If you have production machines where you can’t afford any bugs, you may want to consider the desirability of delay Windows 11 23H2the next major version of the system that Microsoft is about to deploy.
The Redmond firm has been improving the delivery of updates and releases for Windows with the latest change to the engineering schedule, which has reduced the number of annual releases to only one major version. In addition, the number of new features has also been limited, surely waiting for the release of Windows 12. The sum of both strategies has been enough to improve the situation, but not to reverse it.
And it is that failures have become consubstantial to the delivery of software in Windows. Whether in the development of the operating system itself or by third parties that work to feed applications or drivers to its gigantic ecosystem, there is no way to release an error-free update, since are repeated randomly and if one patch solves previous problems it causes others in a vicious circle that seems to have no end.
Knowing the background, the most prudent thing to do is to perform those major maintenance tasks that can save our lives in the face of failures, such as backup or system restore points, and also delay upgrades until full stability has been verified. There are several ways to do it from the system itself, with temporary or more radical methods that we are going to remind you.
Delay Windows 11 23H2 temporarily
The easiest way is pause the update temporarily from the internal Configuration tool. The process is done in a few clicks and is reversible in the same way whenever you want.
- Press the “Windows + I” hotkeys to access System Configuration or find the tool in the Start menu.
- Navigate to “Windows Update”.
- In the “Pause updates” section, scroll through the options and you will see that you can select from one to five weeks.
You will have that number of weeks of margin before automatic updates are enabled again. As the rest of options that we are going to offer you, management is reversible at any time and, in addition, updates can always be installed manually from Windows Update and also from the Microsoft Update Catalog.
Windows Registry
More powerful than the previous method, you can delay the update of features up to 365 days:
- Access the system registry. For example using “regedit” from the run function of the secondary start menu (right button of the start menu).
- Access the path “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ WindowsUpdate \ UX \ Settings”.
- Modify or create a new 32-bit DWORD value named BranchReadinessLevel. Set a value of 10 to set the “Semi-annual directed channel” as the update branch, or 20 if you want to set the branch of the “Semi-annual channel”.
- In the same way, modify or create a new 32-bit DWORD value named. DeferFeatureUpdatesPeriodInDays. Set its value to the number of days you want to delay the feature update in a range from 0 to 365.
- Modify or create a new 32-bit DWORD value named. DeferQualityUpdatesPeriodInDays and set its value in decimal for the number of days you want to delay quality updates.
You can also block it completely. As follows:
- Navigate to “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Policies \ Microsoft \ Windows”.
- In that path create a new key (right mouse button) with the name “WindowsUpdate”.
- Access the newly created key and repeat the step to create another one named “AU”.
- Enter this key to create a new 32-bit DWORD value named “NoAutoUpdate”.
- Double click on “NoAutoUpdate” and change its value from 0 to 1.
Click OK, exit the registry and restart the computer. The name of the value explains what we will get: the automatic update feature in Windows 11 will be permanently disabled.
Group Policy
If you follow us regularly you have already seen the enormous capacity of this tool intended for advanced users or administrators. It is available in versions “Pro, Enterprise and Education” and it is the most radical option to block the installation of Windows 11 22H2 (or any other version) because with it you can disable Windows Update and get rid of update errors.
- Access the services section. For example, by typing “services.msc” in the search box.
- In local services search for “Windows Update”.
- Right-click and access its properties.
There you can manage the operation of the service, including the option to disable it.
Group policies
The Windows Group Policy Editor is an internal tool widely used in IT administration as it allows greater control over the operation of the PC or the ability to make some settings that are not available using other less advanced managers such as the Control Panel or the General System Settings. From here we can also manage updates.
- Use Windows search to find “gpedit.msc”.
- Navigate to the path “Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update > Manage end-user experience”.
- Click on “Configure Automatic Updates” and enable the policy.
- You will see a series of options where the most interesting one is number 2 which prevents automatic downloading of updates.
With this option enabled, Windows Update will alert you with a specific button that there are updates available to install manually. It is an option halfway between the previous ones that allows to block the automatic updates, but to know them in case you want to install them by your account.
As you may have seen, these are effective methods for pause, delay and ultimately block the installation of Windows 11 23H2. Although these updates can improve the experience and add new features, it is not difficult that they also cause random errors (some serious) that can leave you KO your PC. Of course, these methods are reversible at any time in the future when you check their stability and in any case you can manually install updates from the Microsoft Catalog.
