3,621 settings · 25H2 · 1.0 · 29 Sep 2025

7 settingsCSV

Windows Components › Windows Update › Manage updates offered from Windows Server Update Service

Remove access to use all Windows Update features

UserIntune-readyRemoveWindowsUpdate

Supported on At least Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1 or At least Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 through Windows 8.1 or Windows Server 2012 R2 with most current service pack. Not supported on Windows 10 and above.

25H2 · 1.0

What it does

This setting allows you to remove access to Windows Update. If you enable this setting, all Windows Update features are removed. This includes blocking access to the Windows Update Web site at http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com, from the Windows Update hyperlink on the Start menu, and also on the Tools menu in Internet Explorer. Windows automatic updating is also disabled; you will neither be notified about nor will you receive critical updates from Windows Update. This setting also prevents Device Manager from automatically installing driver updates from the Windows Update Web site. If enabled you can configure one of the following notification options: 0 = Do not show any notifications This setting will remove all access to Windows Update features and no notifications will be shown. 1 = Show restart required notifications This setting will show notifications about restarts that are required to complete an installation. On Windows 8 and Windows RT, if this policy is Enabled, then only notifications related to restarts and the inability to detect updates will be shown. The notification options are not supported. Notifications on the login screen will always show up.

What it writes

Hive: HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Registry key: Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\WindowsUpdate
Value name: DisableWindowsUpdateAccess
When enabled: DWORD 1
When disabled: DWORD 0

In Intune

No native CSP; import the ADMX (Intune-ready).

From Microsoft's Policy CSP DDF files (DDF v2 Files, February 2026), read 18 Oct 2026.

Options

Option	Type	Registry value	Allowed values
Configure notificationsRequiredDefault: 0 - Do not show any notifications	Drop-down list	`DisableWindowsUpdateAccessMode`	0 - Do not show any notifications`0` 1 - Show restart required notifications`1`

Configure and deploy

Choose a state and the option values; the output below is generated from the template for exactly that.

Enabled · User · template defaults

Registry file (.reg)

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\WindowsUpdate]
"DisableWindowsUpdateAccess"=dword:00000001
"DisableWindowsUpdateAccessMode"=dword:00000000

PowerShell

$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'

function Set-RegistryValue {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $PropertyType,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][object] $Value
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        New-Item -Path $Path -Force | Out-Null
    }

    New-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -PropertyType $PropertyType -Value $Value -Force | Out-Null
}

function Remove-RegistryValue {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name
    )

    if (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path) {
        Remove-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    }
}

function Clear-RegistryKeyValues {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        return
    }

    foreach ($propertyName in (Get-Item -LiteralPath $Path).Property) {
        Remove-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $propertyName -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    }
}

# Policy: Remove access to use all Windows Update features
# Name: RemoveWindowsUpdate
# Scope: User
# State: Enabled
# Source: WindowsUpdate.admx

Set-RegistryValue -Path 'Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\WindowsUpdate' -Name 'DisableWindowsUpdateAccess' -PropertyType 'DWord' -Value 1

Set-RegistryValue -Path 'Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\WindowsUpdate' -Name 'DisableWindowsUpdateAccessMode' -PropertyType 'DWord' -Value 0

The OMA-URI is an inferred ADMX-backed Policy CSP candidate derived from the source ADMX file name and policy name.
Some Microsoft policies use built-in Policy CSP pages whose area names don't match the ADMX file name, so verify the candidate against Microsoft Learn before deployment.

ADMX profile candidate (OMA-URI)

./User/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/ADMX_WindowsUpdate/RemoveWindowsUpdate

ADMX SyncML candidate

<SyncML xmlns="SYNCML:SYNCML1.2">
  <SyncBody>
    <Replace>
      <CmdID>1</CmdID>
      <Item>
        <Meta>
          <Format>chr</Format>
          <Type>text/plain</Type>
        </Meta>
        <Target>
          <LocURI>./User/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/ADMX_WindowsUpdate/RemoveWindowsUpdate</LocURI>
        </Target>
        <Data>&lt;enabled/&gt;
&lt;data id="RemoveWindowsUpdateMode" value="0"/&gt;</Data>
      </Item>
    </Replace>
    <Final/>
  </SyncBody>
</SyncML>

Intune remediation scripts

Detection

$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'
$reasons = [System.Collections.Generic.List[string]]::new()

function Test-RegistryValueExists {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        return $false
    }

    return $null -ne (Get-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)
}

function Test-RegistryValueEquals {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Kind,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][object] $Expected
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        return $false
    }

    $valueObject = Get-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    if ($null -eq $valueObject) {
        return $false
    }

