HELP – Windows 10 21H2 Installed and Windows Update Disappeared

Topic

New Reply

[blueboy714]

I installed Win10 21H2 Update and Windows Update disappeared in my settings.  I have attached a before 21H2 and after 21H2 shot of my settings.   Before Windows Update was present, but after Windows Update is gone and For developers and Windows Insider Program are present.

How do I get back Windows Update so I can control when I get Windows updates?

Custom Build - Intel i5 9400 5 Core CPU & ASUS TUF Z390 Plus Motherboard Windows 10 Home Version 22H2
Dell Laptop - Inspiron 15 11th Generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-1135G7 Windows 11 Home Version 23H2

• This topic was modified 3 years, 5 months ago by blueboy714.

Reply | Quote

Replies

@blueboy714 –

It sounds as if you got your hands on a Windows Insider version of 21H2, or you somehow got signed up for the Windows Insider program.

Since I’m not a member of that program, I can’t tell you how to check to see if you’re on it and to unenroll yourself from it. BUT, there are folks here who definitely can, such as @joep517, and @sb (Susan) for starters. Also, @b or @EP might be able to help here.

For those reading this thread and wanting to help, please bear in mind that @blueboy714 has the Home edition of 21H2, NOT the Pro version, so any GPEdit items/suggestions are pointless…Home doesn’t have that feature, and aftermarket GPEdit utilities have not proven fully successful at doing what they’re supposed to do.

Reply | Quote

I never signed up for a Windows insider program so I have no clue what the heck’s going on.  I just want it fixed. The mothership connection really screwed me over.

I tried to “Leave the Insider Program” which is an option in the settings – and when I logged in using my MS username and password it told me “you are not a Windows Insider – but would I like to sign up?”

I am so frustrated right now – I have never had this much of a problem with a usually easy Windows Update before.

 

Custom Build - Intel i5 9400 5 Core CPU & ASUS TUF Z390 Plus Motherboard Windows 10 Home Version 22H2
Dell Laptop - Inspiron 15 11th Generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-1135G7 Windows 11 Home Version 23H2

Reply | Quote

I tried to “Leave the Insider Program” which is an option in the settings – and when I logged in using my MS username and password it told me “you are not a Windows Insider – but would I like to sign up?”

Looks like you explored the Windows Insider part of Settings>Update & Security>Windows Insider. Although you say that it claimed you weren’t an insider and offered to sign you up, can you please go back to that screen (Settings>Update & Security>Windows Insider) and take a screenshot to post here so folks can see exactly what it looks like? That may help in the troubleshooting process.

Reply | Quote

There is a setting in WUMgr (or some other Windows update controlling program that you tried in the past and forgot) to hide Windows Update. When you have the Pro version, the setting can be set in Group Policy. But when you are using the Home version, the Windows update controlling program does it. In either case, there is a corresponding Registry setting. See the first screenshot in #2275043, just below the bottom end of the lowest arrow. Some of the other screenshots in AKB2000016 show corresponding Registry settings

That setting is made in Group Policy, but there is a corresponding Registry setting. I have never looked for it, so I can’t tell you where it is. And I don’t use WUMgr.
My suggestion is to look for it in WUMgr – something about “hide WU.” Since you did an upgrade, I would toggle the on/off switch for it just to make sure it is off.

3 users thanked author for this post.

Linda2019, Coldheart9020, Bob99

Reply | Quote

Turn off access to all Windows Update features (admx.help)

I think that’s the registry she’s talking about.  Also what do you see when you click on advanced in that screen?

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

2 users thanked author for this post.

Linda2019, Bob99

Reply | Quote

The setting in the screenshot is in Group Policy.
The setting in Win10 Home will be the equivalent setting in the Registry (since Home doesn’t have access to GP).

Reply | Quote

I went to the link in Susan’s post just above and it sure seemed like the right spot in the registry to go for controlling whether or not WU shows up on a machine.

The specific value mentioned in that location of ” DisableWindowsUpdateAccess” was not there in my machine’s registry, so I decided to do a little experiment. Since I have the Pro version of Windows 10 21H2, I went into GPEdit to the location mentioned by @PKCano in post 2405931 just above where a screenshot is referred to. I changed that value in GPEdit from “Not configured” to Enabled” (to prevent access to supposedly all of WU’s features). I then went back into my machine’s registry to the location in the link in Susan’s post. What I found was a new value entered that said “SetDisableUXWUAccess”. It was listed as a REG_DWORD with a value of 1.

