Change Windows Update Settings

Bree said:

with a metered connection I used to get a notification in the Action Center that "there was a problem downloading updates".

With a metered connection, I will also get such a notification in Windows Update only if I manually check for updates.

Bree said:

These days I check for updates myself before it has a chance to check automatically.

These days the said VBScript checks for updates automatically because metered connections prevent Windows Update from automatically checking for updates.

Matthew Wai said:

With a metered connection, I will also get such a notification in Windows Update only if I manually check for updates.

These days the said VBScript checks for updates automatically because metered connections prevent Windows Update from automatically checking for updates.

What is VBScript?

Matthew Wai said:

...metered connections prevent Windows Update from automatically checking for updates.

I can't remember the last time I waited for Windows Update to automatically check for updates, these days I manually check as soon as @Brink announces they are available. I do seem to remember though that when I first got 10240 in July 2015 Windows Update did still automatically check even on a metered connection. It was when it then tried to download that it was blocked and notified me that it couldn't download the updates. I was under the impression that the checks still take place, it's just the download that won't go ahead.

Maybe that had changed by 1607, or maybe my memory is playing tricks. There's only one way to find out, I'm currently doing an in-place repair install on a test machine to take it back down to 14393.0 - then I'll leave it to it's own devices to see what happens.

Bree said:

I can't remember the last time I waited for Windows Update to automatically check for updates

You only have to wait for 22 hours because 'Windows will check for available updates at the default interval of 22 hours'──quoted from Unable to Service Request
Metered connections will also prevent automatic definition updates, which can also be performed by VBScript.

boeingaviation said:

What is VBScript?

It is a kind of script used in a .vbs file to make a computer perform tasks such as automatic checks for Windows updates and definition updates.

Ok thanks.

Matthew Wai said:

You only have to wait for 22 hours because 'Windows will check for available updates at the default interval of 22 hours'──quoted from Unable to Service Request
Metered connections will also prevent automatic definition updates, which can also be performed by VBScript.

I had to wait longer than that, mainly because I had forgotten that 'updates with metered connections' was broken in the AU - I had to wipe clean and restart the experiment at build 14393.105, the first CU that fixed this. Interesting results - the automatic update claims to have run and found the system to be up to date - apparently it's lying. I'm still convinced it actually did run in build 10240 and trigger a notification, but it's obviously not doing so now. Seems your VBScript is essential if you want to check automatically, I'll stick to manually checking each Patch Tuesday (or whenever Brink posts about a new one in News). :)

Metered connections will also prevent automatic definition updates, which can also be performed by VBScript.

Metered connections don't have any effect on updating definitions manually in Defender, which is my approach.

Bree said:

Metered connections don't have any effect on updating definitions manually in Defender, which is my approach.

If you want automatic definition updates, see Stop automatic reboots w/updates + auto-install Defender definitions