Windows 10 – How to hide updates

 

With the release of Windows 10, Microsoft has introduced a number of changes into the Windows Update
functionality. Mandatory updates for home users plus reboots (which you can work around), cumulative
updates that should save space over time, while also reducing management flexibility, and also, no
visible way to hide specific updates.

Such a move makes (some) sense for “ordinary” users, but it does not make any sense for advanced
users who want to control what they install, specifically drivers but also certain other components.
Well, in this guide, I will show you a simple, non-intrusive and official way of handling updates, so
you can hide them just like in earlier releases of Windows.

Hidden update to handle hidden updates

The thing is, Microsoft didn’t really eliminate the option to hide updates. In fact, most of the
functionality that users miss still exists, and can be accessed via PowerShell scripts, Group Policies
and registry edits. In this particular case, there’s a
KB article (and a link to a special tool)
that explains how to temporarily prevent a driver update. Toward the end of the page, you will also
find
Download the “Show or hide updates” troubleshooter package now link. This
is what we want. Get it. Run it.

Run the troubleshooter

Start the tool. It only has one option, so just move on to the next step. It will now run and search
for available updates. It will check all existing updates you have previously hidden (if any) and allow
you to show them, as well as show you all available updates and let you hide them.

Setup

Searching

Best way to use the tool

Please note that you can run this tool in parallel to the Windows Update service, but there can be
an obvious clash of what should run first. Therefore, my recommendation for best compatibility is do
the following.

  • In case you have the Windows Update service enabled, stop the service. Please note that
    Microsoft has also added a new “helper” service to Windows Update called Windows Update Medic
    Service. What this does is restart the service if it suddenly stops. So it will interfere with your
    work. You should stop that first before running the troubleshooter (needs TrustedInstaller
    privileges to be stopped).
  • In case you have the Windows Updates service disabled, change its state to manual – but keep
    the WU Medic disabled, because it will automatically run the updates. Now, run the
    troubleshooter.

Medic

If you’re wondering how to stop the Windows Update service, then you just need to run the
services.msc tool as an administrator. For the Medic and/or if you get an error that prevents you from
changing the service state, you will need to run the tool with something like
ExecTI, which is a
quite useful but also very dangerous tool in the hands of non-skilled users. You’ve been warned!

Run and then let the troubleshooter finish. Once it collects the list of available updates, you will
now have the option to show and hide them, as I mentioned earlier. We want the first option. When I
tested this, the list included the monthly security update, a plugins update, some Office compatibility
pack patches, and an audio driver.

Choose option, show or hide

Available updates

Troubleshooter versus Windows Update

But you may be wondering, is this list comprehensive? Well, I decided to check what Windows Update
offers, and the two lists did not fully match. Windows Update only had the cumulative update and the
driver, but it did not have the extras. Yes, Windows Update is configured to offer updates for other
Microsoft products in addition to security patches. So that’s a little odd. But the troubleshooter has
a more comprehensive list, which means you do have control over what gets installed. If the discrepancy
was the other way around, it could mean patches being missed by the troubleshooter.

Updates match troubleshooter

Conclusion

The show/hide troubleshooter utility is quite handy, and it works well. Regardless of your
particular Windows Update settings, it will show and display all available (relevant) updates, and give
you the option to hide them. It does not list
optional products, which you get in Windows 7/8, but then, these will
never be auto-installed, so the issue of them showing up isn’t really there.

All in all, this is a handy accessory for Windows 10 (power) users, and it should give them a bit
more control when it comes to updates, especially drivers. In general, my policy is to create a full
system image of my production machines BEFORE any update, so if things go wrong, you can roll back.
Using the troubleshooter comes handy if you want more selective control, regardless of whatever other
mechanisms you have in place. That would be all for today.

Cheers.

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