How to block Windows 10 Upgrade notifications in earlier versions of Windows

Martin Brinkmann
Jun 1, 2015
Updated • Jul 5, 2017
Windows, Windows tips
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97

Windows 7 and 8.1 users who have started their system today may have noticed a new update notification in the operating system's system tray area that allows them to reserve an upgrade to Microsoft's upcoming operating system Windows 10.

Microsoft Windows 10 will be offered as a free upgrade to systems running a genuine version of Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, and the update notification is part of Microsoft's effort to notify users about the offer and get as many users as possible to upgrade to Windows 10.

The company pushed out several updates for Windows 7 and Windows 8 in previous months that prepare systems running those operating systems for Windows 10.

We have compiled the list of updates for Windows 7 and 8 which you may want to check out for additional information.

windows 10 notification

The upgrade notification displayed today on systems running previous versions of Windows 10 allows users to register for the upgrade.

windows 10 upgrade

The upgrade process itself has two steps of which only the first is currently available.

  1. Reserve - Reserve your FREE upgrade to Windows 10 now. It will download once available, and you can cancel your reservation at any time.
  2. Install - You'll get a notification after Windows 10 is downloaded to your device. Install it right away or pick a time that's good for you.

Note: If you reserve the upgrade, Windows 10 will be downloaded automatically to the system when it becomes available. The operating system has a size of several Gigabytes and may take some time to download.

The only option provided once the download completes is to decide when to install it. You may install it right after the download finishes or at a later point in time.

If you want to download an ISO image instead, this is not the right option for you.

Reserving makes little sense at this point in time. First, Windows 10 is not available and when it becomes available so will direct download options to create installation discs or move the installer on USB Flash drives which provide you with better options when it comes to the installation of the operating system.

Even if you are interested in upgrading to Windows 10, you may want to wait days, weeks or even months before you do so to avoid launch issues.

Since you do have 12 months to upgrade to Windows 10 for free, there is no real need to rush the upgrade unless you cannot wait to use the Windows 10 operating system.

Blocking upgrades

If you don't want to upgrade to Windows 10, or are indecisive right now, you may want to block updates and the Windows updates that are responsible for displaying the update notification on the system.

The first thing you need to do is remove updates that power these notifications. This is done in the following way:

  1. Tap on the Windows-key on the keyboard, type programs and features, and hit enter. This opens the list of software installed on the system.
  2. Switch to "view installed updates" on the left side of the window.
  3. If you are using Windows 7, locate the following updates: 3035583, 2952664, 3021917
  4. If you are using Windows 8, locate the following updates: 3035583, 2976978
  5. Right-click one update after the other and select uninstall from the context menu.
  6. Select Restart Later when the prompt appears and remove all updates first from the system.
  7. Once done, restart the computer to complete the process.

uninstall windows updates

Once you are done, it is important that you block these updates from being found and installed again by Windows Update. If you don't do this and have automatic updates enabled, they may be installed again on the system.

To block these updates, do the following:

  1. Tap on the Windows-key, type Windows Update, and hit enter.
  2. This should open the Windows Update dialog.
  3. Select "check for updates" to find new updates to install on the system. Windows should find the updates listed above again.
  4. Click on the "important update is available" link.
  5. Right-click each of the listed updates above that are listed on the page and select hide update from the context menu.
  6. This blocks the update from being installed on the system.

block updates

Once you are done, Windows 10 update notifications should not appear anymore on your system.

Summary
How to block Windows 10 Upgrade notifications in earlier versions of Windows
Article Name
How to block Windows 10 Upgrade notifications in earlier versions of Windows
Description
Find out how to block the Windows 10 update notification in Windows 7 or Windows 8.
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. Dan Donx said on January 15, 2023 at 10:29 am
    Reply

    What mental age of reader are you targeting with the first sentence? 10?

    Why not write an article on how to *avoid* upgrading from W10 to W11. Analogous to those like me who avoided upgrading from 7 to 10 for as long as possible.

    If your paymaster Microsoft permits it, of course.

  2. Dexter said on January 15, 2023 at 11:14 am
    Reply

    5. Rufus
    6. Ventoy

    PS. I hate reading these “SEO optimized” articles.

    1. cdr said on January 15, 2023 at 3:32 pm
      Reply

      I used Rufus to create an installer for a 6th gen intel i5 that had MBR. It upgraded using Setup. No issues except for Win 11 always prompting me to replace my local account. Still using Win 10 Pro on all my other PCs to avoid the bullying.

  3. sv said on January 15, 2023 at 6:40 pm
    Reply

    bit pointless to upgrade for the sake of upgrading as you never know when you’ll get locked out because ms might suddenly not provide updates to unsupported systems.

    ps…. time travelling?
    written. Jan 15, 2023
    Updated • Jan 13, 2023

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on January 16, 2023 at 5:49 am
      Reply

      This happens when you schedule a post in WordPress and update it before setting the publication date.

