Reader reports missing “Never check for updates” in Win7

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Can anyone confirm this? It’s working fine on my machines. From JT: My Win 7 SP1 Windows Update settings have changed, just this morning as far as I c
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JT is correct. Just checked on my Win7 PC and only three options. Must have happened recently. Sneaky or what.

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Is there a screenshot of this?

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It has been missing on some systems in the past as well: https://www.google.nl/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=0jFhV6bMGJGMOo3akrAE&gws_rd=cr#q=never+check+for+updates+windows+7+missing

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I can confirm that all 4 options including “Never check for updates (not recommended)” is still showing on our Win7 & 8.1 machines… I’m using MS Defcon
default….. “Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install”…. so far so good… noticed that KB2976978 is sitting in Optional
(italic) in Win8.1 and KB2952664 in Win7 (italic) Optional too. Also have 17 Important unchecked…
in Win7. Had senior moment and forgot to update the Win8.1 earlier………. so did that today…… guess the new June batch will download soon!!
Thanks again for being that beacon….. Woody! LT

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Yep. Pretty much the same thing happened to me in October last year (Woody, I emailed you about it on 17th Oct). Here’s the money quote from that email:

“What has happened is that my Windows Update settings have been changed. I have always had it set to ‘Never check’, doing manual checks according to your MS-Defcon advice. Consequently I was surprised when a short while after rebooting yesterday I got a tray notification informing me that updates were ready for download and installation.”

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I don’t have “Don’t Check” as JT asks about, but there is “Never Check” in the drop down box. As far as I know, it has always been there.

iPhone 13, 2019 iMac(SSD)

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Still have all my update setting choices on my Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 x64 desktop. However, I’ve never installed any of the Windows Update patches that have been released in the past 18 months or so. Perhaps one of the updates that is supposed to speed scanning times may have changed these options?

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I installed all the important updates, including the recommended except once again hiding KB2952664, on my test Win7 machine yesterday. “Never check” is still an option and it is still set to “Check but let me decide.”

However, in the past, I could swear my settings were changed to Automatic without my knowledge a couple of times on a couple of my machines. Thought I was losing it, because I’ve never set any of mine to Automatic knowingly.

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Nothing changed here, never check has always been my preference too and it’s still active and available. For the record I installed all the May updates for Windows & Office a couple days ago, so I’m sure I’m current as of then.

Has JT tried a COLD boot yet? Sometimes they work wonders!

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Sorry I posted this in the wrong thread so here it is. 😀

I just installed the speed up patch and had to restart. No change in my update selections, still have the “never option”. W7 64.

Have a question: Should we install the malicious software tool? Haven’t seen that covered.

Thanks,

Joe K.

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still there for me – win7 64bit

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Thanks for the confirmation…

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Yes. I’ll see if I can find it. Gotta run right now.

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Question:

For those of you missing the “Never check” option in Win7 – have you been installing the “Improvements to Windows Update Client” patches? There have been numerous since mid 2015. KB3050266 (6/15), 3065987 (7/15), 3075851 (8/15), 3083324 (9/15), 3083710 (10/15), 3102810 (11/15), 3112343 (12/15), 3135445 (2/16), and 3138612 (3/16). There is a similar set for Win8/8.1

I wonder if one of those caused the changes to the Update options. And I wonder if MS is setting Win7/8 up for forced updates like Win10.

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Very good question. I’m also wondering if there’s a Group Policy setting that zaps out the option.

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The microsoft office first time use dialog:
http://stealthpuppy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Office2010Welcome.png

The first AND second option turns windows update to automatic, opts into the customer experience improvement program (aka telemetry).

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Last I heard GP can set you to an option, but not hide one.

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Yep, that’s my recollection, too. I’ve never seen that option lopped off – would be very interested to find out how it could happen…

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Hi, just to weigh in: I still have all 4 options (currently set as per your recommendation to ask me before downloading or installing and it seems to be doing so).

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No change here with Windows 7 update options on my main PC and 10 year old HP laptop – ‘Never check’ is still available even after (eventually) installing this month’s security updates earlier today.

Mind you, I haven’t installed quite a lot of the non security updates issued since Service Pack 1 and I definitely have not installed any of the Windows Update Clients which started appearing last year or any of the Malicious Software Removal Tools, W10 nag or telemetry updates.

