Microsoft has added new settings that allow users to gain greater control over how Windows Update installs the new updates for Windows 10.
With the 1903 version of Windows 10, Microsoft added the ability to continue using Windows 10 updates with the Group Policy editor. In October, the Patch Tuesday updates added an additional policy that allows you to bypass security commitments on a device.
In this article, we highlight both group policies so that you can control the “Windows 10 feature updates”.
Set the feature update version of Windows 10
Windows 10 comes with a new policy called “TargetReleaseVersionInfo” that prevents new updates.
When you use this policy, you can specify the version of Windows you want to use and prevent Windows 10 from installing a new version until the specified version reaches end of support
This policy only works on Windows 10 Pro and Enterprise editions and allows you to specify the version of Windows 10 you want to use.
You can also enable it on Windows 10 Home with the following steps:
1. Open Windows Search.
2. Search for "Registry Editor" and select it when it appears in the results .
3. In the Registry Editor, go to the following location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate
4. Right-click on Windows Update and select “New’ > ‘DWORD (32-bit) Value».
5. Enter “TargetReleaseVersion” as the name and set its value to 1.
6. Now right-click on Windows Update again and, then, select “New’ > ‘String Value”.
7. Name the new value of the string «TargetReleaseVersionInfo» and set the version number of Windοws 10 you want to stay on as the value.
If you want to use Windοws 10 version 2004 and avoid 20H2, you must set the value “2004”.
In the October 2020 Patch Tuesday updates of Windows 10, the Group Policy Editor has a new Policy that will allow you to bypass upgrade blocks.
After the recent Windows update disaster, Microsoft introduced “Safeguard Hold” to block feature updates on devices with incompatible drivers, software , etc.
With the new “Disable safeguards for Feature Updates” policy, you can download and install Windows 10 updates faster, removing these upgrade blocks.
This policy is available in Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update > Windows Update for Business. To use this feature, select and enable the “Disable safeguards for Feature Updates” policy.
You can also enable it on Windows 10 Home with the following Registry file:
Information source: bleepingcomputer.com