  4. Anonymous said on January 16, 2023 at 8:24 am
    Reply

    Anyone willing to downgrade to this awful OS must like inflicting themselves with harm.

  5. basingstoke said on January 16, 2023 at 11:18 am
    Reply

    I have become convinced now that anybody who has no qualms with using Windows 11/10 must fit into one of the following brackets:

    1) Too young to remember a time before W10 and W11 (doesn’t know better)

    2) Wants to play the latest games on their PC above anything else (or deeply needs some software which already dropped W7 support)

    3) Doesn’t know too much about how computers work, worried that they’d be absolutely lost and in trouble without the “”latest security””

    4) Microsoft apologist that tries to justify that the latest “features” and “changes” are actually a good thing, that improve Windows

    5) Uses their computer to do a bare minimum of like 3 different things, browse web, check emails, etc, so really doesn’t fuss

    Obviously that doesn’t cover everyone, there’s also the category that:

    6) Actually liked W7 more than 10, and held out as long as possible before switching, begrudgingly uses 10 now

    Have I missed any group off this list?

    1. Heinz Strunk said on September 19, 2023 at 3:57 pm
      Reply

      You have missed in this group just about any professional user that uses business software like CAD programs or ERP Programs which are 99% of all professional users from this list.

      Linux doesn’t help anyone who is not a linux kid and apple is just a fancy facebook machine.

  6. ilev said on August 24, 2023 at 7:34 pm
    Reply

    Microsoft has removed KB5029351 update

    1. EP said on August 24, 2023 at 9:21 pm
      Reply

      only from windows update though
      KB5029351 is still available from the ms update catalog site

  7. Anonymous said on August 24, 2023 at 11:05 pm
    Reply

    1. This update is labaled as PREVIEW if it causes issues to unintelligent people, then they shouldn’t have allowed Preview updates ot install.

    2. I have installed it in a 11 years old computer, and no problems at all.

    3. Making a big drama over a bluescreen for an updated labeled as preview is ridiculous.

    This is probably another BS internet drama where people ran programs and scripts that modified the registry until they broke Windows, just for removing stuff that they weren’t even using just for the sake of it.
    Maybe people should stop playing geeks and actually either use Windows 10 or Windows 11, but don’t try to modify things just for the sake of it.

    Sometimes removing or stopping things (like defender is a perfect example) only need intelligence, not scripts or 3rd party programs that might mess with windows.

  8. john said on August 24, 2023 at 11:17 pm
    Reply

    Windows 11 was a pointless release, it was just created because some of the Windows team wanted to boost sales with some sort of new and improved Windows 10. Instead, Microsoft cannot support one version well let alone two.

    1. John G. said on August 25, 2023 at 12:08 pm
      Reply

      Windows 11 is the worst ugly shame by Microsoft ever. They should release with every new W11 version a complete free version of Starallback inside just to make this sh** OS functionally again.

  9. EP said on August 25, 2023 at 3:10 pm
    Reply

    motherboard maker MSI has recently released a statement regarding the “unsupported processor” blue screen error for their boards using Intel 600/700 series chipsets & to avoid the KB5029351 Win11 update:
    https://www.msi.com/news/detail/MSI-On–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–Error-Message-of-Windows-11-Update-KB5029351-Preview-142215

  10. EP said on August 29, 2023 at 7:32 pm
    Reply

    check out the following recent articles:

    Neowin – Microsoft puts little blame on its Windows update after UNSUPPORTED PROCESSOR BSOD bug:
    https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-puts-little-blame-on-its-windows-update-after-unsupported-processor-bsod-bug/

    BleepingComputer – Microsoft blames ‘unsupported processor’ blue screens on OEM vendors:
    https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-blames-unsupported-processor-blue-screens-on-oem-vendors/

  11. Leonard Britvolli said on August 30, 2023 at 10:33 pm
    Reply

    While there may be changes or updates to the Windows 10 Store for Business and Education in the future, it is premature to conclude that it will be discontinued based solely on rumors.

  12. sembrador said on September 5, 2023 at 9:32 pm
    Reply

    My advice, I left win 15 years ago. Now I’m a happy linux user (linuxmint) but there is Centos, Fedora, Ubuntu depending on your needs.

  13. EP said on September 6, 2023 at 11:55 am
    Reply

    motherboard maker MSI has recently released new BIOS/firmware updates for their Intel 600 & 700 series motherboards to fix the “UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR” problem (Sept. 6):

    https://www.msi.com/news/detail/Updated-BIOS-fixes-Error-Message–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–caused-BSOD-on-MSI-s-Intel-700-and-600-Series-Motherboards-142277

  14. Raphael Benzo said on September 24, 2023 at 9:52 pm
    Reply

    I try to disable the Diagnostics Tracking Service (Connected Devices Platform User Services) but it wont let me disable it, any help will be greatly appreciated.
    Tank you for your help

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