What you need to disable Windows updates?

[CodeBro]

The Windows Update pausing guide that is linked above will get you as close to your goal as possible. Pausing updates on W10/W11 doesn't disable it entirely, but turns off the primary automated features, and then it continues to run a limited number of components that check for and install things it deems critical, such as certificates and Defender patches.

Using all the tweaks in that guide will:
- Pause updates out of the box on a clean install
- Allow updates to pause forever, rather than the 35 day limit
- Prevent drivers from automatically downloading or installing
- Prevent Microsoft Store apps from automatically updating

Microcode updates aren't going to be affected by anything unless you're deleting the microcode files, and you will know if you are. I don't know how NET updates are handled for sure, since I don't use them, but I'll bet pausing Windows Update will stop those patches from downloading and installing, so if you want those updates they'll need to be done manually.

Also, do I need to change any more windows-update settings inside NTLite itself like the ones in "Components -> Remoting and Privacy -> Windows Updates" or the ones in "Configure -> Settings -> Windows Updates" ? just asking, in order to avoid mixing and confusing the settigns order, so that NTLite does not override your tweaks, which would be counterproductive

 

[Hellbovine]

NTLite will have some, but not all of those tweaks, and I'm not sure offhand which ones correlate to the menu text. What matters is that the last tweaks applied to an image are the ones that win. You could integrate the registry file into an image to pause things on a clean install, or double-click on it at the desktop to apply the tweaks without a reformat, and either method will overwrite previous settings. Any group policy tweaks used will still override custom settings, so keep that in mind in case there's an issue.