive any feature updates until the policy is updated.

But on the other hand, it says if you don’t update this before the device reaches end of service, the device will automatically be updated once it is 60 days past end of service for its edition.

So, I guess it all boils down to which piece of the Microspeak you believe. Personally, I think I’ll play it safe and not try to outguess an entity that historically demonstrates it will do whatever it wants, whenever it wants, with the software it owns.

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So should we be using Group Policy, or stick with manually setting the registry?

What if you are already using the registry method?

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In Win10 Pro v2004, the GUI pulldowns for Feature and Quality deferrals, that were present in previous versions, have been removed.
The Registry settings, that represented those GUI pulldown switches, continued to work (at least for the three monthly updates I tested) in Win10 Pro.
However, that is no guarantee that Microsoft will continue to respect Registry settings for something it has removed.

If you want to use deferrals in Win10 Pro v2004, I would recommend setting them in Group Policy, because this will continue to work (until MS decides to discontinue deferrals).

Otherwise, using Group Policy to set TargetReleaseVersion is probably safest for Win10 Pro. It creates Registry settings under Policy.
If you are using Win10 Home, the settings in the Registry under Policy seem to work now. But Win10 Home has no Group Policy, so you may be walking on thin ice to mimic the GP Registry Policy settings.

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abbodi86

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what about for v1903/v1909, PKCano?
does the “TargetReleaseVersion” reg entry still work on older Win10 Home editions like 1903 & 1909?

my dad’s Toshiba laptop is running Win10 Home v1909 and I will keep it on 1909 until the end of 2020 and will skip the 2004 version on there.

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@EP
Did you perhaps read #2303548 and the second & third sentences above?

1903/1909 settings, both GUI and Registry, are discussed in AKB2000016. No need to repeat them here.

Except for this fact about v2004 (which the discussion was about):

If you are using Win10 Home, the settings in the Registry under Policy seem to work now. But Win10 Home has no Group Policy, so you may be walking on thin ice to mimic the GP Registry Policy settings.

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ok thanks

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Do you mean “Policy state”? that’s the registry folder name

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See the screenshots in AKB2000016 for an explanation.
The settings for Group Policy in the Registry are in a different place than GUI settings.
TargetReleaseVersion is a GP setting, not a GUI setting, so the Registry equivalent is under the GP section for Policy.

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When I upgraded (?) to 2004, not only did the GUI options disappear, but the values for feature and quality deferrals disappeared from the registry.  I would have had to recreate them all (method 1).  It was much simpler to do it in GP.

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Exactly. And if you are mimicking something in the Registry that MS has removed in the GUI, or some feature like GP\Policy that Home Edition does not have, it may not continue to work after the next Feature update (or whenever MS decides to stop respecting those settings).

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woody

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The saga begins.

Consistent with the advice in the article “How to block the Windows 10 October 2020 Update, version 20H2, from installing” I upgraded my personal, non production, HP ENVY Desktop 795-0050 (Windows 10 Pro, Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8700 CPU @ 3.20GHz, 16 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB) from Windows 10 1903 to 1909.

The update took about 45 minutes but then the surprises began. The desktop went from black before the transition to light gray. And a number of legacy Windows 7 apps that worked well under 1903 disappeared under 1909.

I was able to reinstall several of the Windows 7 apps but still need to find out how to change the desktop from gray back to black.

And it is apparent that the Office Home and Business 2016 update that proceeded the Windows 10 update made changes to the appearance and operation of several of the Office applications. Time will tell if the changes to Office are significant!

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I wonder if TargetReleaseVersion would need to have 20H2 or 2009? (i mean to stay on v20H2 later)

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The Dev Channel Insider Previews are still calling themselves v2004.
With Microsoft, who knows ????

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abbodi86

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The answer to this question is a surprise
to get from v1803/v1809/v1903/v1909 to v20H2, TargetReleaseVersion should be 2010

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geekdom, georgea, woody, PKCano

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What exactly lets you know that 20H2 doesn’t work but 2010 does?

See https://twitter.com/tweet_alqamar/status/1320794416915820544

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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self test
when i set 20H2 (or 2009), i only get the latest cumulative update for the current version
when i tried 2010, i got Feature update to version 20H2

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geekdom

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Any idea when 20H2 will be released?

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bbearren wrote:

woody wrote:

You don’t want it until it’s been thoroughly tested, and tested again.

Ah, but I do want it, as soon as Microsoft releases it.  I want to test it.  And I want to test it again.

If you want to live on the edge (and the computer is not critical) the latest Insider version is Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20231. It’s listed as a pre-release version. And it keeps getting better. Frankly, I am impressed.

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Soon. 20H2 links are up on tech bench but unavailable for DL at the moment.

https://tb.32767.ga/products.php?search=20H2&prod=all

 

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[EP]

would not it be strange or perhaps superstitious if Microsoft released 20H2 to the public on Tuesday October 13? (hmm, the 13th of October)

• This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by EP.

