How to unpause Windows updates “without” using the Resume updates button.

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[alejr]

I figured out how to “unpause” Windows update without clicking the “Resume updates” button and causing Windows to automatically download/install any pending updates.

Here’s how to manually remove the update pause.

With Windows updates paused, open regedit and goto…

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsUpdate\UpdatePolicy\Settings

…and change the values of PausedFeatureStatus and PausedQualityStatus to

Then move down to …

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsUpdate\UX\Settings

…and delete the following 5 items

PauseFeatureUpdatesEndTime
PauseFeatureUpdatesStartTime
PauseQualityUpdatesEndTime
PauseQualityUpdatesStartTime
PauseUpdatesExpiryTime

Go back to Windows Update and you’ll find it’s no longer paused but it did not download and install anything like it does if you click the “Resume updates” button!

I’ve included a batch file (.bat), Powershell script (.ps1) and registry file (.reg) in the attached zip file to automate this process (note, they need to be run from an account that has Administrator access.)

BTW, do not click the “Check for updates” button after using this method to unpause updates as doing so will initiate an auto download/install of any pending updates!

• This topic was modified 5 months, 3 weeks ago by alejr.

7 users thanked author for this post.

abbodi86, wavy, DrBonzo, Drcard:)), Alex5723, WCHS, Microfix

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🙂 very handy for ‘Home edition’ users.

Keeping IT Lean, Clean and Mean!

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So I can just run this reg. file and then go back to Windows Update and set another 35-day Pause to cover me until the January updates are out and approved for install? Sounds almost too good to be true!

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Yup!

What it does is delete all the “pause dates” saved in the registry and sets the Windows update status back to “active“, all without initiating the “check for updates” caused by using the resume updates button.

The only possibly gotcha is, if Settings > Update & Security > Windows update is still open when you run it, it’ll still show updates are paused (i.e. the “Resume updates” button will still be there) until you actually close and reopen it. That “might” tempt some users into clicking the button which would be a bad thing as it’d activate the “check for updates” you’re trying to avoid.

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The Surfing Pensioner

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Many thanks, that’s great. I’ll make sure W.U. is closed when I run it and do a reboot after running it just to make sure, before I reset the pause. This little reg. file might prove invaluable in the future, whenever we’re advised postponing a month’s updates could be an option.

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By the way, do I have to run all three files, or just the reg. file? I’ve not had three different files to do the same job before!

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Each one is simply a “different” method of applying the same registry changes.

I included 3 different ways of doing it because not everyone will understand what a batch file, registry file, or powershell script is for and wanted to ensure as many users as possibly would have a method they understand to do this.

BTW, the registry change takes effect “immediately“, so you don’t really need to reboot.

If you open Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update right after applying the fix, you’ll find that updates are no longer be paused (i.e it’ll display the “Check for updates” button.)

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Thanks again. I’ll only need the reg. file, then – a useful little file to be stored away against dodgy patch Tuesdays.

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I take it that this removes a one-time Pause that you have initiated. Does it remove the ability to do a Pause in the future?

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WCHS wrote:

Does it remove the ability to do a Pause in the future?

As I explained in my initial post, all it does is simply unpause Windows update checks exactly as if you clicked the “Resume updates” button, but without the auto download/install any pending updates doing that causes.

It does this by modifying the specific entries clicking “Pause updates for 7 days” makes in the registry and nothing more.

WCHS wrote:

I take it that this removes a one-time Pause that you have initiated.

The 5 values in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsUpdate\UX\Settings key that get deleted are the “date & times” when update pauses are suppose to end so it actually removes all update pauses.

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Nice hack alerj.
But wouldn’t disconnecting from the internet and clicking ‘Resume Updates’ have the same effect or am I missing something?

Cheers

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If your internet connection is down when Windows initiates a download/install of pending updates (or goes down while it’s in progress), Windows remembers it was doing that and resumes the download/install once internet connectivity is restored!

I’m sure that status is also stored “somewhere” in the registry but I haven’t really had a reason to try and figure out where and how to disable it.

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One Wednesday after a Patch Tuesday, I realized my computer was due to resume updates the next day, which would have been well before there would be any official recommendations.  In desperation I clicked “resume updates”, then immediately clicked “pause updates”.  It worked, and let me click the pause 5 times.  It hadn’t had time to check for updates, much less download any, so I dodged the bullet that time.

