How to Enable or Disable the “Check for Windows Updates” Button in Windows 11

This tutorial demonstrates how to enable and disable the “Check for Windows updates” button in Windows 11 and Windows 10. This prevents users from having to check for Windows updates manually, which can be useful in managed environments.

Note that this does not prevent Windows from automatically checking for updates, and installing them per your update schedule.

Manual workarounds for Windows updates often cause more problems than they solve. Use this script to quickly diagnose and fix Windows Update issues in managed environments.

Understanding Windows Update settings

Windows 11 and Windows 10 enforce automatic updates. Although workarounds exist to disable them, Microsoft does not support this. While enforcement is strict for valid reasons, users can still adjust certain Windows Update settings, including:

• Manually check for updates using the Check for updates button
• Pause updates for a period of up to 5 weeks (after which automatic updates will resume unless you manually postpone them again)
• Elect to receive updates to other Microsoft software via Windows Update
• Install optional features and drive updates
• Disable updating when using a metered connection (critical security updates will still be downloaded and installed)

Windows Update settings can be found at the bottom of the navigation menu in the Windows Settings app.

Why enable Windows updates?

Windows requires updates to protect users. In the past, many delayed updates were inconvenient and slow. This left large numbers of PCs vulnerable to malware that exploited known flaws. These infections damaged Windows’ reputation for security, though user inaction was often the root cause.

Updates also include performance improvements and fixes for device incompatibilities or critical bugs that can cause data loss. If you plan to disable Windows updates permanently, evaluate your reasons carefully. Use alternative methods that preserve the automatic updates essential for system stability and security.

Benefits and risks of enabling/disabling the “Check for Windows updates” button

You can disable the ability for users to manually check for updates from the Windows Settings app by disabling the Check for updates button. You may do this to prevent them from interfering with the automatic update process – or because you’re in an enterprise environment and want to ensure updates are only deployed according to your own policies.

There are no major disadvantages to doing this (aside from potentially annoying users who like to press the Check for updates button too often). Windows will continue to manage its own automatic update process in the background, and ensure that critical updates are downloaded and applied regardless of whether the user can manually check or not.

Before you make any changes to your Windows system using the Local Group Policy Editor or Registry Editor, make sure you backup your local group policy settings or back up your registry so that if you make a mistake, you can restore things back to normal.

It’s also encouraged to create a full system backup before making changes using local group policies or through the registry, especially if you are not experienced with either.

Step-by-step guide: How to enable/disable “Check for updates” in Windows 11

Keep in mind that all the following steps require that you be logged in as an administrator.

If you’re using either the Windows 11 Pro or Enterprise versions, the best way to disable the Check for updates button is using the Local Group Policy Editor:

• Close the Windows Settings app
• Open the Local Group Policy Editor by right-clicking the Start button, selecting Run, and entering gpedit.msc before pressing the Enter key
• Navigate to Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Windows Update/Manage end user experience

• Double-click the Remove access to use all Windows Update features setting in the right panel of the Local Group Policy Editor
• Set the State to Enabled and press OK to save the change
• Open the Command Prompt as Administrator and run gpupdate /force or reboot your Windows PC to immediately apply the change

To re-enable the Check for updates button, follow the above steps, but set the State of the Remove access to use all Windows Update features setting to Not configured (the default) or Disabled.

If you’re running Windows 11 Home, you’ll need to use the Registry Editor to disable the Check for updates button (as Local Group Policy is not available in the Home versions of Windows) by following these steps:

• Close the Windows Settings app
• Open the Registry Editor
• Navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\ key
• Set the value of the SetDisableUXWUAccess entry to 1 to disable the Check for updates button
• If this value doesn’t exist, create it by right-clicking in the right panel of the Registry Editor, selecting New > DWORD (32-bit) Value, and naming it SetDisableUXWUAccess

To re-enable the Check for updates button from the registry, simply delete the SetDisableUXWUAccess entry.

Step-by-step guide: How to enable/disable “Check for Windows updates” in Windows 10

The steps for disabling the Check for updates button in Windows 10 are largely the same as those in Windows 11, except the path to the Group Policy setting is slightly different:

• Close the Windows Settings app
• Open the Local Group Policy Editor by right-clicking the Start button, selecting Run, and entering gpedit.msc before hitting the Enter key
• Navigate to Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Windows Update
• Double-click the Remove access to use all Windows Update features setting in the right panel of the Local Group Policy Editor
• Set the State to Enabled and press OK to save the change
• Open the Command Prompt as Administrator and run gpupdate /force or reboot your Windows PC to immediately apply the change

If you’re using Windows 10 Home, you won’t have access to the Local Group Policy Editor and will need to use the Registry Editor. The steps for this are identical to those listed for Windows 11 above.

Don’t try to solve IT issues by disabling vital functionality: Use system management tools instead

Windows 11’s enforcement of automatic updates is a good thing for the security and stability of users’ devices, but they still have some leeway in deferring installing updates. Connectivity issues and problems with Windows may also prevent updates from being successfully deployed, leaving systems vulnerable to known exploits or malfunctions that could lead to data loss.

Because of this, relying on users to check for Windows updates themselves in enterprise environments – where productivity and business-critical data could be affected by a malfunction or cybersecurity incident – is a real risk.

NinjaOne Patch Management automates Windows update management and provides centralized reporting across all Windows, Android, and Apple devices. It updates both operating systems and installed applications to ensure complete coverage and strong proactive security.