Blocking Windows 10 Upgrade

Hey all,

So I've gone as far as disabling Windows Update, Windows Installer, and turning off everything that is dependent upon for Windows Update to occur, even to the point of blocking all known addresses on the Sonicwalls to block Windows 10 from forcing itself onto my Windows 7 machine. But all these servcies magically turning themselves on each day I turn on my PC is beyond annoying.

I really like Windows 7 and I just have no desire to go to 10, has anyone figured out how to seriously prevent Windows 10 from upgrading. I swear Microsft didn't learn with the Windows 8 failure so now they think consumer will love it when they go to bed and poof there PC upgraded to Windows 10 and ooo wait look a BSOD....

I swear I'd like to take a bat to the CEO of Microsoft's head and smack him over his noggen!

We all know the real reason why they are forcing Windows 10, becasue of the spyware on the OS, not because "were worried about 10 year old OS's" but becasue they want everything to be connected to the Microsoft cloud, it's just annoying.

But I digress...

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Comments

scaredoftests

I feel the same way and have done the same things you have done. It is a major turnoff. I love 7 (and I loved XP).

UncleB

Have you tried the Microsoft recommended way to block it:

To block the upgrade to Windows 10 through Windows Update, specify the following registry value:

Subkey: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate
DWORD value: DisableOSUpgrade = 1

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3080351
It took a few seconds to find this with a Google search so just wondered if you tried the blindingly obvious.

thanks
Iain

Deathmage

Indeed, but somehow Microsoft has a hidden command that re-enables all of the services by themselves...makes you realize big brother is really capable of these thing we all just forget about, but still it's annoying.

Danielm7

You know the features you're concerned about are likely in your Win7 install already now?

tedjames

I downloaded and installed GWX Control Panel. Worked like a charm.

Go to GWX Control Panel 1.7.2.0 Download - TechSpot

Click the Download Now icon with the down arrow beside it.

It'll take you to another page. DO NOT click the Start Download button. You should receive an automatic popup to download the GWX_control_panel.exe file.

Run the executable.

GSXR750K2

An alternative to Ted's option...

We've had good luck with this. KB3035583 is the GWX "update", and it doesn't show up in WSUS for install or removal, so MS is pushing it out through some other means. We started getting calls from people asking if it was spam, and while I use Win10 for personal and business use, I jokingly replied yes since it was unsolicited.

Unleashing this command on the network removed it and we haven't had a reoccurrence of the nagware or any unintended upgrades (of course, domain machines may be exempted from the auto-upgrade, not 100% sure).

wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:3035583 /quiet /norestart

Alternatively you can go through your installed updates list and remove it that way.

Deathmage

tedjames wrote: »

I downloaded and installed GWX Control Panel. Worked like a charm.

Go to GWX Control Panel 1.7.2.0 Download - TechSpot

Click the Download Now icon with the down arrow beside it.

It'll take you to another page. DO NOT click the Start Download button. You should receive an automatic popup to download the GWX_control_panel.exe file.

Run the executable.

Sweet, great find!!!

GSXR750K2 wrote: »

An alternative to Ted's option...

We've had good luck with this. KB3035583 is the GWX "update", and it doesn't show up in WSUS for install or removal, so MS is pushing it out through some other means. We started getting calls from people asking if it was spam, and while I use Win10 for personal and business use, I jokingly replied yes since it was unsolicited.

Unleashing this command on the network removed it and we haven't had a reoccurrence of the nagware or any unintended upgrades (of course, domain machines may be exempted from the auto-upgrade, not 100% sure).

wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:3035583 /quiet /norestart

Alternatively you can go through your installed updates list and remove it that way.

May need to do this command, since the kb3035583 doesn't show up on my PC, but the pesky little thing still nags me and sometimes if I'm not looking my PC will randomly reboot and I'm like no way in hell F*cker! ... and I press the power button and load back into Windows and delete the softwaredistribuation folder...

GSXR750K2

As an afterthought, I remember hearing that there is another update that was related to this mess, but I personally haven't seen it in action.