I can’t help but think MS is has been slowly putting a little W10 ‘time bomb’ together over the past 12 months with some or all of the abovementioned updates and it might be set to ‘go off’ before the end of July in a final attempt to get as many people onto W10 before the ‘free’ upgrade offer ends.

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Win7-64 Pro here. I have installed at least the 3138612 WUC patch after the April patch day. I still have all 4 options including “Never Check” in the WU settings.

I have also installed this months updates. No problems with any other (knocking on wood).

Running GWX Control Panel in Monitor mode.

I have to admit I am concerned about the forced update issues, but I think they may go for the bundling like they did with the IE security update that included GWX adware. I installed it and saw NO adware, but then I had removed all prior GWX-type updates.

I do remember reading about the Office install resetting the WU settings, but if I remember correctly, you could still go back and rest them.

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@Joe K,

Woody has written in the past that it’s okay to run the malicious software tool.

He recommends running it each month for added safety and security.

—
(I am not an IT person and I am not offering any argument to Woody’s advice for the general population, but in my personal case, in the past half-year or so, I have not run the malicious software removal tool, and I have not run into any problems for not running it. Some reasons why I decided not to worry about it: It has never found anything suspicious for me, I subscribe to a different internet security suite with real-time (not month-lag) protection which has always done well for me, I also have other layers of protection that guard against anything unwanted being downloaded, I didn’t like their new MSRT EULAs that I seemed to be presented with frequently and required to formally agree to, I didn’t like the way that MSRT seems not to really do anything incrementally useful on my computer but take time and effort to run, and I have vague suspicions about permitting any MS information-gathering expeditions that are optional.)

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“I can’t help but think MS is has been slowly putting a little W10 ‘time bomb’ together over the past 12 months with some or all of the abovementioned updates and it might be set to ‘go off’ before the end of July”

It’s amazing how many tricks they are playing! What have they got left in their arsenal? They could really trap and torture people, and they know it.

Even if they are doing nothing illegal, they are disrespecting the spirit and intent of our business/customer relationship with them. Shady, shady, shady.

—
When I read your comment, seeing the word ‘time bomb’ for some reason conjured up in my mind an image of Churchill’s Cabinet War Rooms, underneath the ground between Whitehall and St. James’ Park.

Askwoody.com to me is like a Resistance command center, following the moves of the other side(s) and creating strategies and countermoves.

This photograph from the Imperial War Museum of a sign in the Cabinet War Rooms shows:
“These boards gave news of the weather to those working underground.
During air raids, the indicator was changed to “windy” as a joke.”
http://www.iwm.org.uk/history/a-short-history-of-the-cabinet-war-rooms#&gid=1&pid=1

…There seems to be a mighty Mistral coming from Seattle this past year!
(Mistral: “a strong, cold, northwesterly wind” in France.)

—
Since the Imperial War Museum information on the Cabinet War Rooms is so sparse and poorly-laid-out (however, they make space to prominently indicate that a single entry fee to the Rooms costs an astounding 18 pounds, which recently has been equivalent to about $30), here is the Wikipedia entry on the Cabinet War Rooms for those who are interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churchill_War_Rooms

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Hi All:
I’m running windows 7 SP1. Three people in my family,one in Bend Oregon, one in Fresno, California and myself in Riverside California have had our update options changed by Microsoft in the last two months from never check for updates to automatic. all our computers are running Windows 7, SP1 systems. My four settings are still on my computer and my never check for updates is still in force. What next.
Herb K

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When I wrote, “Since the Imperial War Museum information on the Cabinet War Rooms is so sparse and poorly-laid-out”,

I meant that their WEBSITE’S information was not very good.

I was not describing the actual, physical museum’s displays — I would recommend visiting the museum because it is informative and evocative. I think it’s nearly always presented via a guided tour, and those are good.

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Hi Again Everyone:
I came across a beautiful article which voices my sentiments about Microsoft and their deceptive antics beautifully. Here is the link.
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-unintended-consequences-windows-10-upgradegate/ Though many would share my sentiments on this Article
Herb k

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Keep calm and carry concealed

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It’s an excellent article. I don’t agree with all of the parts, but it’s well worth a read.

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Did you install Office – or change antivirus packages? Those are the two common culprits.

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I would say either
a. scan for malware
b. check what a/v program you are running

Do not check for updates should still be there.

Also Microsoft WU engine doesn’t change WU’s settings. Ever. Period. At all.

