Guide to Using WuMgr for Windows 10 Updates

[geekdom]

WuMgr for Windows 10 Explanation

WuMgr is third-party software created by DavidXanatos and performs Windows Update Management. It is an alternate method for Windows update operations. This topic is a short explanation on how to use WuMgr (Update Manager for Windows) to either install Windows updates or hide them.

Part I will deal with downloading and executing WUMgr.

Part II will show how to install Windows updates.

Part III will show how to hide Windows updates.

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offline▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.572 x64 i3-3220 RAM8GB HDD Firefox83.0b3 WindowsDefender TRV=1909 WuMgr
offline▸ Win10Pro 20H2.19042.685 x86 Atom N270 RAM2GB HDD WindowsDefender WuMgr GuineaPigVariant
online▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.746 x64 i5-9400 RAM16GB HDD Firefox85.0b9 WindowsDefender TRV=2004 WuMgr

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[geekdom]

Part I Downloading and Executing WuMgr

WuMgr is located at this address:
https://github.com/DavidXanatos/wumgr

Select Release 1.1

Select WuMgr_v1.1b.zip

Save file:

Extract files:

I extracted files here:

The executable file is here. Click on it to run it.

BetaTest {Got backup and coffee}
offline▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.572 x64 i3-3220 RAM8GB HDD Firefox83.0b3 WindowsDefender TRV=1909 WuMgr
offline▸ Win10Pro 20H2.19042.685 x86 Atom N270 RAM2GB HDD WindowsDefender WuMgr GuineaPigVariant
online▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.746 x64 i5-9400 RAM16GB HDD Firefox85.0b9 WindowsDefender TRV=2004 WuMgr

• This reply was modified 1 month, 1 week ago by geekdom.
• This reply was modified 1 month, 1 week ago by geekdom.

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[geekdom]

Part II Installing Updates from WuMgr

There are six selections for WuMgr from left to right they are:
Circle: Search
Down arrow: Download
Down arrow with box: Install
Trash: Uninstall
Eye: Hide
Chain: Links

Select the circle on the far left.

Check the update you wish to install.
Select the box with the down arrow.

The update will download and install.

BetaTest {Got backup and coffee}
offline▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.572 x64 i3-3220 RAM8GB HDD Firefox83.0b3 WindowsDefender TRV=1909 WuMgr
offline▸ Win10Pro 20H2.19042.685 x86 Atom N270 RAM2GB HDD WindowsDefender WuMgr GuineaPigVariant
online▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.746 x64 i5-9400 RAM16GB HDD Firefox85.0b9 WindowsDefender TRV=2004 WuMgr

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[geekdom]

Part III Hiding Updates in WuMgr

When you hide an update in WuMgr, the update is prevented from installing.

Select the circle on the far left.

Check the update you wish to hide.
Select the eye with the line through it.

The update will be hidden.

BetaTest {Got backup and coffee}
offline▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.572 x64 i3-3220 RAM8GB HDD Firefox83.0b3 WindowsDefender TRV=1909 WuMgr
offline▸ Win10Pro 20H2.19042.685 x86 Atom N270 RAM2GB HDD WindowsDefender WuMgr GuineaPigVariant
online▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.746 x64 i5-9400 RAM16GB HDD Firefox85.0b9 WindowsDefender TRV=2004 WuMgr

• This reply was modified 1 month, 1 week ago by geekdom.
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WCHS

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[WCHS]

And if you want to UNhided and install?

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[geekdom]

Things in Windows update have a way of resetting themselves and new updates are sometimes introduced without notice. Check often with WuMgr to avoid surprises.

BetaTest {Got backup and coffee}
offline▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.572 x64 i3-3220 RAM8GB HDD Firefox83.0b3 WindowsDefender TRV=1909 WuMgr
offline▸ Win10Pro 20H2.19042.685 x86 Atom N270 RAM2GB HDD WindowsDefender WuMgr GuineaPigVariant
online▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.746 x64 i5-9400 RAM16GB HDD Firefox85.0b9 WindowsDefender TRV=2004 WuMgr

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[WSaltamirano]

I have tried this application a few months ago and it “broke” my Windows update and

I had to recover from a back up.

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[Paul T]

How do you know it was WUmgr that broke WU? Maybe WU broke itself – I’ve had that happen.

WUmgr uses Windows Update to do the work and if you check in WU after using WUmgr you will see the same info.

cheers, Paul

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[DriftyDonN]

Appreciate this nfo. What of the settings at the bottom right corner? Options and Auto and Auto update? There appears to be some missing information here.

Also, I have used several settings within group policy and registry to control wu- will these have any impact on WuMgr? ie notice to download updates, exclude Drivers from quality updates and set automatic update options.