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davefox wrote:

I gather that gpedit doesn’t directly write to the registry, but that there’s some process that came through and made the changes

GPedit creates an action file that the Group Policy services checks on startup / login. The GP service then makes the registry changes.

anonymous wrote:

So should we be using Group Policy, or stick with manually setting the registry?

It doesn’t matter which method you use, the result is a change to the registry.
The advantage of GP is ease of use and the ability to apply the policy to multiple machines with little effort.

cheers, Paul

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[CraigS26]

A small issue, I think, but for — 1909 Pro — Susan link recommends Quality Update Deferral = 15 –Vs– PKC = 0; ….. IF GP=2 …. Does QU Deferral -15- Vs -0- really matter for 20H2?

Am I right ?… IF QU = 15, then Settings/ WU page won’t show the Quality Updates (wushowhide would) — BUT -0- …. Will Show them.

W10 Pro 22H2 / Hm-Stdnt Ofce '16 C2R / Macrium Pd vX / GP=2 + FtrU=Semi-Annual + Feature Defer = 1 + QU = 0

• This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by CraigS26.

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I recommend Quality deferral = 0  along with the “2” because that way you see what’s pending and, if you see it, you can hide what you don’t want. Remember, Susan’s settings are aimed at businesses with an IT Dept. and the extra equipment used to test. Updates are controlled from the server with WSUS or the like. My settings are aimed at the consumer who usually has only a minimum of production machines and can’t afford to lose use of them (plus not having the expertise to bail themselves out of trouble).

Quality deferral means nothing for 20H2 until the first monthly update, b/e Quality deferral has no affect on the Feature Upgrade to 20H2.

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CraigS26

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So far still on v 1909 Home Windows 10. In the feature setting it says download and install version 2004 which I have not. What will happened when the next version arrives, will it ask me to download both or go in order of 2004 first?

 

Thanks for the updates!

Win 10 Home 22H2

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Once 20H2 is released, v2004 will probably no longer be available through Windows Update for Home Edition.

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woody

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I no longer have that “download and install” option for v2004 on my dad’s Toshiba laptop running Win10 v1909 home. Instead I get the message “The Windows 10 May 2020 Update is on its way. Once it’s ready for your device, you’ll see the update available on this page.” after adding the “TargetReleaseVersion” reg entry

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looks like 20H2 is still in the beta & release preview channels

build 19042.572 recently released:
https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2020/10/13/announcing-windows-10-insider-preview-build-19042-572-20h2/

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I tried yesterday (20 Oct.) to run the Media Creation Tool for Windows 10 on two machines:

1 Home (with 1909), and

1 Pro (with 1903)

both to USB-drives.

In both cases the names of the file to download indicated that it was the October upgrade so I aborted both.

I guess we’ll just have to wait as long as possible before upgrading to the October version? (as 2004 is not available to us any more)?

 

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JustAsking wrote:

(as 2004 is not available to us any more)?

Yes it is from HEidoc.net.
Download the tool.
Run the tool and download a copy of 2004.

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JustAsking

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Thanks!

Downloaded the image – 4.8 Gb.

Have I understood it right that you have to burn a DVD – you cannot install from a USB stick?

 

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You can make a bootable USB installer using Rufus.

You can also mount the ISO in Win10 and do an in-place upgrade directly from it.
Put the ISO on your desktop. Either double-click on it or right click and “open with” File Explorer. It will appear as another drive letter in Explorer. Highlight the drive letter and run setup.exe.

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LHiggins, JustAsking

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[JustAsking]

Thank you!

Will it work on both a Home and a Pro edition?

(There was only one download option which seemed to cover both Home and Pro editions. Just to make sure. It only asked about language and 32 or 64 bit as I remember).

• This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by JustAsking.

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If it did not specify Home or Pro specifically, it should work on both given the right bittage.

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JustAsking

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Alex5723 wrote:

JustAsking wrote:

(as 2004 is not available to us any more)?

Yes it is from HEidoc.net.
Download the tool.
Run the tool and download a copy of 2004.

Tried to install the May version (2004) downloaded from heidoc.net but it didn’t work.

There were several error messages indicating that there were errors in the file, or the DLLs could not be used.

Tried to download and install from Rufus instead, and it worked, on a Windows 10 Home pc (installed from a USB-stick).

You have to follow the instructions carefully but they are quite clear on the Rufus page.

 

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… correction to previous post:

“You have to follow the instructions carefully but they are quite clear on the Rufus page.”

The clear step-by-step instructions are not on the Rufus page but here:

https://www.systemconf.com/2020/10/17/download-old-and-new-versions-of-windows-10-using-rufus/

 

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JustAsking wrote:

There were several error messages indicating that there were errors in the file, or the DLLs could not be used

This implies that you extracted the ISO to a USB and booted / ran it from there.
The USB could have been flakey / in need of a format.

All you need to do is double click the ISO and run setup.exe from the new drive that opens in Explorer. No additional steps required.

cheers, Paul

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JustAsking

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Thanks I’ll bear that in mind next time 😉

 

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… supplemented by the FAQ on the Rufus page, esp. on Secure Boot …

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