This also adds to what PK had said above, that it’s in the registry somewhere. Susan found the location with the article she linked to, but due to the article being somewhat dated, the actual value name is now different. The article says that the preference is:

“Supported on: At least Windows Server 2003 operating systems, Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1, or Windows 2000 Service Pack 3

Due to the age of the operating systems mentioned, I can understand why the value it mentions wasn’t there…it had been changed between then and now, but the article hadn’t been updated to reflect that. One other minor quibble: There’s a little disclaimer that says:

Note: This policy applies only when this PC is configured to connect to an intranet update service using the “Specify intranet Microsoft update service location” policy.

Note the word “intranet” instead of “internet”. This type of notice should have also shown up in GPEdit when I highlighted the preference to turn off all access to WU if it applied, but that notice wasn’t there in GPEdit. That’s what made me think that the preference’s name or location may have been changed from what is stated in the article in Susan’s link.

I sincerely hope this helps anyone considering the use of this policy who doesn’t also use WuMgr, since WuMgr does this with just the click of a mouse’s button as shown below by @alejr!

 

Reply | Quote

BTDT

Open WUmgr, select the Auto Update tab and uncheck the option to Hide WU Settings Page.

3 users thanked author for this post.

Cijan, blueboy714, PKCano

Reply | Quote

Just another Forum Poster wrote:

BTDT

Open WUmgr, select the Auto Update tab and uncheck the option to Hide WU Settings Page.

Thanks alejr – this easy fix in WUmgr did the trick.  Since you had told me previously to change all of my WUmgr that must have changed my system for the worse.

So, I have a question – what are the default WUmgr settings?  I would like to go back to what they were originally when I installed WUmgr.  I cannot find any documentation on WUmgr online other than the nice writeup on AW by @geekdom.

A friend also sent me this fix – but I didn’t need use it.

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/check-for-updates-button-is-missing-in-windows-10

As PKCano suspected you need to make the change in Group Policy settings.  Since I have Win10 Home I don’t know if this will work for me or not.

When I buy my next PC in a few years I will definitely be buying one with Windows Professional.

Custom Build - Intel i5 9400 5 Core CPU & ASUS TUF Z390 Plus Motherboard Windows 10 Home Version 22H2
Dell Laptop - Inspiron 15 11th Generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-1135G7 Windows 11 Home Version 23H2

1 user thanked author for this post.

Linda2019

Reply | Quote

Actually, it was Alex5723 who posted about changing your WUmgr settings not me.

And yes, if you set something in WUmgr, the changes it makes to the registry (like the Hide WU Settings Page) will persist across reboots and updates. Also, because it doesn’t use an uninstaller, the changes will still persist if you delete the wumgr.exe program.

The easiest fix if you find yourself in this situation is to simply use WUmgr to restore the setting.

• Note: if you’ve deleted wumgr.exe, download it again, unzip it, and then use it to restore whatever setting is causing your problem.

As for the default settings…

I can’t remember what they were when I first installed it back in March but, according to geekdom’s post, they “should” be as follows.

Personally, I also have the ‘Manual’ Download/Install and Always run as Administrator settings on the “Options” tab enabled and, as show in the screen shot I posted before, everything on the “Auto Update” tab disabled.

---

BTW, if you happen to have an unused retail version of Win7 Pro laying around, you can use it to upgrade Win10 Home to Pro.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Linda2019

Reply | Quote

@alejr – sorry for mixing you up with @alex5723.  I think the “always run as administrator” checked on was default update setting too.  I wanted to reset to default – but there a switch to reset to default which is too bad.

Thanks to everyone who helped fix my Win10 21H2 update fiasco – I’m glad I got it in before the Dec update.

Custom Build - Intel i5 9400 5 Core CPU & ASUS TUF Z390 Plus Motherboard Windows 10 Home Version 22H2
Dell Laptop - Inspiron 15 11th Generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-1135G7 Windows 11 Home Version 23H2

Reply | Quote