I'd remove the "/quiet /norestart" since it's on your personal machine. Doing so will tell you for sure if the patch is or is not there. We added it just to keep from freaking users out, then on the next restart it will finish its cleanup.

techfiend

If you disable recommended updates you won't get any nagware.

NOC-Ninja

i always try to make sure i dont click it. LOL

Dollarhyde

UncleB wrote: »

Have you tried the Microsoft recommended way to block it:

To block the upgrade to Windows 10 through Windows Update, specify the following registry value:

Subkey: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate
DWORD value: DisableOSUpgrade = 1
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3080351
It took a few seconds to find this with a Google search so just wondered if you tried the blindingly obvious.

thanks
Iain

Deathmage,

Follow Iain's steps and then go to windows update and in the left corner go to installed updates and find KB3035583, you might have to let it load and then search for it, I recommend looking for it manually, as it might not show up immediately.

Then Uninstall it and restart the system. Go again to windows updates, check for updates, some should show up, go to see which ones are there, right click on the KB3035583 and go hide.

If that does not fix it go to regedit and find
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Gwx You will have to probably create gwx key and create a 32 bit DWORD value named DisableGwx, and give it a value of 1.

That will fix it.

DPG

Just make some DNS changes to disallow connections to Microsoft's update servers similar to how some malware handles it.

cycleking

Dollarhyde wrote: »

Deathmage,

Then Uninstall it and restart the system. Go again to windows updates, check for updates, some should show up, go to see which ones are there, right click on the KB3035583 and go hide.

That will fix it.

^ That is exactly what I did, fixed it no problem.

fmitawaps

If update numbers 3035583, 3021917, and 2952664 are already on your 7 machine, uninstall them, restart the pc, let it run a search for updates, and when they come back, uncheck them and right click to hide them.

I refuse to allow 10 on my PCs, they all run 7. I am not "upgrading" any time soon.

TechGromit

fmitawaps wrote: »

I refuse to allow 10 on my PCs, they all run 7. I am not "upgrading" any time soon.

I agree, I'm not a fan of there new pricing model they are trying to push, you rent the software from us, it's a push to get a steady stream of income for Microsoft. I'm sure people think free Windows 10 great, but just wait a few years when they force pay rent for all your software and there no way to downgrade to Windows 7/8.

Honestly I feel people will be in for a rude awaking when Microsoft starts charging, currently Office 365, Personal package, is $6.99 a month or $69.99 for a year. That seems like a lot of money for someone like me that is still using Office 2003, face it, there hasn't been any significant improvements on Word or Excel since 2003, yes they moved the menu bar around, added some new features that 95% of users never use, at it's core Word 2003 and Excel 2003 still perform the same core functions as Word 2013 and Excel 2013 do today, if I had to pay $70 a year to use Office 2003 since I purchase it, your taking over $800 as of today.

If such a price structure become the norm for software, what would it cost you a year to run your computer? $70 a year for office, another $70 a year for windows, say $40 a year for anti-virus, $20 a year for CD burning software, etc, the by the time the list is totaled up, it could be a considerable amount a year. Linux here I come.

Iristheangel

The signs point to them NOT charging for Windows in the future. There's a pretty good article on it on PC World:
Future Windows 10 support won't come with sneaky charges, Microsoft clarifies | PCWorld

If you check the terms they quote, they really include in there that they will not charge for future updates and upgrades for the life of the device.

How to Geek has another good article on how MS plans on making money:
No, Windows 10 Won

For the other costs (Office, AV, CD Burning Software, etc), there's plenty of freeware versions that run on Windows out there that can do the same job. I think most AV companies out there have a free version, CD burning seems to be pretty outdated but there are free options, and Office is very useful for most corp gigs but there are free solutions like OpenOffice, GoogleDocs, etc that can get similar jobs done.

Deathmage

cycleking wrote: »

^ That is exactly what I did, fixed it no problem.

I just used the GWX program above, no issues for a week. Love it.

As for uninstalling it, I've stripped out my PC of so much Microsoft bloat that the previously downloaded updates don't show up. Might have been from a registry purge I did a few months back. Shrank the registry hive by 6 MB's, windows 7 boots in under 5 seconds on a Samsung Evo SSD.