An install of Office – where you say at the end “would you like to automatically update” that will change settings. Or the install of a security suite.
But there is *always* something that has caused the change and it’s not Microsoft’s MU engine making the change.

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Perhaps Microsoft are testing the waters to see if or how users react to a change in their update settings? Ultimately, perhaps the choice will be reduced to “Always Download and Install updates” or nothing.

Add a GWX Control Panel killer as well and it’s game over, Windows 10 for All.

Perhaps fantasy… perhaps not… plenty of precedence… who would have thought a year ago that Microsoft would go to the extreme lengths to upgrade users’ W7 and W8.1 to W10.

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As Susan mentions (hi, Susan!) Windows Update itself doesn’t change anything. I know about the default getting switched, but I’ve never heard of one of the options disappearing. If this were only on one machine, I wouldn’t be too concerned. But it’s been reported on several machines.

Naw, Microsoft isn’t going to take away the Win7 update options. They just want everybody on Win10.

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All 4 options here as well (though spelled in French : please laugh) on a Win7SP1-64BIT machine.
If the “Don’t check” option appears to be missing that would be the final straw. I’m skeptical nevertheless, can’t figure out how Microsoft would have managed that.

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Me, neither. I can’t find a registry setting or Policy Editor change that would do it….

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Neither do I run the ‘Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool’ but I should; it doesn’t take long and sometimes “revelation” comes from where you’d expect it the less (deep thoughts!).

One thing I do nevertheless is to download/install it manually on Patch Tuesdays before opening Windows Updates otherwise it’ll be not only installed by WU but ran as well, taking on our precious time especially when WU is looooong to scan … but doing that could lead me to skip some nasty stuff otherwise spotted by the tool.

I’ll make it a 2017 resolution 🙂

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I have KB3138612 WUC and KB3125574 (SP2) update rollup installed on all my Win7 SP1 PCs and the “Never check for updates” option is still there for Windows Update.

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Hi Woody:
Seems as though I have used windows half my life and never had anything change by itself. I have not changed any anti virus programs, no installs of office Etc. I’m not buying all this about Microsoft updates not changing settings. All this garbage and deceiving practices started since the first part of 2015. This is a no BRAINER, the writing is on the wall.People are not stupid and not all are ignorant about computers, as this company seems to think. There comes a time in life when we all must stand up and call it like it is.All the trust I had in this company has vanished. My settings have changed three times as well as two other individuals computers I know of?????????? None of us has done anything new. Only thing we all did is installed GWX Control Panel.I would not recommend the products of this company to a fly.
Herb K

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Just a non-pro 8.1 user here, but is it possible that the people experiencing this picked it up via their anti-virus program or some other Microsoft friendly app? I had to go into my anti-virus program’s setting and explicitly turn off the setting for Microsoft updates, plus Dell was also trying to sneak things in. I deleted the Dell store, which seemed to take care of that problem.

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I haven’t changed AV program (using MSE for many years), haven’t installed a new version of Office, have scanned for malware (Malwarebytes – clean), have disabled everything to do with upgrading to Windows 10 using GWX Control Panel.

My wife’s computer, identical to mine, hasn’t been ‘hit’ – YET!

If someone can tell me how to upload the screenshots from both my computer and my wife’s computer, with the two different sets of Windows Update options, I’ll do so.

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Just email them to me – woody@askwoody.com.

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By “this company,” I assume you mean Microsoft?

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Woody:
Absolutely. The damage they are doing to themselves may never be reversable. I had confidence and respect in a great company ( Microsoft ) all through my life, but something to always remember, RESPECT IS SOMETHING YOU EARN NOT BUY, OR JUST OBTAIN BECAUSE OF WHO YOU ARE. And THROUGH YOUR ACTIONS CAN BE EASILY LOST.
Herb K

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Thank you.

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Here’s a screen cap from just a minute ago on my Win-7/64 SP-1 system:

Well, I’ve tried three times and can’t paste the screen shot – my bad. Anyway, I still have the “Never check for updates” option available. My choice has always been “check for updates but let me choose to download/install”.

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The screen shot clearly shows “Some settings are managed by your system administrator” which would imply a Group Policy setting is active.

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@Woody,

Does the top setting, “some settings are managed by your system administrator” have anything to do with the missing drop down menu item, “never check”?

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That’s generally an indication that Group Policy has been used – but I’ll be hanged if I can find the Group Policy setting…

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Yep, exactly. But which?