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DrBonzo

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In my experience I have found that you have a small window of several hours before anything downloads and installs after pressing ‘Resume Updates’ In that time you can use wushowhide or WuMgr to control your updates.

In other words after unpausing it doesn’t check and download immediately. Give it some time and eventually it will. Clicking ‘Check for Updates’ ……well that’s a different story!

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https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/is-there-a-way-to-cheat-pause-update/#post-2170432

🙂

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PKCano

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Why not use Portable Windows Update Blocker?
No need for pause/unpause…

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Let me see if I understand how to run the unblocked RemoveUpdatePause.ps1 file. I am new at running .ps1 scripts. My execution Policy list already has both CurrentUser and LocalMachine set to RemoteSigned.

1. Make sure that the WU screen is closed.
2. Use a PS command to get to the directory where the unblocked .ps1 file is. (Since it is unblocked, it no longer has the Mark of the Web on it.)
3. Use the PS command .\RemoveUpdatePause to run it.
4. When it runs, it will execute regedit commands and when it finishes, I can go open WU again and I will no longer see a Pause on the screen.
5. As I always don’t ever do, don’t click on “Check for updates”

Can you confirm these steps, especially #2 and #3?

Thanks in advance.

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Actually, unless you’ve installed some S/W that changed the .ps1 file association, you should be able to run it from file explorer like any other program.

Note: if your user account doesn’t have Admin access, right-click and select “Run as Admin”.

If you can’t get it to run, simply use either the batch file or the registry file as they’ll also make the required changes to the registry.

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alejr wrote:

Actually, unless you’ve installed some S/W that changed the .ps1 file association, you should be able to run it from file explorer like any other program.

Thanks very much for giving me advice on how to run your .ps1 file. I’m not a techie and I’m just learning how to run some .ps1 files that have been offered in AskWoody. Using File Explorer to run them is a new lesson for me. As @Geekdom says “Learn.”

RemovePauseUpdate is a Downloads folder. Within it is the .zip folder and the extracted folder, within which are the three files (extracted) that you wrote. I checked the file association for the extracted .ps1 file and it’s set to open in Notepad. When I go to Settings>Default apps>Choose default apps by file type and look for the default for a .ps1 file, it says “Notepad”. When I click on the Notepad icon, it doesn’t offer any other app, except going to MS Store to find one. So, it doesn’t look like I can associate a .ps1 file with Windows PowerShell. But, maybe, there’s a way that I don’t know about. See attached.

However, below that is info about a .psc1 file and it shows that the default is “Windows PowerShell”. So, I see here that it’s possible for Windows PowerShell to be set with some files. See attached.

But when I right-click on the extracted .ps1 file, the drop-down content menu offers ‘Run from Powershell’. See attached.

So, could I just right-click on this extracted .ps1 file and select ‘Run from Powershell’ in the drop-down content menu and run it that way, without having to bring up Powershell to execute the cd command and the ./filename command or without having to figure out how to associate the .ps1 file with Powershell?

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Ok, here’s the easy way to change the default app that opens a particular file type that allows you to select any app located on your PC, regardless of whether it’s an “installed” app or a “portable” app.

1- Open explorer and browse to the location where the file is stored.

2- Right-click it, select “Open with” and then the “Choose another app” option in the popup.

3- Check the “Always use this app to open .??? files” box.

4- Click the More apps 🡣 option.

5- Scroll down the list until you see the specific app you want to set as the default for that file and select it (note, the list only shows “installed” apps.)

6- If the app you want isn’t listed or it’s a “portable” app, click the Look for another app on this PC option at the bottom of that list and browser to it’s location and select it.

In your case, the app you want to set as the default for .ps1 is called Windows PowerShell and will be at the bottom of the list.

Note: the above procedure won’t remove any other apps you see listed as available to open that file type when you click “Open with“, it simply changes which one is the default app used when you double click that file type (i.e. Notpad will still show as being able to open .ps1 files)

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alejr wrote:

Ok, here’s the easy way to change the default app that opens a ….

At step 6, I had to dig around by right-clicking on a Powershell shortcut in the Start Menu folder and right-clicking on the shortcut to find the file location. I finally found the .exe file in …\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0.
Now, when I right-click on the .ps1 file, Windows PowerShell is an added ‘open-with’ option. See attached.

In addition, Choose default apps by file types now shows Windows PowerShell as the default app and Notepad remains a choice. See attached.

And the .ps1 file now runs when I click (or double-click) on it!!

Thanks for your help in setting this up.

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