Would editing the hosts file temporarily block Windows 10 updates?

Question

Like several other people, I'm annoyed by the inability to choose when to update in Windows 10 Home, and this issue is one of the (several) reasons I hesitate to upgrade from Windows 7.

I don't have Windows 10 yet, so I can't try it for myself, but I thought that if I edited the hosts file and pointed update.windows.com (or whichever URL update uses) to an invalid IP address, that would effectively block Windows from seeing if any updates are available until the line was commented out.

Would this strategy work or does Windows 10 have a way to detect and bypass it?

Note: I don't consider this question to be a duplicate of Stopping all automatic updates Windows 10 as it's asking about a certain method. I understand it could be an answer to that question, but I couldn't post it as one without knowing if it works.

[In this link](https://4sysops.com/archives/disable-windows-update-in-windows-10/) the method posted worked for Windows 10 build 9926 — Moab, Aug 11 '15 at 22:39

score 6 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 11 '15 at 12:46

6

According to Microsoft Answers, these are the hosts you would need to block to prevent updates.

http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com
http://*.windowsupdate.microsoft.com
https://*.windowsupdate.microsoft.com
http://*.update.microsoft.com
https://*.update.microsoft.com
http://*.windowsupdate.com
http://download.windowsupdate.com
http://download.microsoft.com
http://*.download.windowsupdate.com
http://wustat.windows.com
http://ntservicepack.microsoft.com
http://stats.microsoft.com
https://stats.microsoft.com

answered Aug 11 '15 at 12:46

geek1011

1,260
10
25

1

I doubt that is all of them, maybe someone will confirm they block Windows 10 updates for sure. – Moab Aug 11 '15 at 22:37
Is there some way to block a subdomain (like `*.update.microsoft.com`) by editing the hosts file? I believe that this is impossible, so the above is not really an answer to the OP's question. – Scott - Слава Україні May 30 '17 at 01:36
@scott You can use a custom DNS server and redirect those domains to an invalid IP. – geek1011 May 31 '17 at 13:44
Fine.   You have written an answer to ***a** (slightly) **different question.*** You have not answered *this* question. – Scott - Слава Україні May 31 '17 at 21:01

Dean Van Greunen · Answer 2 · 2021-11-24T12:47:43.820

3

Edit your windows host file to include these

########################
# Block windows update
########################
0.0.0.0 *.download.windowsupdate.com
0.0.0.0 *.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0 *.update.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0 *.windowsupdate.com
0.0.0.0 *.windowsupdate.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0 download.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0 download.windowsupdate.com
0.0.0.0 ntservicepack.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0 test.stats.update.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0 windowsupdate.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0 wustat.windows.com

edited Nov 24 '21 at 12:47

answered May 16 '20 at 07:15

Dean Van Greunen

175
7

1

Use 0.0.0.0, it will drop the connections much quicker and use less cpu and memory. – Justin Goldberg Nov 24 '21 at 12:42
@JustinGoldberg changes made, thanks. – Dean Van Greunen Nov 24 '21 at 12:47

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 02 '23 at 16:45

I also tried to block updates by hosts file. It didn't worked. So I tried it with this approach from linustechtips. Seems to work till now:

To Disable the automatic updates group policy:

In the start menu, search for Group Policy, and open the policy editor
Navigate to: Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Update
In the folder containing policies for Windows Update, double-click on the policy titled "Configure Automatic Updates"
In the top-left area of the window that pops up, check the box that says Disabled
Press OK to close that window

Would editing the hosts file temporarily block Windows 10 updates?

3 Answers3