Windows 10 is available as a free upgrade for the Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 8.1 users. While many people have welcomed this, others feel very comfortable with their existing operating system and do not really wish to upgrade. Until now such users who do not wish to upgrade to Windows 10 could opt out and stay with their old Windows version. But lately many people have complained that Windows 10 installation files are being downloaded on their disks even after they have opted out from the free upgrade. They have reported a massive $Windows.~BT folder containing around 6 GB of Windows 10 installation files. If you do not wish to upgrade to Windows 10, then you can stop the forced upgrade in the following manner in Windows 7 or 8.1:
- First of all update the Windows Automatic Update client on your PC to the latest version. Windows 7 SP1 users can install KB3065987 and Windows 8.1 users can install KB3065988 for this.
- Press the hotkey Win+R to open the Run dialog. In the Run dialog, type regedit and press Enter. This will open the Registry Editor window.
- In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows
- Right-click on the Windows sub-key and select New → Key from menu. Type WindowsUpdate as the name of the new key. If the WindowsUpdate subkey already exists, then you can skip this step.
- Right-click on the WindowsUpdate key, select New → DWORD (32-bit) Value from the menu. Type DisableOSUpgrade as the name of the new value.
- Double-click on DisableOSUpgrade and change its value from 0 to 1.
- Restart Windows and then you will no longer have to worry about forced Windows 10 upgrades.
Another method to prevent Windows 10 upgrade from being downloaded on your system is by simply disabling automatic updates. But this is not recommended in the long run as this will also prevent the regular updates from being downloaded on your system.