Time to lock down Windows Updates once and for all?

Discussion of getting WMC to work on Windows 10 (unsupported)
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technodevotee

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Time to lock down Windows Updates once and for all?

#1

Post by technodevotee » Fri Aug 30, 2019 11:19 am

Like others, I haven't had any luck getting any version of WMC to start on Windows 10 after insider build 18958 - there is an issue reported with kernelbase.dll which may possibly be insurmountable.

So I installed 1903 on the last of my PCs a few days ago and used gpedit to delay upgrades for a year in the hope that MS have broken products other than WMC and undo whatever it is before the final release of the next version.

I'm consider something like stopupdates in case that isn't enough.

Anyone have any experience with that?

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StinkyImp

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#2

Post by StinkyImp » Fri Aug 30, 2019 3:21 pm

technodevotee wrote: Fri Aug 30, 2019 11:19 amI'm consider something like stopupdates in case that isn't enough.
Anyone have any experience with that?
If you're asking about StopUpdates10, I've been using it for well over a year. So far I haven't had any updates and I haven't noticed any degradation of my Win10 system. Everything seems to work perfectly.

I use Windows Defender and it receives definition updates like clockwork. :D

technodevotee

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#3

Post by technodevotee » Fri Aug 30, 2019 5:17 pm

perfect thanks.

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StinkyImp

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#4

Post by StinkyImp » Sat Aug 31, 2019 5:45 pm

Just a side note... My Win10 machine is a production machine that I don't want any updates messing up. I do not run WMC on it. I have a dedicated Win7 machine for that.

technodevotee

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#5

Post by technodevotee » Mon Sep 02, 2019 1:36 pm

Thanks, installed stopupdates10 on one of my test PCs and it seems to work so far.

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DavidinCT

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#6

Post by DavidinCT » Fri Sep 06, 2019 3:47 pm

You could always disable the Windows update service... It stops it from updating..
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

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StinkyImp

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#7

Post by StinkyImp » Sun Sep 08, 2019 3:42 pm

DavidinCT wrote: Fri Sep 06, 2019 3:47 pm You could always disable the Windows update service... It stops it from updating..
From the StopUpdates10 author:

You think you just need to stop Windows update service and create some special registry keys.

Microsoft prevents disabling Windows updates using several methods:
  • Special scheduled task (USOClient,Windows10Upgrade, UpdateAssistant).
  • Hidden service "WAAS Medic".
At one point I disabled the update service (as you've suggested) and within a month I had to go through an unwanted update. I unpacked the "portable" version of StopUpdates10 in late April 2018 and I haven't had an update since.

EDIT: I just checked and I'm still running version 1709 build 16299 which reached "End of Service" in August 2018.

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#8

Post by SpencerC » Tue Sep 10, 2019 11:27 pm

StinkyImp wrote: Sun Sep 08, 2019 3:42 pm
DavidinCT wrote: Fri Sep 06, 2019 3:47 pm You could always disable the Windows update service... It stops it from updating..
From the StopUpdates10 author:

You think you just need to stop Windows update service and create some special registry keys.

Microsoft prevents disabling Windows updates using several methods:
  • Special scheduled task (USOClient,Windows10Upgrade, UpdateAssistant).
  • Hidden service "WAAS Medic".
At one point I disabled the update service (as you've suggested) and within a month I had to go through an unwanted update. I unpacked the "portable" version of StopUpdates10 in late April 2018 and I haven't had an update since.

EDIT: I just checked and I'm still running version 1709 build 16299 which reached "End of Service" in August 2018.

Yup disabling the windows update service is not sufficient. I still got updated. Pissed me off.

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#9

Post by scott750 » Mon Oct 28, 2019 4:13 pm

If we use Stopupdates10, can we still pick and choose which updates to install? Like needed security updates?

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technodevotee

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#10

Post by technodevotee » Tue Oct 29, 2019 7:56 am

You would need to go to the Microsoft Update Catalogue to download them and install them manually.

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#11

Post by scott750 » Tue Oct 29, 2019 3:46 pm

Ok thanks

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#12

Post by StinkyImp » Wed Oct 30, 2019 3:34 pm

I noticed this interesting snippet on a developer's forum that was responding to a user's experience with items failing after a particular Win 10 update...

Dated October 28th (3 days ago)
Reading the original post again I noticed the mention of "MS patch 1803". The 1803 number suggests the problem appeared after Windows 10 feature update 1803 and may, therefore, be a Windows 10 issue and have nothing to do with Windows 2012. Windows 10 feature updates are notorious for causing hardware issues. We had to junk a workstation because the 1803 feature update was incompatible with the CPU/motherboard on the system even though the system was only a couple of years old at the time. (The workstations manufacturer confirmed that this was the case.)
One more reason I'm glad I'm using StopUpdates10...

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#13

Post by technodevotee » Wed Oct 30, 2019 8:37 pm

My laptops have trouble connecting to WI-FI when they come out of sleep since an update was applied and the only cure is to shut them down and restart them. A friend of mine has exactly the same problem. As usual, the internet is full of people complaining about these kind of problems caused by Microsoft constantly 'improving' things that used to work but they either refuse to acknowledge the problem at all or just troll out their line that it only affects a small number of people.

It was so much easier back in the day when you could block or selectively install updates at your convenience.

I'm actually rather glad that this is just a hobby for me now and not my day job.

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