Nobody seems to want to upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11. Now late 2022, only about 15% of users have upgraded or bought machines with Windows 11 – despite it being out for well over a year. Even the Steam Hardware Survey indicates a 28% install rate on some of the newest/highest end gaming systems.

There’s a whole host of gripes about Windows 11. There have been performance and compatibility issues that are not present on Windows 10. Others greatly dislike the UI changes (this is my big gripe). Still others mention being told their hardware is incompatible. However, you may, like many others, find yourself FORCED to upgrade to Windows 11 whether you want to or not. Windows has a nasty habit of pushing such upgrades without asking.

If you want to make sure you don’t get a Windows 11 upgrade but still keep getting Windows 10 updates, you can try this trick:

First, navigate to Windows Update, then hit Pause Updates on that page.

Run services.msc, find the Windows Update service and Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS), right click on them and pick Stop.

Next, browse to C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\, and delete the contents.

That is it. The two services will eventually restart on their own, and next time it checks for updates it will only get Windows 10 updates.

Edit – If you want an extra layer of assurance, run the tool InControl from GRC, this free utility changes a few Microsoft sanctioned registry keys to specify what version and feature update of Windows you want to remain on. There are also details on those registry keys for those that would rather manually configure it themselves: https://www.grc.com/incontrol.htm

Links:

• https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/zo1lsp/im_guessing_this_means_the_next_time_i_restart_it/
• Other methods: https://www.howtogeek.com/765377/how-to-block-the-windows-11-update-from-installing-on-windows-10/