Block Windows 11 Upgrade and Keep Windows 10 – How to do it

If you don’t want to receive notifications for Windows 10 upgrades to Windows 11, you can block them. However, you can still receive security updates; we’ll tell you how.

Windows 11 is distributed by the manufacturer Microsoft as an automatic upgrade via Windows Update to PCs with Windows 10. Bug fixes and security updates will remain available until 2025, and new system requirements for Windows 10 will continue to be developed until then.

If you prefer Windows 10, you can block the upgrade to Windows 11 and continue to use your PC as usual. Due to changes such as a more cumbersome context menu, the new file explorer without ribbon and search field, and the taskbar stripped of important features, this may well be worthwhile.

Depending on the hardware, the performance of certain games in the first version of Windows 11 may also be worse than with Windows 10.

To block the upgrade to Windows 11, you can use a registry edit in all Windows 10 versions. If you have Windows 10 Pro, there is also a switch for this in the group policies. You can also retrofit the group policies in Windows 10 Home. We present both methods here.

Block Windows 11 Upgrade with Local Group Policy Editor

1. Open the group policy editor “Gpedit” via the Windows 10 search

2. On the left, switch to the path ” Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update > Windows Update for Business”.

3. Double-click the “Select target version of the feature update” button on the right.

4. Select “Activated” at the top and enter “Windows 10” in the first field and “20H1” in the second field. After a restart, you will receive updates for Windows 10 and the Windows 11 upgrade will be blocked.

Alternatively, you can also block the upgrade to Windows 11 with the following registry edit.

Block Windows 11 Upgrade with Registry Edit

1. Open the registry editor “Regedit” via the Windows 10 search.

2. Confirm the User Account Control message by clicking on “Yes”.

3. In the path bar, go to

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate

4. Click in the right-hand field and select “New – DWORD value (32-bit)”.

5. Give the DWORD value created the name “TargetReleaseVersion”.

6. Right-click again, select “New – String” and name the created entry “TargetReleaseVersionInfo”.

7. Open “TargetReleaseVersion” by double-clicking, enter “1” for “Value” and save with “OK”.

8. Open “TargetReleaseVersionInfo” by double-clicking, enter “21H1” for “Value” and save with “OK”. After a restart, you will receive updates for Windows 10 and the Windows 11 upgrade has been blocked.

If you have already upgraded to Windows 11 by mistake, you can undo this like a feature upgrade. If you are unsure yet and want to test Windows 11 a little longer, you can extend the reset period for feature updates from 30 to 60 days.