I love tinkwring with Windows 7 and 2008/2012 registry until it blows up then I just revert from an Acronis or Veeam backup.

But thanks again for the GWX!!

thomas_

currently Office 365, Personal package, is $6.99 a month or $69.99 for a year.

I used Office365 when I was away from home after I had installed Windows 8.1, but forgot to install office 2010 and my installation CDs were a few thousand miles away. I used Office 365 for about 3 weeks and then canceled my subscription. I'm still able to go in and use it. The only glaring obvious thing is a nag at the top telling me that my subscription is expired and I should consider renewing. I also probably don't receive product updates for it. I don't think I go as far as disabling features since I'm not an office power user and haven't explored to see if they have disabled anything. It's been about 8 months since I've canceled my subscription. I do believe you can outright buy a license and not have to pay anything on a monthly or yearly basis. You have to dig for it on their website, but it is still there.

I've been waiting to be auto "upgraded" to 10. I've been updating my machine, but it hasn't been upgraded yet. I install all of the critical and recommended updates, so maybe they just don't want to upgrade my laptop since it's 8 years old? I'll probably end up buying a Windows 10 license and installing it on my laptop just to see if Windows 10 can actually fix some of the function keys that windows 8.1 broke(laptop was originally vista and I went straight from vista -> windows 8.1.) I was pretty amused when I installed Ubuntu temporarily on my laptop afterwards to find out that all of my function keys worked perfectly.

I've been thinking about just making Linux my daily driver and putting my windows installs into virtual machines on my laptop. There are still windows based programs I need access to that haven't been ported to Linux.

thomas_

Windows finally forced me to take action. The Windows 10 update notification every once in a while would pop up and I would select the Do Not Install option. Tonight, it popped up and did not give me an option to not install Windows 10. It was either install now or schedule the install date.

I ended up having to uninstall the update that everyone mentioned and hiding it. I tried to go the regedit route, but I couldn't find the WindowsUpdate folder in the Windows folder to create the DisableOSUpgrade entry.

Dollarhyde

Based on what I have said on my post you should find:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Gwx

If there is no "folder" Gwx just create it and there create a 32-bit DWORD DisableGwx

tedjames

I installed GWX Control Panel on my home Windows 7 box over a month ago and have not seen any kind of popups or notifications regarding updating to Windows 10 since. However, a couple of weeks ago, I set up a refurbished HP with Windows 8.1 (came preinstalled on the box) at home as a lab computer. Immediately, I started getting those annoying popups, but I always had an option to cancel. I figured I would wait and see what happens. I'm working primarily on VirtualBox on that machine, anyway. On Saturday, I booted up and got the same popup that Thomas mentioned. It stated that my computer would be upgrading to Windows 10 within a couple of hours. Sure enough, it did (in the middle of a VirtualBox session, dangit!). Everything stopped and the Windows 10 update took control. It was one of those, "Attention all planets of the Solar Federation. We have assumed control," moments. It was still updating at the time I was ready for bed, so I just let it go. When I got up on Sunday, I saw that it had finished. So I went through the finalization process.

It's like what I've read elsewhere. Windows 10 looks a lot like a combination of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. On the surface, Windows 10 is much cleaner and easier to use than Windows 8.1. If you do end up installing Windows 10 (or 8.1 for that matter), be very careful about the options you choose when finalizing the installation. DO NOT accept the default (i.e., express) settings. They're all set to notify Microsoft of every little thing your computer does. Unless you don't care about such things, turn all of these off. At the end, it will ask you about using their four new apps, which also phone home. Make sure you turn those off.

I have read that whenever they send updates, it resets all of those settings. Don't know if it's true, but I recommend confirming that when you get an update just to be safe.

Plantwiz

I too am holding out on the 'free' upgrade. I loved 7, and find 8.1 fine. Was considering ghosting the drive and letting it upgrade to see if I liked it and if I did not, merely throw my old drive back in. Just real hesitant about this upgrade, it feels forced. Aside from all that, I hate that I have to disable all the fluff and social media crap that MS assumes EVERYONE wants.

