What is Defer Upgrades option on Windows 10 and how can I enable it?

Here’s a quick tutorial

Did you know that you can defer features and quality updates to your PC in certain Windows versions? These include Windows 10’s Professional, Enterprise, and Education editions. Windows 10 Home, however, doesn’t have this feature.

This quick guide will teach you how to enable Defer Upgrades on Windows 10.

What is Defer Upgrades option on Windows 10?

When you defer feature updates, it means new Window features won’t be offered, downloaded, as well as installed for a time period that’s greater than the deferral period established. Your Windows 10 computer will stay on the Current branch for business . For business users who seek to wait longer before they get new features on their PC and watch the new features become more stable over time, this feature is a great option.

Note that while deferring feature updates doesn’t affect security updates, it prevents you from getting the latest Windows features as soon as they are available.

Meanwhile for Windows 10 Home edition, there’s no option for disabling Windows Update. This means once new features are releases, Home edition users will have access to the tested new builds before users with Windows 10 Professional. If you happen to enable the Defer Upgrade feature, the new builds won’t be installed until months afterwards when they likely don’t harbor as many bugs as the earlier released ones.

Step by step: How to enable Defer Upgrades on Windows 10

If your PC is managed by an organization, chances are you won’t be able to defer updates. But here’s how you should enable this feature on your PC:

  1. Go to Search and type the command gpedit.msc in. Choose Microsoft Common Console Document from the list of options.
  2. Go to the left pane and choose Administrative Templates. Afterwards, go to the right pane and select Windows Components.
  3. Double-click Windows Update.
  4. Look for Defer Upgrades and Updates on the right pane, and then double-click on it.
  5. In the window that opens, you’ll find the Local Group Policy settings. Make any changes by selecting Enabled. Press Apply and OK in order to save and exit.

In the Options section, you can find that you are allowed to pick Defer upgrades for the followingX weeks or months. Set the number of the duration on your own. If you prefer, you can also tick the box for Pause Upgrades and Updatesin order to temporarily hold on all upgrades as well as updates. Don’t forget to press Apply to save the changes and exit.

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That’s it – hopefully, the quick steps above have worked for you!