Windows 11: how to block the upgrade and why

Blocking the upgrade to Windows 11 is possible and, in some cases, even advisable, but there are limits and a very precise procedure

Windows 11 has been available since October 5 and will be offered gradually to all Windows 10 users with a PC compatible with the minimum requirements, which are higher than those of Windows 10 and, consequently, not all users of Microsoft’s old operating system will be able to install the new one. But, on the other hand, not everyone will want to do so or, at least, not right away. The doubt between upgrading or not upgrading, in fact, is much more widespread than people think.

And it is also justified, since in recent years many Windows 10 “major updates” have brought, initially, several bugs and problems to users who installed them. If a Windows 10 upgrade isn’t always painless, then, how can you be sure that a much bigger transition, like the one from Windows 10 to Windows 11, will be? Legitimate doubts, then, that make many users inclined towards waiting: wait a few weeks before updating, so as to be sure that the update does not create problems or, if it does, that Microsoft will solve them. The update to Windows 11, however, takes place exactly like those of Windows 10, that is, through Windows Update, in an automatic way. How to stop everything and postpone the update to Windows 11? Here’s how to do it, in a simple way.

How to block Windows Update

Windows 11 arrives via Windows Update, so it is on this Microsoft operating system utility that you have to act to postpone the update. To do this you need to go to Settings > Update & Security > Suspend updates for 7 days.

Each Windows update, in this way, will be postponed for 7 days. You will be able to postpone the updates for a maximum of 5 times, so for 35 days in total, after which you will be required to install the updates.

Some users have managed to overcome this limit, once the 35 days have passed, by completely disconnecting the PC from the Internet and reactivating the updates: no updates are downloaded, of course, but the timer starts again from zero.

Security Updates

We’ve always advised you to keep your operating system up to date, because Microsoft is constantly releasing security updates that fix serious and dangerous bugs. Luckily, even if you block Windows Update for 35 days, security updates are still downloaded: with this method, in fact, we can only stop the so-called “quality updates”, that is, updates of additional and non-essential Windows 10 features.