Win10 started downloading on it's own! How to delete?

[Matt_Stevens]

Wow this is nuts. I did not realize this was possible. I installed some updates on my Windows 7 based PC and made sure to uncheck the Win10 upgrade which was in the optional section. Pathetic that it keeps checking itself by DEFAULT!

Well after a restart I take a pee and come back to find Windows 10 is downloading and near 80%. WTF!!

I immediately hit stop.

I do not want Windows 10 on my system. Period. End of story.This PC will have a life of maybe another 3 years and since I absolutely love Windows 7, that's what I am sticking with.

How can I delete the useless data that is now somewhere on my too small 120Gb SSD drive? I searched and found so many differing opinions I am unsure of how to handle this.

 

[OlyAR15]

Good luck. I haven't been able to do a windows update because it keeps trying to download w10 rather than the updates. Which is silly since I already have w10 downloaded onto USB drives, and I can't update my main PC until they fix the DTS Connect bug ( at least 3 weeks).

Have tried uninstalling the update that gives you the icon, I check and hide the windows 10 download in WU, tried a number of steps published on various sites, and every time I try to do an update, it still tries to download w10.

 

[Mushkins]

Just run Disk Cleanup. It gets rid of all the old cached Windows Update stuff as part of it's normal process.

 

[Nashemon]

Normal updates are downloaded to C: \Windows\SoftwareDistribution. You can delete this entire folder with no repercussions. It's a common fix for Windows Update errors. I found online that you may find a hidden folder that has the Windows 10 pre-download at C: \$windows.~BT

If you don't intend to update to Windows 10, you should also uninstall then hide the updates that trigger it. I followed this guide on a customer's computer and it seemed to do the trick nicely.

http://www.ghacks.net/2015/04/17/how-to-remove-windows-10-upgrade-updates-in-windows-7-and-8/

 

[mikeymikec]

I hid the Win10 update, problem solved.

Win10 is downloaded to a hidden folder on the root of C drive. It's called "$Windows.~BT" on my Win7 PC.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Disable "recommended" updates in the Windows update settings so it only does critical security updates.
Remove the 2 or 3 updates listed in this forum section that facilitate the Windows 10 upgrade.
Delete the Windows BT folder as mentioned.

 

[Puffnstuff]

I would really consider allowing it to finish and upgrade you in place to 10 securing your copy of it. If you don't like it you can activate it and then roll back to 7 knowing that you now have the ability to clean install 10 from a dvd or thumb drive without issue on your hardware in the future.

 

[Ketchup]

Uninstall update KB3035583 and then hide it. That should stop you from future downloads, and from seeing the update. Others have shown you how to remove the existing data.

 

[Berryracer]

Wow this is nuts. I did not realize this was possible. I installed some updates on my Windows 7 based PC and made sure to uncheck the Win10 upgrade which was in the optional section. Pathetic that it keeps checking itself by DEFAULT!

Well after a restart I take a pee and come back to find Windows 10 is downloading and near 80%. WTF!!

I immediately hit stop.

I do not want Windows 10 on my system. Period. End of story.This PC will have a life of maybe another 3 years and since I absolutely love Windows 7, that's what I am sticking with.

How can I delete the useless data that is now somewhere on my too small 120Gb SSD drive? I searched and found so many differing opinions I am unsure of how to handle this.

You need to uninstall these updates which you probably have installed and then hide them when they show up again:

KB2505438
KB2670838
KB2952664
KB3021917
KB3035583
KB3075249


Microsoft if very desperate to infect everyone's PC with their virus Windows 10

 

[fire400]

Uninstall update KB3035583 and then hide it. That should stop you from future downloads, and from seeing the update. Others have shown you how to remove the existing data.

my 8.1 system kept redownloading it for whatever reason...
so i just gave up ... and left it alone.

but then after i started getting the popups!!!, it got really annoying.

Using the Windows registry editor, do this:

Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Gwx

Create a new REG_DWORD registry value called: DisableGwx

Give it a value of: 1

http://winsupersite.com/windows-10/disabling-windows-10-upgrade-notification

so far this trick has worked for me and hasn't given me any issues yet.

 

[Puffnstuff]

All you have to do is hide the windows 10 upgrade under optional upgrades and the process will stop. I did this until I figured out which 3rd party programs were causing me issues with my upgrade and then I unhid it but ended up using the disc anyways to perform the upgrade I'm now using.