    $actual = $valueObject.$Name
    switch ($Kind) {
        'String' { return [string]$actual -ceq [string]$Expected }
        'ExpandString' { return [string]$actual -ceq [string]$Expected }
        'DWord' { return [uint32]$actual -eq [uint32]$Expected }
        'QWord' { return [uint64]$actual -eq [uint64]$Expected }
        'MultiString' {
            $actualArray = @($actual)
            $expectedArray = @($Expected)
            if ($actualArray.Count -ne $expectedArray.Count) { return $false }
            for ($index = 0; $index -lt $actualArray.Count; $index++) {
                if ([string]$actualArray[$index] -cne [string]$expectedArray[$index]) { return $false }
            }
            return $true
        }
        'Binary' {
            $actualArray = [byte[]]$actual
            $expectedArray = [byte[]]$Expected
            if ($actualArray.Length -ne $expectedArray.Length) { return $false }
            for ($index = 0; $index -lt $actualArray.Length; $index++) {
                if ($actualArray[$index] -ne $expectedArray[$index]) { return $false }
            }
            return $true
        }
        default { return [string]$actual -ceq [string]$Expected }
    }
}

# Policy: Remove access to use all Windows Update features
# Name: RemoveWindowsUpdate
# Scope: User
# State: Enabled
# Source: WindowsUpdate.admx

$isMatch = Test-RegistryValueEquals -Path 'Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\WindowsUpdate' -Name 'DisableWindowsUpdateAccess' -Kind 'DWord' -Expected 1
if (-not $isMatch) {
    $reasons.Add('Value mismatch: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\WindowsUpdate\DisableWindowsUpdateAccess') | Out-Null
}

$isMatch = Test-RegistryValueEquals -Path 'Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\WindowsUpdate' -Name 'DisableWindowsUpdateAccessMode' -Kind 'DWord' -Expected 0
if (-not $isMatch) {
    $reasons.Add('Value mismatch: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\WindowsUpdate\DisableWindowsUpdateAccessMode') | Out-Null
}

if ($reasons.Count -eq 0) {
    Write-Output 'Compliant'
    exit 0
}

$reasons | ForEach-Object { Write-Output $_ }
exit 1

Remediation

$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'

function Set-RegistryValue {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $PropertyType,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][object] $Value
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        New-Item -Path $Path -Force | Out-Null
    }

    New-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -PropertyType $PropertyType -Value $Value -Force | Out-Null
}

function Remove-RegistryValue {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name
    )

    if (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path) {
        Remove-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    }
}

function Clear-RegistryKeyValues {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        return
    }

    foreach ($propertyName in (Get-Item -LiteralPath $Path).Property) {
        Remove-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $propertyName -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    }
}

# Policy: Remove access to use all Windows Update features
# Name: RemoveWindowsUpdate
# Scope: User
# State: Enabled
# Source: WindowsUpdate.admx

Set-RegistryValue -Path 'Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\WindowsUpdate' -Name 'DisableWindowsUpdateAccess' -PropertyType 'DWord' -Value 1

Set-RegistryValue -Path 'Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\WindowsUpdate' -Name 'DisableWindowsUpdateAccessMode' -PropertyType 'DWord' -Value 0

History 5 retained releases

22H2 · 1.015 Jul 2024
- Already present in the first release ChangeIntel keeps.

4 later releases left it unchanged.

Template

Internal name: RemoveWindowsUpdate
Namespace: Microsoft.Policies.WindowsUpdate
Template file: WindowsUpdate.admx
Release: Windows 11 25H2 · 1.0 · file set de4e49983ebd651f…

Definition, editor controls and support

Definition

<policy class="User" displayName="$(string.RemoveWindowsUpdate)" explainText="$(string.RemoveWindowsUpdate_Help)" key="Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\WindowsUpdate" name="RemoveWindowsUpdate" presentation="$(presentation.RemoveWindowsUpdate)" valueName="DisableWindowsUpdateAccess" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
      <parentCategory ref="Microsoft.Policies.WindowsUpdate:WSUSOffering" />
      <supportedOn ref="Microsoft.Policies.WindowsUpdate:WU_SUPPORTED_Win2kSP3_Or_XPSP1_Through_Win81_or_Server2012R2" />
      <enabledValue>
        <decimal value="1" />
      </enabledValue>
      <disabledValue>
        <decimal value="0" />
      </disabledValue>
      <elements>
        <enum id="RemoveWindowsUpdateMode" required="true" valueName="DisableWindowsUpdateAccessMode">
          <item displayName="$(string.RemoveWindowsUpdateModeAll)">
            <value>
              <decimal value="0" />
            </value>
          </item>
          <item displayName="$(string.RemoveWindowsUpdateModeReboot)">
            <value>
              <decimal value="1" />
            </value>
          </item>
        </enum>
      </elements>
    </policy>

