Windows 10: Creators Update

How can I defer updates in Windows 10 Home? - Super User
Here they mention said patch...

 

Nah, no such option available in 1607 Home Edition - and unless I missed something obvious this link refers to previous release(s)

 

The 'defer upgrades' option in Pro works by switching you from the Current Branch (CB) to the Current Branch for Business (CBB). The Anniversary update (1607) is now on CBB, so it should be offered to 1511 even if you have deferred upgrades. It has always worked this way, but in 1703 it now explicitly tells you what it is doing rather than just saying 'defer'.

Difficult to test this on 1607 (which is what that comment was about) because there isn't a Current Branch for Business update available for it yet. You can't tell if 'defer' is stopping you get the update or if it's something else that isn't working. It certainly works as designed in 1511, I tested that recently.

Oct 17 Creators Fall update

Intrigued, I hunted for a registry setting for this. I found this key (in both Home and Pro) in:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsUpdate\UX\Settings

The REG_DWORD BranchReadinessLevel has the value 0x010 (16) without updates deferred and the value 0x020 (32) with updates deferred. I'm not suggesting you try changing this key, there may well be other keys involved that I haven't found. Changing this one key may have unexpected consequences. But it does at least give you a way to check what your 'defer' setting is currently set to.

 

If that key works on Home editions, that could be a solution for people like me that gives some advantage time to upgrades so they are stable enough to update to...

 

As I said, there may be other keys involved, so try it at your own risk. What I can say is that in 1703 Pro changing that key changed what was shown in the Settings app for windows update's advanced settings from 'Current Branch' to 'Current Branch for Business' (and back again).

Personally I like to update manually as soon as a new version is available to try it out, so it's just of academic interest to me. I keep a previous system image handy in case it doesn't work out. *Smile

 

Good find but I don't have the REG_DWORD BranchReadinessLevel on my Home edition laptop.

 

I do on my Home edition laptop.

That may well be a legacy of my upgrade to Anniversary Update. When I manually updated I was surprised to see the 'Defer upgrades' option briefly appear in Settings. It very quickly disappeared again when Windows finished setting itself up, but I may have played with it to see if it was working before the option was removed. That's probably what created this key on my system. If it exists and is set to 16 then defer is turned off anyway, so I'm leaving my registry 'as is' - it doesn't seem to be causing me a problem.

 

This is my settings, clean install of 1703, no upgrade. I see the whole set of settings...

 

Yeah, great, however we're still on Creators Update nevertheless...

 

Yesterday a new Start Menu program Update & Privacy Settings appeared. I'm unsure if this is a looming installation of the long awaited CU or a skip to the Fall Update due soon.

 

KB4023057 was indeed re-installed on my PC yesterday evening, but this did not translate into anything else so far.

Also, these are the only keys in Registry under ...\WindowsUpdate\UX\Settings on my PC:

 

Probably yes, it's the precursor to the Creators Update. Look in your update history for 'Windows 10 Creators Update Privacy Settings (KB4013214)' to confirm that. The Fall update isn't due to be launched until 17th October.

 

...so out of the blue got an invite to install Creators Update earlier today - which has just been done and I'm on 1703 now.

I wonder if that sudden deployment is related to Spybot Anti-Beacon that I had installed on my PC until yesterday - I thought I would check if this chappy does interfere with upgrade process, or not. But honestly: I don't know.

Time will tell, that's for sure, especially if I'm prompted to upgrade to FCU soon.

 

...so to add: I was invited to upgrade to CFU (1709) yesterday- which was equally smooth process and has finished below an hour.

It's therefore Spybot Anti-Beacon with all blocks enabled and in place that was preventing OS upgrade - might be useful to know to some!