Windows 10 forced download - at my wits end.

Hi, I searched the forum for you: you could try
Stop Windows 10 Updates Properly and Completely Solved - Windows 10 Forums

I'm assuming you have the Home edition, not Pro. Personally, I don't think there's such a thing as a 'forced update'. You get what you pay for. If you have Home, you get Windows updates automatically. That's the service you paid for.

If you have the Pro edition, you can set updates to Notify (and so download them at your discretion) and defer feature updates (upgrades) for up to 365 days.

You may also find Windows update minitool (free) of interest.

That said, there are too many problems related to upgrades especially for MS's delivery of updates to work without great frustration for some, and as such, it is a very poorly considered approach. And clearly MS has not thought out the implications for those on limited bandwidth. (Although see below for a late addition that helps a little).

If an upgrade fails, it will repeatedly download and retry. That's really bad, as I think you know.
Check your Update History to see if that's happening.

Limiting bandwidth used
You may be unaware of this in Settings:

Limit Bandwidth of Windows Update and Store App Updates in Windows 10 | Windows 10 Tutorials

How to limit Windows Update bandwidth on the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update | Windows Central

Just one more thing, how much data does an automatic update use? One GB, two, more?

Feature updates (upgrades) may be up to around 4Gb - a new build of Windows.

Cumulative updates can be typically up to 100s of Mb - you can see the download sizes per update per build in the thread in the News section here -for manual downloads.

However, when delivered by Windows update, these will be smaller, as only the needed parts should be downloaded.

I haven't seen a 1GB update file in quite awhile, most in the Windows Update Catalog used for offline install run between about 400MB and 800MB with the larger being for the 64-bit version of Windows. The Delta versions tend to be smaller when offered in the catalog but they are for otherwise-fully-updated versions of Windows. If an update is skipped the Delta version may cause issues so I avoid them, always go with the others.

Paulieb said:

The message in the updates section says Win 10 will not update over a metered connection. The 'switch' to set as a metered connection does not appear on my machine. How do I go about doing it?

What version of 10 does Winver say you have? The switch for Wi-Fi metered connections has always been available, but a switch for Ethernet was only added in the Creators Update (1703, os build 15063). You can however set a metered Ethernet connection in the registry for all versions. See these tutorials...

Set Wireless Network as Metered or Non-Metered in Windows 10

Set Ethernet Connection as Metered or Unmetered in Windows 10

Most of the downloaded items have 'failed'

- suggest investigation/repair needed, from running the WU troubleshooter to resetting Windows update (there's a tutorial for that) to something more.

Win 10 will not update over a metered connection

this has not been a reliable method for some time. Hence the article I quoted. And MS reserves the right to override that setting.

I'm wondering if your Windows build is older - i.e. upgrade failing.. please quote
(Windows key + R, winver).

Paulieb,

I have been successfully blocking automatic Windows updates for years [ever since its pre-release Preview period] by setting all my network connections to metered.
- I have continued to use my mobile phone as my internet connection throughout this period and have been able to live within my data allowance by downloading updates on the free WiFi in my local library.
- My data allowance used to be 2GB a month then I increased it to 3GB a month.
- My data allowance is now a very comfortable 12GB a month but I continue to block automatic Windows updates because I want to be able to make proper system backups ["system images"] before I run updates.
- You will need to have access to another network, such as a local library network, to download updates outside of your limited data allowance if you decide to prevent automatic Windows updates.

I use the methods described in my 6 May 2018 post in another TenForums thread.
- That link should take you straight to my post [post #73]
- In the same thread, you will also see my post #74 below that in which I describe the method I use to ensure that any new networks are automatically set to metered [so that I can confidently use WiFi networks in the library, on trains & so on without worrying that anything is going to happen automatically].
- I do not disable anything else "via the task manager etc, etc" or otherwise.
- I always use local user accounts not MSAccount-linked user accounts. The latter used to make it harder to avoid automatic updates but I do not know if that is still the case.
- I will happily answer any questions you have about setting this up for yourself. I appreciate that it can look quite daunting at first sight.
- You'll need to tell me which version you are currently on [Settings, System, About - under the heading Windows specifications]

There are other opinions about how best to prevent automatic updates. You'll see some of them in the same very long TenForums thread as my post [which is the same thread that @dalchina gave you a link to].