Editor controls

<presentation id="RemoveWindowsUpdate" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
        <dropdownList defaultItem="0" refId="RemoveWindowsUpdateMode">Configure notifications:</dropdownList>
      </presentation>

Supported platforms and category

Microsoft.Policies.Windows:category:WindowsComponents
<category displayName="$(string.WindowsComponents)" explainText="$(string.WindowsComponents_Help)" name="WindowsComponents" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions" />
Microsoft.Policies.WindowsUpdate:category:WSUSOffering
<category displayName="$(string.WSUSOffering)" name="WSUSOffering" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
      <parentCategory ref="Microsoft.Policies.WindowsUpdate:WindowsUpdateCat" />
    </category>
Microsoft.Policies.WindowsUpdate:category:WindowsUpdateCat
<category displayName="$(string.WindowsUpdateCat)" name="WindowsUpdateCat" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
      <parentCategory ref="Microsoft.Policies.Windows:WindowsComponents" />
    </category>
Microsoft.Policies.WindowsUpdate:definition:WU_SUPPORTED_Win2kSP3_Or_XPSP1_Through_Win81_or_Server2012R2
<definition displayName="$(string.WU_SUPPORTED_Win2kSP3_Or_XPSP1_Through_Win81_or_Server2012R2)" name="WU_SUPPORTED_Win2kSP3_Or_XPSP1_Through_Win81_or_Server2012R2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
        <or>
          <range minVersionIndex="3" ref="unresolved(products):MicrosoftWindows2000" />
          <range minVersionIndex="2" ref="unresolved(products):MicrosoftWindowsXP" />
          <range maxVersionIndex="12" minVersionIndex="4" ref="unresolved(products):MicrosoftWindows" />
        </or>
      </definition>
Microsoft.Policies.WindowsUpdate:unresolved:unresolved(products):MicrosoftWindows
<unresolved reference="unresolved(products):MicrosoftWindows" />
Microsoft.Policies.WindowsUpdate:unresolved:unresolved(products):MicrosoftWindows2000
<unresolved reference="unresolved(products):MicrosoftWindows2000" />
Microsoft.Policies.WindowsUpdate:unresolved:unresolved(products):MicrosoftWindowsXP
<unresolved reference="unresolved(products):MicrosoftWindowsXP" />
Microsoft.Policies.Windows:category:WindowsComponents
<category displayName="$(string.WindowsComponents)" explainText="$(string.WindowsComponents_Help)" name="WindowsComponents" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions" />
<strings><string id="Microsoft.Policies.Windows:WindowsComponents">Windows Components</string><string id="Microsoft.Policies.Windows:WindowsComponents_Help">Contains settings for operating system components.</string></strings>
Microsoft.Policies.WindowsUpdate:category:WSUSOffering
<category displayName="$(string.WSUSOffering)" name="WSUSOffering" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
      <parentCategory ref="Microsoft.Policies.WindowsUpdate:WindowsUpdateCat" />
    </category>
<strings><string id="Microsoft.Policies.WindowsUpdate:WSUSOffering">Manage updates offered from Windows Server Update Service</string></strings>
Microsoft.Policies.WindowsUpdate:category:WindowsUpdateCat
<category displayName="$(string.WindowsUpdateCat)" name="WindowsUpdateCat" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
      <parentCategory ref="Microsoft.Policies.Windows:WindowsComponents" />
    </category>
<strings><string id="Microsoft.Policies.WindowsUpdate:WindowsUpdateCat">Windows Update</string></strings>
Microsoft.Policies.WindowsUpdate:definition:WU_SUPPORTED_Win2kSP3_Or_XPSP1_Through_Win81_or_Server2012R2
<definition displayName="$(string.WU_SUPPORTED_Win2kSP3_Or_XPSP1_Through_Win81_or_Server2012R2)" name="WU_SUPPORTED_Win2kSP3_Or_XPSP1_Through_Win81_or_Server2012R2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
        <or>
          <range minVersionIndex="3" ref="unresolved(products):MicrosoftWindows2000" />
          <range minVersionIndex="2" ref="unresolved(products):MicrosoftWindowsXP" />
          <range maxVersionIndex="12" minVersionIndex="4" ref="unresolved(products):MicrosoftWindows" />
        </or>
      </definition>
<strings><string id="Microsoft.Policies.WindowsUpdate:WU_SUPPORTED_Win2kSP3_Or_XPSP1_Through_Win81_or_Server2012R2">At least Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1 or At least Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 through Windows 8.1 or Windows Server 2012 R2 with most current service pack. Not supported on Windows 10 and above.</string></strings>