Windows 10 – How to Prevent Upgrade

How to Prevent Windows 10 Upgrade

As most of you know, Windows 10 is here (and it’s awesome!).  As most of you also know, SOLIDWORKS is not quite compatible with it just yet.  When I first heard about the free upgrade, my machine asked me to reserve a copy;  what I didn’t know is that once you do that, Windows Update will force a scheduled install time within 72hrs once it has the files it needs for install.  SOLIDWORKS will support Windows 10, but not until 2015 SP5, and when 2016 is released later in October, it will also support Windows 10.  In the meantime, follow these instructions below to remove the update files before Windows 10 installs.  You can reverse these steps later when you are ready to install Windows 10, or you can bypass the waiting and download the install files using the Media creation tool from Microsoft here.

Scenario 1

KB3035583 is installed and the Get Windows 10 App is running in the system tray but no reservation has been made.

1. Uninstall KB3035583. This is the Get Windows 10 app and shows in the system tray.
   a.  From within windows update, click ‘view update history’ from the left.
   b.  Click ‘installed updates’ at the top of the update history window.
   c.   Search for KB3035583 and uninstall.
2. Once the system has restarted check for updates once again and if KB3035583 or an offer to get the Windows 10 Upgrade show up, then hide those updates by right-clicking on each one of them and selecting ‘Hide updates’.  Since these are optional updates they should not start automatically.
3. Since there was no reservation made no pre-downloading of the install files should have occurred. In case they did see Scenario 2, step 3 below.

Scenario 2

KB3035583 is installed and the Get Windows 10 App is running in the system tray and a reservation was made to get the free Windows 10 Upgrade.

1. You can verify your system is waiting for the Windows 10 upgrade by clicking on the Get Windows 10 App and seeing what it says in the Get Windows 10 App window. If it indicates you have a reservation, then it is likely the pre-download has already happened on your system.
2. Uninstall KB3035583 and then choose to reboot later when prompted.
3. Run the Disk Clean up tool and select the Clean-up system files after the initial scan. Select the Temporary installation files for deletion. Once they are removed reboot your system and then check for Windows Updates once again.
4. When/If KB3035583 and/or the Windows 10 Upgrade are offered just hide those updates as described in Scenario 1 above.

Scenario 3

You have already reserved your Windows 10 upgrade and received the prompt on your system that the upgrade is ready to begin.

The prompt offers you the opportunity to schedule the upgrade over the following 72 hours or to start it immediately.

If you pick the latter then the upgrade will begin immediately.  You can always use the Revert option in Windows 10 to revert to your previous operating system. (I elected to power down at 15% while it was trying to update, even though it says not to, and then researched/wrote this article…)

If you schedule the update sometime in the next three days, then you can still stop it from happening by following these steps:

1. Uninstall KB3035583 and select the option to reboot later just like in Scenario 2.
2. Run the Disk Cleanup tool as described in Scenario 2 and remove the installation files.
3. Wait for the scheduled time to arrive because that has already been set in motion if you choose a time for the upgrade. One hour prior to that you will see a window on your screen indicating that it is almost time for the upgrade to happen. This dialog does offer you the chance to reschedule as well.
4. Once the timer reaches zero then the system will begin the upgrade process.
5. Following the reboot, the attempt to upgrade will fail because you removed the temporary installation files earlier in this scenario.
6. You now need to check Windows Update and hide KB3035583 and the Windows 10 Upgrade when it is offered so they will not start again.

Scenario 4

If all else fails and you get the upgrade and find yourself in Windows 10.

If you simply do not want Windows 10, then just revert back to your previous operating system (This can be done from system restore.)  Be aware there is one caveat to this process and that is you must do so within 30 days of upgrading to Windows 10 because old Windows installation related files will be automatically removed from the upgraded system. Before you do this, use a system audit tool (like Belarc Advisor) and get the windows 10 product key.  You can use this later along with the Media creation tool from Microsoft (follow this link) to install a fresh (not upgrade) copy of windows 10 in the future.

SOLIDWORKS 2016 is right around the corner, and if Microsoft had waited just a couple more months, none of us would be having this conversation.  Both SOLIDWORKS 2016 and Windows 10 look great, and I look forward to using both in the (near) Future!

Happy modeling!

Post By: Alex Worsfold | Application Engineer