Prevention of Windows 10 to 11 Auto-Upgrade

Product Version: 6.5.0.0

Overview

Some Windows 10 devices may automatically upgrade to Windows 11. To prevent this automatic upgrade, you can follow one of the solutions below. These methods allow administrators to maintain control over Windows feature updates and ensure device compatibility.

Affected OS

• Windows 10

Solution

There are two methods to prevent Windows 11 updates on Windows 10 devices:

1. Preventing Windows 11 Updates via Group Policy

Follow these steps to configure Group Policy:

1. Press Windows + R, type gpedit.msc, and press Enter to open the Group Policy Editor.

2. Navigate to the following path:
   
   

   Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update > Windows Update for Business
   

   
   

3. Double-click Select the target feature update version.

4. Set the policy to Enabled.

5. Under the Options section, type 22H2  in the Target Version for Feature Updates field.

6. Click Apply and OK, then close all windows.
   
   

   This ensures that Windows 10 devices are targeted to update only to version 22H2 and prevents automatic upgrades to Windows 11.

2. Preventing Windows 11 Update via Registry Change

You can also block Windows 11 updates using a batch script:

1. Open Notepad and paste the following content:
   
   

   reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate /v TargetReleaseVersion /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate /v TargetReleaseVersionInfo /t REG_SZ /d 22H2 /f
   

   
   

2. Save the file as winodws_update.bat

3. Deploy the batch script using the Saner PM Module:

   • Go to PM > Missing Patches.

   • Select the Windows 10 device group.

   • Choose any missing security patch.

   • On the left panel, select Remediation Scripts under Task Controls.
     

   • Upload the winodws_update.bat script as a pre-script.

   • Click Apply Selected Patches.

Note

• The above solutions should be applied to all Windows 10 devices to effectively prevent automatic upgrades to Windows 11.

• Administrators should monitor the devices to ensure policies or registry changes are correctly applied.