We have a couple months left before the 'free' part ends, so I'll keep waiting it out for now.

tedjames

You may consider buying a cheap used laptop or desktop and letting it upgrade to W10 just to see what happens. In Austin, we have Discount Electronics where you can buy $99 refurbished PCs. They're not great machines, but a box like this wouldn't be that big of a loss if something went wrong. I'm planning to put together a "throwaway" box that I can experiment with. https://www.discountelectronics.com/

wd40

I moved from Windows 8 to Windows 10 in January.

So far it have been really good, I really like the way it handles multiple monitors.

apr911

I've been using Windows 10 as my primary driver since shortly after its release. I had my Surface Pro 3 running on it since the Technical Preview/Release Candidate because I disliked Windows 8/8.1 so much. I have since moved my daily use laptop back to the technical preview because I wanted to play with Bash on Windows (which is scheduled for mainstream release later this year and while not perfect, is pretty friggin awesome!).

There are plenty of things I dont like about Windows 10 but they are mostly things that are holdovers from Windows 8. About the only thing I dislike about Windows 10 that is specific to Windows 10 is Microsoft's attempt to keep .NET Passport relevant by wanting to have a Microsoft Account associated with everything and the ability to allow cross talk between Apps; its all designed to provide a seamless user experience but I keep my accounts separated intentionally and dislike the idea of anyone who manages to crack my .NET Passport account having access to everything else just by associating a Windows 10 computer with it. Granted, its not like they have complete access/control but enough that I am leery of it.

That being said, I use Windows 10 Pro to avoid being required to use .NET and I just avoid using the MS built-in utilities and use my web browser or the vendor-specific app to connect to social media and cloud services. The whole MSFT Account thing has a similar feel to me as OSX keychain and other password "wallets" that provide seamless authentication to popular cloud services and its my guess that it's MSFT's attempt to replicate these popular featues but other wallets are superior to Microsoft's in my opinion because they are stored locally. A person would need to have access to my PC long enough to clone it or crack the password to get access to my wallet and its associated passwords and since I can see the logs and monitor my PC myself, I am comfortable with the idea that I'd be able to identify myself if there was even the slightest chance my master password had been compromised and could subsequently change all my other passwords whereas the Microsoft way, I am reliant on Microsoft telling me there was a possible breach.

Then again, I know plenty of people who use keepass and place their encrypted keepass database on a publicly accessible website or cloud drive like google drive or one drive or apple... It allows them to have all their passwords on any of their devices and provide the seamless user experience but it risks someone bruteforcing the file without their knowledge. I suppose a strong master password with a strong account password rotation policy (which can be set in keepass) limits the potential someone will crack the master password quick enough to utilize your passwords but the idea makes me uncomfortable.

Windows 10 Privacy concerns as it turns out were/are largely overblown. You can disable most of the telemetry reporting and what you cant seems to be about the same amount of information that gets sent to MSFT on Windows 7/8/8.1 based on the network captures I did some time ago.

SaSkiller

Deathmage, the simple answer for now, only install security updates. I don't install non-security updates, i've never gotten any upgrade requests for Windows 10, no pop-ups, anything. Eventually they will probably list it as a recommended update, but when that happens I will right click and hide it.

hiddenknight821

Was waiting for someone to post this:

Microsoft Confirms 'Free' Windows 10 Will Become Expensive

apr911

MSFT has never said it would always be free to upgrade. In fact, it was pretty well established at launch last year that the "free upgrade" was going to be a 12 month offer which we are coming up on 12 months.

That being said, I wouldnt be surprised if MSFT extends it for all the reasons the author noted but also because MSFT is planning to release a pretty massive and anticipated update for the 1 year anniversary and I wouldn't be surprised if some hold outs decide they want those new features (again can I say bash on windows and native ssh? or the one that has been around since the original launch multiple virtual desktops...)

Iristheangel

I'm just going to put this here...

12993530_1241603415867136_4090414022522236510_n.jpg

kohr-ah

I love how many billboards and what not around Chicago I've seen prompt that. Makes me smile every time.