How to Pause Windows Updates and Uninstall an Update That Causes Problems

Has your PC slowed down after a Windows update, a program stopped opening, or the PC suddenly restarted in the middle of your work? Here is how to put updates off for a while and how to remove an update that causes problems. The steps are for Windows 11; Windows 10 is similar, with slightly different menu names.

1. Pause updates

• Go to Settings → Windows Update and choose a period next to Pause updates. You can pause one week at a time, for up to 5 weeks.
• In Windows 10, go to Settings → Update & Security → Windows Update and click "Pause updates for 7 days", or pick a date under Advanced options.
• When the pause ends, you have to install the pending updates first before you can pause again.
• Pausing is handy before an important presentation or recording, but putting off security updates for too long is risky.

2. Stop restarts while you work

• Go to Settings → Windows Update → Advanced options → Active hours and set the hours you usually use the PC. Windows won't restart automatically for updates during that time.
• Set it to "Automatically" to let Windows decide based on your usage, or to "Manually" to choose up to 18 hours yourself.
• Turn on Notify me when a restart is required on the same page to get a warning before a restart.

3. Uninstall an update that causes problems

• Go to Settings → Windows Update → Update history to see recently installed updates, their dates and KB numbers. Look for the update that matches the day the problem started.
• Click Uninstall updates near the bottom of the same page, then click Uninstall next to that KB number. Restart the PC when it finishes.
• In Windows 10, click View update history → Uninstall updates to open the Control Panel list, then select the update and remove it.
• Some security-related updates are not listed or cannot be removed.
• A removed update is installed again at the next check, so pause updates right after removing it and wait for a fixed version.

4. If that doesn't help or Windows won't start

• If a restore point was created before the update, you can roll back with System Restore.
• After a major feature update (for example, 24H2 to 25H2), you can go back to the previous version within 10 days of installing it from Settings → System → Recovery → Go back.
• If Windows won't start, choose Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Uninstall Updates in the recovery environment, then click Uninstall latest quality update.

Source: Microsoft Support – Manage updates in Windows