Steps to Block Windows 10 from Updating to Windows 11

This guide provides a clear, practical overview of steps to block Windows 10 from updating to Windows 11, with useful context, important details, and straightforward takeaways for everyday readers.

Microsoft has now started offering Windows 11 to those who have a hardware-qualified Windows 10 PC. Sometimes Microsoft even uses tricks to trick users into updating.

If you don't want to wake up and find your computer has Windows 11 installed, here's how to prevent it.

How to block Windows 10 from updating to Windows 11

From Windows 10 version 1803, Microsoft introduced a specification called TargetReleaseVersion in the registry for you to install which version of Windows 10 you want to update and which version you want to maintain.

To prevent Windows 11 from updating to your Windows 10 machine, follow these steps:

Step 1: Press Win + R to open Run then type regedit and press Enter.

Step 2: Find the key:

Computer/HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Policies/Microsoft/Windows/WindowsUpdate

Step 3: Create a DWORD (32-bit) Value named TargetReleaseVersion and give it a value of 1.

Step 4: Create a String Value named TargetReleaseVersionInfo and give it the value 21H1.

Restart your computer to complete the changes.

If you use Windows 10 Pro, you can also use Group Policy to block updates to Windows 11. Go to Local computer policy > Computer configuration > Administrative models > Windows components > Windows update > Windows Update for Business. Next, double-click Select the target feature upgrade version select 21H1 and click OK then restart the machine.

To continue updating Windows 10, simply repeat the steps above but choose 21H2 instead of 21H1.

Good luck!