What does do not connect to Windows Update location?

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When Windows Update is configured to receive updates from an Intranet update service, it begins to retrieve information from the public Windows Update service periodically.

This event occurs by design, mainly for enabling future connections to Windows Update and other services like Microsoft Update or the Windows Store. You can prevent this behavior i.e., stop Windows from connecting to any Windows Update Internet locations.

Prevent Windows from connecting to any Windows Update Internet locations

Every administrator experiences the same challenges while managing Windows Updates – installing them promptly, managing them without affecting the workflow, and preventing any unexpected restarts from cutting into productivity. Sometimes, additional problems can occur. To prevent Windows from connecting to any Windows Update Internet locations, follow these steps.

Press Win+R in combination to open the Run dialog box.

Type regedit in the empty field of the box and press Enter.

When the Registry Editor opens, navigate to the following path address –

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate.

Here, switch to the right-pane, right-click and select DWORD. Name it as:

DoNotConnectToWindowsUpdateInternetLocations

Double-click the entry to edit the string value. Change it to 1.

Simply close the Registry Editor and exit.

Restart your PC to allow the changes to take effect.

The registry changes when configured will enable Do not connect to any Windows Update Internet locations GPO setting and stop Windows from connecting to any Windows Update Internet locations.

This setting is applicable only when this PC is set up to connect to an intranet update service using the ‘Specify intranet Microsoft update service location’ policy.

Using Group Policy

To configure the same via Group Policy Editor, follow the order in sequence –

Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components> Windows Update.

Under Windows Update Setting, open Do not connect to any Windows Update Internet locations.

Check the Enabled option to enable the policy.

Instantly, the connection to public services such as the Microsoft Store, Windows Update will stop working.

Hope this helps.