Turn off windows update service & auto updates windows 10 using powershell

Question

I want to use a powershell script to turn off windows update service & auto updates windows 10 using powershell. I\'ve searched around but the commands didn\'t turn eit

Answer 1

EDIT 2020-07-30:

The former solution, which is bellow, works only partially: it does not disable the WindowsUpdate/sihpostreboot service, because Microsoft is fighting against guides like this.

WHAT WORKS FULLY: (how to disable the rest)

• follow the steps of the original solution bellow (will finish with few errors)
• download and unzip Microsoft PSTools
• start the command line as Administrator in location with psexec.exe
• start the Task Scheduler with the SYSTEM permissions: psexec -i -d -s mmc taskschd.msc
• disable the rest of not disabled update tasks manually

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THE ORIGINAL ANSWER:

This script is based on Kemal's answer.

The improvement is that it disables also tasks in WindowsUpdate and UpdateOrchestrator folders that cannot be disabled manually in Task Scheduler. Furthermore, it disables the Windows Update service.

Recommended execution:

1. Install all pending updates so that you are in "Your device is up to date" state.
2. Run the following PowerShell script as an Administrator:

    Clear-Host

    $WindowsUpdatePath = "HKLM:SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\"
    $AutoUpdatePath = "HKLM:SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU"

    If(Test-Path -Path $WindowsUpdatePath) {
        Remove-Item -Path $WindowsUpdatePath -Recurse
    }

    New-Item $WindowsUpdatePath -Force
    New-Item $AutoUpdatePath -Force

    Set-ItemProperty -Path $AutoUpdatePath -Name NoAutoUpdate -Value 1

    Get-ScheduledTask -TaskPath "\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\" | Disable-ScheduledTask

    takeown /F C:\Windows\System32\Tasks\Microsoft\Windows\UpdateOrchestrator /A /R
    icacls C:\Windows\System32\Tasks\Microsoft\Windows\UpdateOrchestrator /grant Administrators:F /T

    Get-ScheduledTask -TaskPath "\Microsoft\Windows\UpdateOrchestrator\" | Disable-ScheduledTask

    Stop-Service wuauserv
    Set-Service wuauserv -StartupType Disabled

    # We disable WindowsUpdate folder again, because wuauserv service could have enabled it meanwhile
    Get-ScheduledTask -TaskPath "\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\" | Disable-ScheduledTask

    Write-Output "All Windows Updates were disabled"

Note: the script may display execution errors if WindowsUpdate folder or UpdateOrchestrator folder does not exist.

Note 2: you may need to run the script again after some Microsoft installer runs (like .Net Framework installer, Visual Studio installer, ...), because they enable updates again.