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As far as I know, WordPress doesn’t let you paste screen shots into comments. I can do it on the main posts, though – you can always email me, woody@askwoody.com

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All Group Policies for Windows Update are under Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Windows Update.
There are few other related policies, one which controls drivers update behaviour and another which controls internet communication globally, but let’s not get into too much detail.
I think the only relevant one here is Configure Automatic Updates, but even so, while it can enforce a certain configuration, it would normally grey out the setting, but not remove one of the options.
I tried monitoring with Process Monitor, but the drop down box seems to be hard coded in the binaries and not set somewhere in the registry.
Very weird, but there are references to this bug to call it so dating back in 2013. We are not told how it was fixed or if it was fixed.

I would suggest deleting the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionWindowsUpdate and restart the computer, or at least Windows Update service twice. The key would be recreated with default configuration which is non-configured, waiting for the user to configure it one way or another. If this seems too risky, then maybe it should be left alone.

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I think you are on the right track, but there is no explanation for this behaviour, or at least not known yet. See my other detailed reply about a possible fix.

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@louis is right, it is about a setting in Group Policy.

The setting Configure Automatic Updates is set on 5 – Allow local admin to choose setting.
This is equivalent with the registry value HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindowsWindowsUpdateAUAUOptions set to 5.

Which means that something else or the user configured the registry or the Group Policy.

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Could this have anything to do with the Group Policy not working b/c of KB3159398 installation?

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Unlikely, unless he’s attached to a domain, but … hmmm …

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So “Allow local admin to choose setting” disables the “Never check for updates” option?

If so, you found the problem.

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Yes it does. I didn’t know it until now as I have never used that option which I think it does not make much sense. Why does allowing the local admin need to be set in a policy?!
All the other options set one configuration or the other and grey out the user configuration and they make full sense.

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Yep. You nailed it. Congrats! And…. weird….

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Considering the tactics MS is using these days, cynic that I am, I would not be surprised if they sneak in something that leaves the Automatic Updates panel and page alone, with all the tick boxes and such, but in the background over ride that page and do automatic updates, without notification or user control.

sighhh…..

I was looking around on the net to see if MS was doing this sort of crap to Vista/Server 2008 systems, as well as looking at Vista update KBs….and cannot find any evidence they are…so far…but one comment did catch my eye…essentially this:

“MS and GWX…I finally have a reason to love Vista!”

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The question now is if JT himself (or someone he knows) changed something in the registry or in Group Policy to disable the never check option, or if someone else (Microsoft? hackers?) somehow made the change to his computer without JT’s knowledge or authorization.
Hope JT sees this to fill us in.

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Feeling more than a little embarrassed because late last night I suddenly remembered something that could be relevant to this discussion, and I *think* it may be the answer to what caused the problem.

I’d never used Windows Update MiniTool until a couple of days before I noticed the change in Windows Update, but I did run it then (version 12.05.2016) – only on my computer – after reading about it, just to see all the updates that were installed on my computer. Didn’t make any changes to anything though; well, not intentionally at least.

This would fit with the fact that the Windows Update settings changed on my computer, but not on my wife’s, which is otherwise identical to mine.

So following on from what ch100 said, could it be possible that Windows Update MiniTool, intentionally or otherwise, reconfigured the registry or the Group Policy.

Assuming I understand what’s been said in the most recent posts, does this mean it should be possible for me to reverse the change either by editing Group Policy or deleting the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionWindowsUpdate?

If so, would someone be kind enough to give me a clear set of instructions as to what the best course of action is.

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I hope so, too.

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Yes, WU MiniTool changes the settings.
Best course of action.
Launch WU MiniTool.
Under Automatic Updates drop down box, configure Automatically instead of Managed by Administrator. It is that simple.
Automatically means for WU MiniTool using the Windows Update configuration.

I expected one of the existing tweakers to have modified your configuration without you knowing.
Good to have this resolved.
Please confirm or ask for further advice if not resolved.

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Thank you so much ch100, you’re right on the money. All back to normal, he says with a sigh of relief.

And, as you said, it is that simple! If you know what to do, of course. 🙂

Confirmed – resolved, and thanks again.

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Woody,
If the issue has been solved and it’s not something most of us will encounter, would you mind updating your main blog post to say that it was discovered that this is not something that is being rolled out by MS? –Just to save people time, so they don’t have to read all the comments before seeing that it was not the fault of MS.

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Good point. Done.

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