cgthamm Posted April 4, 2016 Report Share Posted April 4, 2016 (edited) A substantial number of my clients have gotten sick and tired of Microsoft's constant nagging (and, as of late, pushing) them to upgrade Windows 10. So I've done some reading, and here's a safe way to get rid of the Get Windows 10 nonsense Microsoft is pushing to your PC via Windows Update. NOTE: These instructions apply to Windows 8.1. Step 1: Disable the upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows Update and the Get Windows 10 notification icon by creating entries in the Registry Copy the following lines (everything between the dashes; do not include the dashes) into Notepad: ----- Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Gwx] "DisableGwx"=dword:00000001 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate] "DisableOSUpgrade"=dword:00000001 ------ Save the file to your Desktop as DisableGWX.reg . To do this successfully, you will have to make sure you change the Save as type to All files (*.*) before entering DisableGWX.reg as the file name. Then, double-click the DisableGWX.reg file on your Desktop, and answer in the affirmative until the keys and values have successfully been added to the Registry. Note: You need Administrative privileges to do this. Now, restart your computer. NOTE: As an alternative to Step 1, you can run Never10 from Gibson Research Corporation. Step 2: Edit group policy to disallow upgrade to Windows 10 via Windows Update (only for Windows 8.1 Pro and Enterprise) Type WinKey+R, and then gpedit.msc and click OK. In the left-hand pane, under Computer Configuration, expand Administrative Templates, then Windows Components, then click Windows Update. Now, in the right-hand pane, double-click Turn off the upgrade to the latest version of Windows through Windows Update. Click Enabled, then click OK. Now close the Local Group Policy Editor (changes are automatically saved). Step 3: Uninstall the Get Windows 10 updates that Microsoft has pushed to your computer via Windows Update Right-click Start, click Control Panel. Click System and Security, then Windows Update. On the left, at the bottom, click Installed Updates. The list will take time to populate. Be patient. Once the green progress bar at the top becomes white again, the list is ready. Sort the list by Name (if it is not already sorted alphabetically, by clicking on the Name column title). Doing so will make the updates you need to uninstall significantly easier to find. Scroll down to the Microsoft Windows section, and continue scrolling down until you get to the updates that are named "Update for Microsoft Windows (KB#######)" (as opposed to Hotfix for Microsoft Windows or Security Update for Microsoft Windows). Now, for each of the KB numbers in the following list in turn, find the corresponding Update for Microsoft Windows, right-click on it, click Uninstall, and then click Yes. If you are prompted to restart, click Restart Later. KB2976978 KB3035583 KB3123862 KB3150513 KB3173040 NOTE: You may or may not find all of the above updates installed on your computer. Once you have uninstalled all the updates in the list, restart your computer. NOTE: Some articles similar to this one suggest uninstalling KB3139929, the Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer published on March 8, 2016, because incorporated in it is KB3146449, Updated Internet Explorer 11 capabilities to upgrade Windows 8.1 and Windows 7. I most strongly advise against uninstalling any security update. Step 4: Prevent the updates from being installed again by hiding them in Windows Update Right-click Start, click Control Panel. Click System and Security, then Windows Update. On the left-hand side, click Check for updates. Once the check has completed, find each of the updates in the above list in turn (you may have to look through both the Important and Optional lists of updates), right-click on it, and click Hide update. Once you have hidden all of the updates in the list, click OK, and then close Windows Update. NOTE: You'll have to repeat Step 4 (i.e. re-hide updates) monthly, as Microsoft regularly issues new versions of the updates in the above list. Congratulations, you're done, and now free of Microsoft's nagging to get Windows 10. Edited July 12, 2016 by cgthamm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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