DW Blackjack - Disabling Automatic Windows Updates

Disabling Automatic WinOS Updates

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Affected Roles: Administrator

Last Edit: April 18, 2025

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Automatic Windows Updates

By default, DW Blackjack Servers have operating system updated disabled to prevent unexpected operating issues that may occur from auto-updates pushed by Microsoft. This can sometime lead to unexpected issues for the DW Spectrum System.

Users with custom-built servers (self-built) may want to disable this setting for dedicated DW Spectrum Servers.

This article will outline how to disable automatic operating system updates for Windows computers.

DW Blackjack - Re-Enabling Automatic Windows Updates

Disabling Automatic Updates

Using Windows Update Menu

To temporarily disable auto-updates in Windows:

Open the computer’s Group Policy Editor by searching in the START menu or by using the Run command “gpedit.msc”.

In the Group Policy Editor, navigate to:

Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update

Double-click on “Configure Automatic Updates” and set the policy setting to “Disabled” then click the OK button.
Restart the computer for the changes to take effect.

Using Registry Editor

To disable automatic updates using the Registry Editor:

Open the Registry Editor using the START menu or with the Run command “regedit”.

In the Registry Editor, navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate

**NOTE: If the WindowsUpdate key does not exist, right-click in the Windows key and select New > Key, then name it “WindowsUpdate”.

Right-click in the WindowsUpdate key and select New > Key, then name it “AU”.
In the AU key, create a DWORD (32-bit) Value and name it “NoAutoUpdate”, then set the value to “1”.
Restart the computer for the changes to take effect.