Tip: Get the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update on Your Own Schedule
- Paul Thurrott
- Oct 17, 2017
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The Windows 10 Fall Creators Update is now available. But what if you wish to hold off a bit?
As with previous major upgrades, there are good reasons to hold off: Microsoft’s track record isn’t that great, quality-wise. (That said, the previous version, the Creators Update, rolled out, if slowly, with little drama.)
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When it comes to deploying the Fall Creators Update, Microsoft is again using a phased rollout strategy in which “known-good” PC configurations will get the update first. Over time, that list of known-good configurations will expand as more and more people out in the real world install the update and expand Microsoft’s understanding of what works and what doesn’t. If this goes as planned, the upgrade will go out to more and more people over a three or four months and then be deployed as completely as is possible.
You can, of course, get the Fall Creators Update as soon as possible by manually upgrading with the Upgrade Assistant or downloading the ISO. But many will want to hold off on this major update instead.
Fortunately, you can do so. How you do so will depend on which Windows 10 product edition you’re using.
Windows 10 Pro
As you may know, Microsoft lets Windows 10 Pro users defer feature updates like the Fall Creators Update for up to one year. (You can likewise defer monthly quality updates for only one month, because they always include security fixes.)
To do so, navigate to Settings > Update & security > Windows Update and select the link “Advanced options.” The Advanced options page appears.
Note: This has changed a lot since the previous release.
To defer the Fall Creators Update to a later date, open the drop-down under “A feature update includes new capabilities and improvements. It can be deferred for this many days:” and select the number of days, from 1 to 365.
Note: Alternatively, you can pause all updates for up to 35 days. This actually isn’t a bad approach for the Fall Creators Update, since that should be enough time to know if this update is a dog.
Windows 10 Home
Windows 10 Home does not include the ability to defer updates, so you’ll need to get a bit creative.
The obvious approach is to configure your network as a metered connection, which will indicate to Microsoft that it should not deliver updates because you are ostensibly paying for your bandwidth. (You can imagine that the ~4 GB needed to install the Fall Creators Update could rack up some big bills for users such connections.)
This workaround isn’t ideal, for sure. It doesn’t work (easily) with wired Ethernet connections. And you won’t get security updates either. But you should be OK for a month or two, and if you are serious about delaying the Fal Creators Update, this workaround will do the trick.
To configure your network connection as a metered connection, navigate to Settings > Network & Internet > Wi-Fi. Then, select your currently-connected network. On the page that appears, change the option “Set as metered connection” to On.
Be sure to change this back to “Off” in 30 or 60 days, of course.
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