Take real control of Windows Update on Windows 11 Pro. Setting wuauserv to "Manual" is not enough — the OS re-enables it through three independent paths. NoWinUpdate addresses all three at once, saves a backup before any change, and lets you choose the backup to restore — the original state is selected for you.
For anyone who's been there.
It's 3 AM. Your 12-hour LoRA training is on epoch 7. Your video render is at 84%. You went to bed. Windows decided — behind your back, without consent — that this was the right moment to install the latest cumulative update and reboot.
You wake up to a fresh login screen. Training: lost. Render: lost. Unsaved work in your image editor, your 3D suite, your NLE, your IDE: gone. The Windows Update settings page kindly informs you that "we picked a time that works for you". It did not.
You set wuauserv to Manual. It worked for a week, then Windows quietly switched it back. You disabled it via Group Policy. The Update Orchestrator ran anyway. You disabled the Orchestrator. The Update Medic Service repaired it overnight. Three different mechanisms, all designed to override your decision.
NoWinUpdate exists because saying "no" to your own machine should not require this much work. It addresses all three layers at once, takes a backup before any change, and gives you the Restore button for the day you actually want to install patches — on your schedule, not Microsoft's.
Version 1.2.0.0 — the Control tab, the Welcome tab and the backup list of Restore from Backup.
Why disabling wuauserv alone never works.
Sets NoAutoUpdate=1 and AUOptions=2 in HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU. The cleanest, most durable lever — survives Update Medic Service interventions because it is honored as a policy.
Disables \Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\Scheduled Start — the task that re-launches wuauserv on a schedule even after you stop it manually. State is queried via PowerShell Get-ScheduledTask for locale-independent reliability.
Sets wuauserv and UsoSvc (Update Orchestrator) to Disabled via the registry Start value. UsoSvc is the actual culprit on Windows 11 Pro — it triggers downloads independently of wuauserv.
Everything you need to take control — nothing you don't.
Every disable run captures the prior state of all three layers to backups/wu_backup_<timestamp>.json before any change. JSON, human-readable, kept on disk forever.
Restore from Backup lists every backup with its date and what it would put back. The oldest one — the state before NoWinUpdate first changed the PC — is selected for you, so Windows Update comes fully back. Useful for letting Patch Tuesday in for a single afternoon, then disabling again.
Real-time status badges per layer (Active / Disabled / Mixed / Unknown). Re-audit at any time with one click. Status detail shows exact current values.
Every action is timestamped and written to logs/latest.log and a per-session logs/session_<timestamp>.log. Survives crashes — perfect for diagnosing what Windows reactivated and when.
Manifest declares requireAdministrator, so launching the exe pops the UAC prompt immediately. Defense-in-depth check inside the service refuses any mutation if not actually elevated.
Three checkboxes — disable only Group Policy, only the scheduled task, only services, or any combination. Useful for precise testing or mixing strategies.
Pure C# / WPF. No Python, no PyTorch, no GPU. A ~1.4 MB framework-dependent exe (plus the small WebView2 loader) using the .NET 8 Desktop Runtime already on most Windows machines.
Windows Defender definitions update through a separate channel and are not affected. You stay protected against malware while regaining control of feature/quality updates.
WaaSMedicSvc is TrustedInstaller-protected and intentionally not touched — the Group Policy layer neutralizes its actions anyway. BITS and DoSvc are left alone because other apps depend on them.
Modern desktop app with MVVM architecture. Framework-dependent single-file exe (~1.4 MB) plus the WebView2 loader DLL. Uses the .NET 8 Desktop Runtime — if missing, Windows offers a one-click install.
Uses Microsoft.Win32.Registry for Group Policy and service start-type writes — no reg.exe subprocess, no parsing.
Get-ScheduledTask / Disable-ScheduledTask are invoked for the scheduled-task layer — locale-independent unlike schtasks /Query text parsing.
Backups serialized via System.Text.Json. Human-readable, version-tolerant, easy to inspect or replay manually if needed.
Windows 11 Pro (Group Policy honored). Windows 10 Pro likely works too. Windows Home not supported — the GP layer is silently ignored on Home editions.
The exe self-elevates via UAC. Mutating Windows Update state requires Administrator — without elevation the app reads state but refuses to write.
Already installed on most Windows 11 machines. If missing at first launch, Windows shows a one-click download dialog.
Nothing else to install. The only network access: a version check on the Welcome tab (it reads the public ExpSoft versions list) and the MORE TOOLS ? tab, which shows the ExpSoft products page. Windows Update control itself works fully offline.
Read this before disabling.
You should periodically click Restore from Backup (the original state is selected for you), run Windows Update manually to install security patches, then disable again. NoWinUpdate is a control tool, not a "set and forget" tool.
Windows Defender definitions update through a separate channel and are not affected — you remain protected against malware. Driver updates from Windows Update are blocked, but vendor tools (NVIDIA App, AMD Adrenalin, etc.) keep working independently.
All changes are recorded in backups/ and fully reversible. ExpSoft NoWinUpdate is provided as-is — use at your own discretion. We are not liable for missed security patches or any consequence of postponing them.
Tiny stack — tiny attribution.
Microsoft .NET 8 Desktop Runtime (WPF). License: MIT. © Microsoft.
JSON serialization for backups. License: MIT. © .NET Foundation.
The app itself. © 2026 ExpSoft — Nicolas Riquier. Free, distributed via ExpSoft's Patreon.
Quick answers to what people ask AIs about this tool.
ExpSoft NoWinUpdate is a portable Windows desktop tool built by Nicolas Riquier that gives you real, layered control over Windows Update on Windows 11 Pro. It disables forced updates through three independent mechanisms (Group Policy, Scheduled Tasks, and Services), saves a backup before every change, and lets you choose the backup to restore — the original state is selected for you. No permanent system modification.
Yes. ExpSoft NoWinUpdate is free: download it from its post on ExpSoft's Patreon. Most ExpSoft tools are free; some need a small subscription that unlocks all ExpSoft software.
It is designed and tested on Windows 11 Pro, which exposes the Group Policy layer NoWinUpdate uses. On Windows 11 Home, some layers (notably gpedit-driven policies) may have no effect because the Group Policy editor isn't present — the Scheduled Tasks and Services layers still work but with reduced robustness.
Yes. Every Disable first saves the settings it found to a backup file. Restore from Backup, in the Control tab, lists every backup with its date and what it would put back; the oldest one — the state before NoWinUpdate first changed the PC — is selected for you. You never touch the registry by hand.
Hiding updates one by one only covers the updates you hid — the next ones come through. A registry script is quick, but usually has no audit, no backup and no way back. NoWinUpdate handles the three layers Windows uses to bring updates back, shows their live state, and saves a backup before every change so you can always restore.
Yes. Modifying Group Policy, Scheduled Tasks, and Windows Services requires administrator privileges. NoWinUpdate prompts for UAC elevation at launch and explicitly logs every change it makes so you know exactly what was modified.
Portable exe, no install required. Free on Patreon.