How to get update warnings

Mustang · 29 Oct 2017

I recently noticed my monthly internet data had used up 109 GBs over a 2 week period, which did not correspond to my known usage.

On further investigation I found that Windows 10 updater had tried to install the same update 95 times between October 17th - 27th. And this was the reason for the data being used.

I can't find any way in settings to make Windows warn when it is attempting to install new updates.

Can anyone offer any suggestions, or do I need to check update history every time I use the computer?

dalchina · 29 Oct 2017

Hi, if you have Win 10 Pro you can set updates to Notify. That means you get notification of a pending update via the Action Centre; click that, Settings opens, tells you what the update is.

If you have Home, I think you can still do that- although some have said it didn't work when they tried.
You can use Win Aero's free tweaker (search for Update) - see the explanation here:
How to disable Windows Update in Windows 10 RTM - Winaero
and Option 2 here:
Enable or Disable Windows Update Automatic Updates in Windows 10 Windows Update Activation Tutorials
for explanations.

Example:
Click the notification...

Settings opens to show you the pending update.

That the update has failed repeatedly tells you something is wrong: start by checking your disk (Hard Disk Sentinel (trial) and also use chkdsk C: /F from an admin command prompt, then SFC /SCANNOW from an admin command prompt.

If all of those are ok, then use the Windows Update troubleshooter.

Inspect your Update History - which update has failed?

If it's the update to build 1709, post a screenshot of your partitions using Minitool Partition Wizard, expanding columns so text is visible.

You may also find information in Windows update log files in setuperr.log etc in the Panther folder.

Callender · 29 Oct 2017

I have mine set to notify only. Then I can choose when to download.

MIT Windows Update Service - Explanation of Registry Settings - ISHermes

On a 32bit machine:

How to get update warnings-registry-wu.jpg

On a 64bit machine the same key is found here;

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU

I have to confess to using third party software to do the tweak.

How to get update warnings-wu-settings.jpg

I have Windows 10 Home.

dalchina · 30 Oct 2017

@Callender- thanks for confirming it does work in Home. I went through this with someone who had Home and they found it didn't.
I've amended my post to reflect that.

Carefully reading the tutorial document supports the idea that Notify works in Home.

Comments below the article from Winaero's site refer to someone who didn't succeed with Home.
I suppose it's possible they just didn't manage to configure it correctly.

Mustang · 30 Oct 2017

Thanks everyone for the inputs. I have Windows 10 Pro 64bit but could not find any option in settings to force windows to notify me before downloading updates. So used tutorial reg edit files.

Cheers

Callender · 13 Dec 2017

dalchina said:

@Callender- thanks for confirming it does work in Home. I went through this with someone who had Home and they found it didn't.
I've amended my post to reflect that.

Carefully reading the tutorial document supports the idea that Notify works in Home.

Comments below the article from Winaero's site refer to someone who didn't succeed with Home.
I suppose it's possible they just didn't manage to configure it correctly.

Just a follow up to say that I switched to an alternative method of manually checking for and downloading updates in Windows 10 home.

How to get update warnings-windows-updates-search-_-download-_-installation-.jpg

How to get update warnings-2017-12-13-22_55_43-3-updates-through-determined-overall-size-598-mb-.jpg

It works okay but I reckon that some users would find configuration tricky. Also the software comes with features that the user might not want or need.

https://www.winprivacy.de/english-home/instructions-1/

Have a look at the sections below the heading Windows updates via W10Privacy for more info.