Also have blocked edge, Internet explorer,Cortana, some Telemetry (w10tel.cmd script written by–?), stopped indexing, stopped prefetch- more do not come to mind right now but will any of these be affected? Also set to stay on ver 1909 in group policy editor. Sorry about the haphazard presentation – I’ve been stopping and blocking since first Win 10 I saw- 17xx I think? Maybe 1803? I suspect I may want to do a clean install before too long! I actually use more utils than actual product producing proggies- Use open office for spread sheet and word proc, quicken, email client,firefox, VLC. So as you can see no big production stuff. I only add this stuff in case WuMgr may have an impact on these.

version 1909 (OS Bld 18363.1198)

Thanks!

 

 

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geekdom

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[geekdom]

For Auto Update, I use the default settings as shown here:

 

For Options, I also use the default settings.

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offline▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.572 x64 i3-3220 RAM8GB HDD Firefox83.0b3 WindowsDefender TRV=1909 WuMgr
offline▸ Win10Pro 20H2.19042.685 x86 Atom N270 RAM2GB HDD WindowsDefender WuMgr GuineaPigVariant
online▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.746 x64 i5-9400 RAM16GB HDD Firefox85.0b9 WindowsDefender TRV=2004 WuMgr

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DriftyDonN

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[DriftyDonN]

Thanks! Won’t allowing automatic update essentially allow wu to have it’s way? And allow drivers? Hmm. I do have (=2 notify ,don’t download) Sorry I neglected to mention that.

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[geekdom]

As further information, I have a plain-vanilla system and use O&O ShutUp10 to inhibit unwanted Windows options.

I use WuMgr to see what updates are available, including drivers, and hide them if I don’t want them. I can’t say that WuMgr won’t affect your system applications because I don’t have your system configuration. What I can say is that on my systems, WuMgr works well for managing Windows updates and does not affect other system operations.

In short, WuMgr has worked well on my three systems and without error to other software.

BetaTest {Got backup and coffee}
offline▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.572 x64 i3-3220 RAM8GB HDD Firefox83.0b3 WindowsDefender TRV=1909 WuMgr
offline▸ Win10Pro 20H2.19042.685 x86 Atom N270 RAM2GB HDD WindowsDefender WuMgr GuineaPigVariant
online▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.746 x64 i5-9400 RAM16GB HDD Firefox85.0b9 WindowsDefender TRV=2004 WuMgr

• This reply was modified 1 month, 1 week ago by geekdom.
• This reply was modified 1 month, 1 week ago by geekdom.

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[Cybertooth]

WUMgr has worked well on my two Windows 10 systems, too. One time, I noticed that no patches had been offered for months on one of those machines, and it turned out that I’d clicked on the box to Block Access to WU Servers. Then I knew that WUMgr works as advertised.

I do select the Disable Automatic Update button instead of leaving the default selection. That way, no patches (presumably) will come in the door without my express approval. If I understand correctly how WUMgr works, the default setting is analogous to the “Install updates automatically” setting in the pre-Windows 10 update settings applet, while the Disable Automatic Update setting is like the setting to “Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them” in the old applet.

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[EP]

I too use WuMgr on many Win10 machines and it works well.
Disable Automatic Update option, and completely UNcheck “Include drivers” option AND using “metered” internet connections and NO updates get automatically installed onto those Win10 PCs.

are you using metered internet connections, Cybertooth?

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geekdom

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[Cybertooth]

@EP, I don’t use Metered Connections. All the patching-related settings I use are through WUMgr. So far, they’ve been working well.

 

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geekdom

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[Alex5723]

DriftyDonN wrote:

Also, I have used several settings within group policy and registry to control wu- will these have any impact on WuMgr?

WUmgr runs Windows Update and won’t show updates not shown by Windows Update due to block/deferrals.

To show all pending updates you need to set in GP ‘notify don’t install = 2’ and leave quality and feature updates = 0.

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[WCHS]

Alex5723 wrote:

To show all pending updates you need to set in GP ‘notify don’t install = 2’ and leave quality and feature updates = 0.

and do you also have the radio button for Automatic Update turned on, if you have GP=2 notify download/install? Or is it turned off?

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[Alex5723]

WCHS wrote:

and do you also have the radio button for Automatic Update turned on, if you have GP=2 notify download/install? Or is it turned off?

It is off by default.

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[WCHS]

Alex5723 wrote:

It is off by default.

in other words, the Automatic Update radio button is filled in? Which to me means that is on by default.

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[Tom-R]

I’d be interested in knowing what specifically these three WuMgr options do:

• Block Access to WU Servers
• Disable Update Facilitators
• Disable Store Auto Update

And (just as important) how does WuMgr tweak the system in order to accomplish these three things?  For example what system services, processes and/or tasks are being disabled or blocked when these options are selected?  I’m especially curious about the option to “Disable Update Facilitators“; since that seems to be the key to stopping Windows Update from pushing unwanted updates, or from changing system settings without warning.

Is there any detailed documentation on what these WuMgr options do, and how they work?

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[Paul T]

Read the source files (code) on the WUmgr site and all will be revealed.

If you can’t read the code (don’t understand it) you will have to search for others who have.

cheers, Paul

• This reply was modified 1 month, 1 week ago by Paul T.

