Prevent Win10 Upgrading to Win11

In light of Vern's email today re: FDOTSS10 incompatibility with Win11, I thought this might be useful...

There is a Group Policy / Registry setting that will prevent Win10 from automatically upgrading to Win11 by locking the PC into a particular Win10 Feature Update version.

Notes:

  • The Group Policy Editor (gpedit) is only available on Win Pro/Enterprise, not Home
  • Gpedit is merely a structured way of managing Registry entries - thus all GP settings have an equivalent Registry entry that can be google'd and applied to Win Home
  • The Feature Update lock is a double-edged sword: while it will prevent the Win11 upgrade it will also prevent other Feature Updates, eg. 21H2 to 22H1
  • This GP setting does *not* prevent routine monthly updates such as security updates - only the semi-annual Feature Update
  • Once the next Feature Update is available (eg. 22H1 currently), the GP will need to be updated
  • It is recommended that the GP be applied to only those PCs that are eligible/compatible for the Win11 upgrade
  • Notification of the GP change will appear on the >Setting >Windows Update page as the message in red letters at the top of the page, "*Some settings are managed by your organization"
  • Once the GP is applied and rebooted, the option to upgrade to Win11 will disappear from the Windows Update page
  • Correct spelling is critical to the GP setting
  • Check the current Feature Update level on the PC before making the setting (>Settings >System >About) - if the PC is not currently at the version level of the setting (eg. setting=21H2, PC=21H1), the PC will *immediately* upgrade (or revert!) to that Feature Update level, which could be time consuming

>gpedit.msc >Local Computer Policy >Computer Configuration >Administrative Templates >Windows Components >Windows Update >Windows Update for Business >Select the target Feature Update version >Enabled >Which product version... = Windows 10 >Target version... = 21H2

References:

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