What is crucial is that you accept the need to update Windows yourself.
- You will need to download updates yourself.
- Many Windows updates have security aspects to them so you cannot just ignore them.
- You will also need to provide for updating Windows defender. This can be automated with a batch file that is run from Task scheduler. I can guide you through that as well.
- It is the need to continue updating Windows that forces you to have a second option such as, for me, the WiFi network in my local library.
- By manually downloading all updates myself, if an update fails then I can just retry it. I have only twice had to re-download an update and on both occasions it was my own fault.

About how much data updates use, there is no single answer.
- There can be small updates from time to time but the main "Cumulative update", which is often issued monthly, can vary from 100MB to almost 1GB [the biggest one for Ver 1709 so far has been 845MB].
- A couple of times a year, new Windows 10 versions are issued. These are up to about 3GB. Because I have a mixture of 32 bit & 64 bit Windows 10 computers, I will need to download both of them i.e.up to 6GB.
- There are regular, often monthly, updates to "Flash player" that can be 40MB.
- There are also monthly updates to the "Malware removal tool" that are generally 40MB.
- Windows defender malware definition updates are less than 1MB a day normally.
- If Windows defender updates include an update to Windows defender itself then they can be 6MB. I have only seen that four times on Windows 10 Ver 1709 so that is about once every two months.
- You cannot use the antimalware application Bitdefender without accepting a minimum of 3GB data usage each month for each computer. That is not a typo or an experimental error; I confirmed that minimum data usage result with Bitdefender support.
- If an update fails when you are allowing automatic updates then it downloads again so that uses up more data. If it fails again it will download again, ... .
- Your computer's hardware can also require updated drivers. I check my computer maker's website each month and download them manually. These updates can vary from a couple of MB to several hundred MB [the large ones are generally updated display drivers].
- Your Windows 10 computer also has additional "Apps" that are, strictly speaking, not part of Windows 10 itself but are add-ons that are updated from the Windows store. Maps & the Calculator are examples. I have never estimated how much data App updates use up - I have seen some that were 30MB & others that were 3MB but I have never added them all up. I am generally far too lax about these updates and just bother to do them if I happen to be on the library network for other reasons. My lax attitude does expose me to the risk that a non-updated App has a security hole that online hackers might seek to exploit.
- All the estimates I have used in these notes relate to 64 bit Windows 10. Many updates to 32 bit Windows 10 can be a third / half / two thirds the size. You can tell which "System type" you have in Settings, System, About - under the Device specifications heading.

All the best,
Denis

I was still writing my first reply so have only now seen this post of yours -

Paulieb said:

Thank you for the replies.
I am reduced to logging on/off/on quickly, that way I get thirty seconds of grace before the damned update commences!
Thus far the blasted update has sucked up over three gb and is still going strong!
I can't find the update troubleshooter.
My version is 1511
Re the metering thing; at the manage known networks' there is only the 'forget' pane - nothing else!
If I had hair I would be tearing it out right now.
This is progress microsoft style! I wonder how many more unfortunates on limited data plans have been caught out by microsofts decision to remove our freedom of choice when it comes to updates? As I said I always get to choose how I spend my money so they have lost my custom forever if they can't be bothered to build something into their OS which allows freedom of choice for the client.

Ver 1511 is very old and important elements of it are handled differently or at least appear in different parts of Settings / the Control panel.
- I recommend that you use another network to download then install the latest version, Ver 1803.
- You can download it using the guidance in a TenForums tutorial - Download Windows 10 ISO File
- You can install it using a Repair install procedure so that your own files and your applications are not affected.
- You might wish to consider installing Ver 1803 from scratch and accept the need to backup then restore your own files & reinstall your applications.
- You ought to make a system image before running the Ver 1803 update.

You have not mentioned how you are connected to the internet. Users with limited data allowances tend to be those with a mobile broadband / mobile phone connection or satcomms users. Early versions of Windows 10 could not help with metered settings for users with Ethernet connections from their computers [there was a Registry hack to do this] - when considering metered connections, it is the immediate connection to the computer that matters.

Denis