How to Stop a Specific Windows Update From Installing

Quick Tips

• Microsoft regularly releases updates for Windows 10 and 11 to enhance performance, but occasionally these updates can introduce new issues.
• Rather than disabling all Windows updates and potentially missing out on crucial improvements, it’s better to prevent a problematic update from installing on your computer.
• You can prevent a specific Windows update from installing using Microsoft’s troubleshooter or PowerShell.

Method 1: Hide a Windows Update Using the Show or Hide Updates Troubleshooter

Microsoft’s “Show or hide updates” tool makes it simple to stop a specific Windows Update from installing on your computer. You can use this tool to hide system updates you don’t want to install. Since this tool is not pre-installed on your Windows computer, download it first.

After downloading the tool, follow the steps below to hide a specific update on your Windows computer.

Step 1: Double-click the downloaded file to launch the Show or hide updates tool and click Next.

Step 2: Select Hide updates.

Step 3: The tool will list all the pending updates. Use the checkbox to select the update you want to hide and click Next.

Step 4: Wait for the troubleshooter to hide the specified update and click the Close button to exit the tool.

After that, Windows will no longer show the specified update. But, if a problematic update is already installed on your computer, you must uninstall the update and use this tool to hide it.

If you change your mind later, you can always unhide these updates with the same tool. Here’s how:

Step 1: Open the Show or hide updates tool on your computer and click Next.

Step 2: Select the Show hidden updates option.

Step 3: Select the update you want to unhide and click Next.

Step 4: Click on Close.

Step 5: Press the Windows key + I to open the Settings app and go to the Windows Update section. Click the Check for updates button, and your updates will appear.

Method 2: Hide a Windows Update Using PowerShell

PowerShell is a command-line tool that lets you interact with Windows through text commands. Here’s how to use Windows PowerShell to stop a specific update from installing.

Step 1: Click the search icon on the taskbar, type Windows PowerShell in the box, and select Run as administrator.

Step 2: Paste the following command and press Enter to install the PSWindowsUpdate module on your computer.

Install-Module PSWindowsUpdate

Step 3: Type A and press Enter to confirm.

Step 4: Paste the following command and press Enter to view a list of pending Windows updates.

Get-WUList

Step 5: Note down the name of the update you want to hide from the Title column.

Step 6: Run the following command and press Enter to hide the update.

Hide-WindowsUpdate -Title "UpdateName"

Replace UpdateName in the above command with the actual name of the update noted earlier.

Step 7: Press the A key and then Enter to confirm your choice.

After that, Windows will hide the specified update. You can confirm this change by checking the update status in the Status column.

If you want to unhide the update later, run the following command in PowerShell.

Show-WindowsUpdate -Title “UpdateName”

Ensure to replace the UpdateName in the above command with the actual name of the update.