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Windows updates are one of the most critical aspects of your Windows computer, and this is not up for debate. Cybercriminals are dedicated in their pursuit of vulnerabilities, and Microsoft works hard to find exploitable loopholes and close them, which it does through developing and releasing updates for its software. Therefore, you put yourself at serious risk when not installing Windows updates.

In previous years, new Windows versions were released to take security to a new level. However, since Microsoft ended the tradition of releasing new Windows versions, Windows Update for Windows 10 became the main tool for keeping the operating system up to date. Its responsibilities include installing security, feature, and quality updates.

To fetch and install these updates, the utility has to connect to Microsoft servers. However, you can choose to install the updates from an Intranet Microsoft Update service location instead. Most network administrators do so using the Windows Server Update Services (WSUS).

With WSUS, you can easily manage how Windows updates are deployed to systems on a network. You can determine when and if a device receives updates and the type of updates that will be installed to any system.

All that said, systems could still reach out to Microsoft Update and Microsoft Store servers to fetch updates for Windows Store applications and other Microsoft products. If your main objective is to prevent the system from connecting to Microsoft servers, you need to enable a Group Policy option called “Do not connect to any Windows Update Internet locations.”

This policy only works when you’ve configured the computer to download and install updates from an Intranet Microsoft Service location.

In this article, we’ll be showing you how to prevent Windows from connecting to any Windows Update Internet locations, using the Group Policy Editor and the Registry Editor on Windows 10.

Using the Registry Editor

Here, you’ll be disabling the DoNotConnectToWindowsUpdateInternetLocations DWORD. However, before you start, it’s recommended that you back up the system registry to avoid unforeseeable issues.

These steps will show you how to back up the entire registry:

  1. Right-click on the Windows logo in the taskbar.
  2. In the Power User menu, click on Run.
  3. You can also press the Windows logo and R keyboard buttons together to launch the Run dialog box.
  4. After Run opens, type “regedit” (don’t add the quotes), and then click on the OK button.
  5. Click on the Yes option in the User Account Control pop-up.
  6. After you see the Registry Editor, go to the top-left corner and click on File.
  7. In the File menu, click on Export.
  8. Once the Export Registry File dialog box opens, type the name of the file, select a location, and make sure you select All under Export Range before hitting OK.

That’s it. Making the wrong turn in the Registry Editor is not the only thing that poses risk to your system registry. Sometimes, leftover and corrupt registry keys wreak their own kind of havoc. You can easily prevent that from happening by using a tool such as Auslogics Registry Cleaner. The utility will make sure any key that puts your operating system at risk is removed.

Now, to the main business:

  1. Open the Registry Editor.
  2. Go to the left pane of the window and open the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE folder.
  3. Next, open the SOFTWARE tree.
  4. Under SOFTWARE, go to Policies and click on it.
  5. After that, expand the Microsoft folder, then click on the arrow beside Windows.
  6. Now, click on WindowsUpdate.
  7. Your next move is to navigate to the right side of the window, right-click the empty surface, and then click on New >> DWORD (32-bit) Value.
  8. Rename the new DWORD “DoNotConnectToWindowsUpdateInternetLocations” (don’t add the quotes).
  9. Now, double-click on the DWORD.
  10. Once you see the Edit DWORD Value dialog, enter 1 into the Value box and select Hexadecimal under Base.
  11. Click on OK.
  12. Exit the Registry Editor and restart your PC.

Using the Group Policy Editor

Here’s how to prevent Windows from connecting to any Windows Update Internet locations using the Group Policy Editor:

  1. Right-click on the Windows logo in the taskbar.
  2. In the Power User menu, click on Run.
  3. You can also press the Windows logo and R keyboard buttons together to launch the Run dialog box.
  4. After Run opens, type “gpedit.msc” (don’t add the quotes), and then click on the OK button.
  5. Once the Group Policy Editor opens, go to the left side and open Computer Administration >> Administrative Templates >> Windows Components >> Windows Update.
  6. Click on Windows Update, then navigate to the right side of the window and double-click an option that reads, “Do not connect to any Windows Update Internet locations.”
  7. Click on the Enabled radio button when the dialog window opens.
  8. Click on OK, exit the GP Editor, and then restart your system.

Conclusion

Once you’ve enabled the setting, Windows will no longer attempt to connect to other internet locations. However, you should note that you might not be able to access other key updates from the Windows Store. If you want to, go back to the setting and disable it.