Pause Windows Updates Longer Than 5 Weeks (Up to 20 Years)


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As you probably know, Microsoft Windows will update your computer on a regular basis with updates such as security patches, device drivers, feature updates and so on. Back in the old days, we could turn off or disable Windows Update but now we can only pause updates for up to 5 weeks. Then after that, they will continue whether you like it or not.

Many people like to configure their computer a certain way and then do not want any updates applied that would make any changes. Other people may worry that Windows updates will break something on their computer, especially if going from a major release such as 23H2 to 24H2. In this article, we will be showing you how to pause Windows Updates for longer than 5 weeks and up to 20 years.

As you can see in the image below, when you go to the Windows settings and then to Windows Update, you can pause updates from 1 to 5 weeks.

Pause Windows Update

To extend the time that we are able to pause Windows updates, we will be performing, and simple registry edit. You can either manually edit the registry yourself or download the registry file here and then import it into your computer.

Here is what is contained within the registry file from the download link.

 

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsUpdate\UX\Settings]

“FlightSettingsMaxPauseDays”=dword:00001c84

 

To import the information from the file into your registry, you will need to unzip the zip file and then double click on the block-updates.reg file to begin the process.

For the first window that asks you if you are sure if you want to run this software, simply click on the Run button.

Pause Windows Updates Longer Than 5 Weeks (Up to 20 Years)

You will then see a UAC (User Account Control) prompt and you will need to click on the Yes button to continue. By the way, your account will need to be a local administrator on the computer, or you will need to know the username and password for an administrative account to continue.

UAC Prompt

The next window simply asks you to confirm that you want to add the information from the registry file into the Windows registry. You can click the Yes button to continue.

Pause Windows Updates Longer Than 5 Weeks (Up to 20 Years)

You will then receive a confirmation telling you that the information from the registry file has been added to the Windows registry and you can then click the OK button to finish the process.

Registry import confirmation

Now when you go back to the Windows settings and to the Windows Update section, you will see that you can pause Windows updates for up to 1042 weeks which equals 20 years. You can also choose a more reasonable number such as 10 or 15 weeks as well.

Pause Windows Updates Longer Than 5 Weeks (Up to 20 Years)

If you want to remove the ability to pause Windows Updates longer than 5 weeks, you will need to manually edit the registry to do this. To open the Windows Registry Editor, type in regedit in the Windows taskbar search box and choose the Registry Editor option.

You will then need to navigate to the following registry key.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsUpdate\UX\Settings

You can also copy the text above and paste it into the address bar of the registry editor.

Then you will need to find the DWORD value called FlightSettingsMaxPauseDays and right click on it and choose Delete.

Pause Windows Updates Longer Than 5 Weeks (Up to 20 Years)

Once you do that, you will have the default option of pausing Windows updates up to 5 weeks.

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