Win10 Creators Update installing now even though I postponed it

Question

A couple of months ago, I opted to defer “feature updates” on our two Windows 10 machines, so both have remained at version 1607 (Anniversary Update) while continuing to receive critical security patches.

Today, I saw that a “Feature update to Windows 10, version 1703” was downloading on both machines, so I guess the deferment has expired. You’ll remember that version 1703 is the dreaded Creators Update that poses a problem for Paratext and FLEx.

I quickly made a system restore point for both systems in hopes that I’ll be able to return to v. 1607 after the update is completed.

Once we’ve identified this specific update, I think there’s a way to block it, which I plan to do.

Answer 1

Yeah, you’re right. I’ve just reverted one of the machines to v. 1607. I don’t see any indication that selecting the “defer updates” option will let me renew the postponement. As a workaround, I’m setting my Internet connection to “metered” to forestall updates. I suppose that leaves me exposed to security problems, but I can’t think of another solution right now.

I had been hoping that this update to v. 1703 would be easy to “hide” (i.e., instruct Windows to ignore), but there were so many updates in this huge package that I don’t think that would be possible. So reversion was the only option.

Resistance is futile.

Maybe someone else out there has a workaround.

I’m really glad a fix is coming (soon?). I’m already using an Insiders Preview version (build 16251) on another machine, and, as has been reported on this forum, the FLEx problem is apparently gone. I haven’t tested fully for the Paratext slowdown problem.

FWIW, the .NET version on that Insider Preview build is 4.7.02531.

Comments

Update: resistance may be possible, after all.

Someone on the FLEx group wrote to tell me about what appears to be a Microsoft utility that will let you block unwanted updates. It even works for massive versions update like this one.

The utility is linked and described here:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3073930/how-to-temporarily-prevent-a-driver-update-from-reinstalling-in-window?utm_source=twitter%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter

The utility is a file named wushowhide.diagcab. The link is toward the bottom of the page beside a download icon labeled '“Download the show or hide updates” troubleshooter package now’.

Since this is evidently a Microsoft-produced utility, I decided to try it. It seems to work. To get the update to be discovered by the utility, I had to let Windows Update search for updates and then stop the process before it got very far.

NOTE: Use at your own risk. I don’t know if this technique is approved by the Paratext folks. I’m a lowly end-user, not an IT guy. Also, I maintain good system backups in case I mess things up.

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I think the link https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3183922/how-to-temporarily-prevent-a-windows-update-from-reinstalling-in-windo is more relevant here.

Answer 2

I wouldn’t do a system restore. If it operates like it did on old versions (I’ve never actually done one on Windows 10), then it will probably forget about the downloading of the Creators Update, assume it’s time to do it, and just start the process again.

Instead I’d go to Start–>Settings–>Update & Security–>Recovery–>Go Back to the previous version of Windows 10–>Get Started.
From there it should be intuitive, though I can’t check it without actually running through it on my machine.

Comments

Yes, I did that recently after the new version was installed. It took a
long time to install the new version, but it was quick to go back to the
previous version. I consider that the simplest method for Windows 10 at the
moment.