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[Tom-R]

I didn’t really want to wade thru the WuMgr source code.  What I’m hoping exists somewhere is an end user-friendly document with just a summary of what services, processes, tasks, etc. are getting blocked or disabled.  I like the program; but it would be really nice to know conceptually what it’s doing — just a sentence or two that explains what each option does.

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Cybertooth

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[Cybertooth]

I can’t speak for how WUMgr does any of these things, but I can tell you from experience that “Block Access to WU Servers” will prevent Windows not only from downloading each month’s patches, but even from displaying them in the WUMgr GUI. The setting to “Disable Store Auto Update” prevents apps from the Windows Store from updating themselves without your knowledge/approval.

Unfortunately, I can’t offer much help regarding the setting you were most curious about, “Disable Update Facilitators”. I would speculate that this has to do with auxiliary Windows services and/or tasks that participate in the process of finding, fetching, and installing patches, but that’s about as far as I can take it.

Maybe somebody else can pitch in with more specific info.

 

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Tom-R

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[Alex5723]

Tom-R wrote:

an end user-friendly document with just a summary of what services, processes, tasks, etc. are getting blocked or disabled.

There is no such document.

You can however write to the developer with your questions.

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[Cybertooth]

Alex5723 wrote:

There is no such document.

This sad fact is what explains the existence of the present thread, as well as several other attempts here at Woody’s to describe the workings of WUMgr.

David Xanatos has done a great job of creating his program, but some of the functions exposed in the GUI are far from self-explanatory. Imagine making an airplane and then providing no training/instruction manual for flying it: just try all the buttons and knobs to see what they do!  🙂

 

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[WCHS]

Cybertooth wrote:

Imagine making an airplane and then providing no training/instruction manual for flying it:

yeah … great … wasn’t there a problem with the Boeing 737 Max for exactly this same reason … I am not willing to just press buttons to see what happens!!

I have no complaints with the programming, whatsoever. I’d just like to know what the check boxes and icons do or do not do. As for the icons, most of them have been explained here … still wondering about the ‘link’ icon, though. And many of us have questions about some of the check boxes and don’t want to fly in the dark.

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Tom-R

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[Paul T]

Your PC is not likely to fall out of the sky, and you have a backup, so go for it!

cheers, Paul

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geekdom

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[Cybertooth]

Just trying buttons is still an extremely crude approach. The point is that it would be much more preferable to have a manual to review before and as the user starts to fiddle with the application–hence this thread and others on this website.

I found a discussion of WUMgr that may help our understanding of some of the more obscure functions of the program.

 

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[WCHS]

Cybertooth wrote:

I found a discussion of WUMgr that may help our understanding of some of the more obscure functions of the program.

I’ve read this discussion. It’s very helpful.

a) Under the Auto Update tab, I wonder what the difference is between Disable Automatic Updates and not turning on the radio button for Automatic Update ?

b) Under the Options tab, I wonder if “Manual” download/install is the same as GP=2 notify download/install. In the discussion, Tittel says that it forces the user to authorize download/install. Sounds like GP=2.

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Cybertooth

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[geekdom]

Link command:

Select the circle on the far left.

Check the update where you wish to see the link.
Select the box with the chain.

This notice will appear at the bottom of WuMgr.
Update Download Links copyed to clipboard

Open Notepad and do a paste:

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offline▸ Win10Pro 20H2.19042.685 x86 Atom N270 RAM2GB HDD WindowsDefender WuMgr GuineaPigVariant
online▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.746 x64 i5-9400 RAM16GB HDD Firefox85.0b9 WindowsDefender TRV=2004 WuMgr

• This reply was modified 1 month, 1 week ago by geekdom.
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[Alex5723]

Cybertooth wrote:

Imagine making an airplane and then providing no training/instruction manual for flying it:

Boeing 737 ?

I don’t know of any 3rd party Windows app that has full documentation of changes made to Windows OS services, registry,… with one exception : Black Viper.

• This reply was modified 1 month, 1 week ago by Alex5723.

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wavy

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[WCHS]

Alex5723 wrote:

Boeing 737 ?

Boeing 737 MAX

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[Cybertooth]

WCHS wrote:

a) Under the Auto Update tab, I wonder what the difference is between Disable Automatic Updates and not turning on the radio button for Automatic Update ?

There is no choice to be made there, really. You can’t both disable the button for automatic updates and not turn on the button for automatic updates: if one is not selected, then the other one will be.

WCHS wrote:

b) Under the Options tab, I wonder if “Manual” download/install is the same as GP=2 notify download/install. In the discussion, Tittel says that it forces the user to authorize download/install. Sounds like GP=2.

Since I only use WUMgr, I no longer remember what the Win10 or GP update settings do. What I can say is that manual download/install works the same way as in Win7. (I suppose that if MS ever breaks WUMgr and it doesn’t get fixed, I’ll have to refresh my memory of the official update settings or, more likely, just switch to Linux full-time.) Somebody else in this thread should be able to give you a specific answer, though.

 

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