Call me weird, but when I create and maintain virtual machines for demonstration and training, I like to be in control of if/when Windows updates are installed. This is fit for purpose since I’m not using these VMs for production. In Windows 8.1 it was a straightforward setting …
Windows 10 Professional is not so straightforward. Going into the Advanced Options page didn’t give me much in the way of options …
After some enlightenment from comments in this post, I was able to get the behavior I wanted by setting a local policy …
- Run gpedit.msc.
- Expand Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update.
- Double-click the Configure Automatic Updates setting.
- Change the setting to Enabled and select option 2 – Notify for download and notify for install.
- Save your changes, exit the Group Policy editor, and restart Windows (or run GPUpdate.exe).
The Windows Update Advanced Options page now shows me what I want and, more importantly, Windows 10 behaves the way I want.
Note: Needless to say, to change the behavior back, or to a different setting, you’ll need to redo the above steps.
