Microsoft Reportedly Is Forcing Windows 10 May 2020 Update On PCs Without Consent
Some Windows 10 users report that Microsoft is force feeding their PCs the May 2020 Update despite have selected the option to pause updates. Meanwhile, I'm over here wondering why the hell my main desktop still "isn't quite ready" for the feature update, as a message in Windows Update politely keeps telling me.
The May 2020 Update is the first of two major feature upgrades to Windows 10 planned for this year. It bumps Windows 10 to version 2004 (up from version 1909 or 1903). After many rounds of testing within the Windows Insider program, Microsoft flipped the switch began doling it out to the general public on May 27, on a staggered basis.
Other than not being among the first batches of people to have access to the update, there are reasons for wanting to wait a bit before upgrading. Various bugs inevitably slip through the cracks. The October 2018 Update was an especially hot mess (Microsoft even yanked it offline for a bit to work out the initial kinks), but more recent updates have been better.
Nevertheless, it seems some people are not getting a choice in the matter. According to Computerworld's Woody Leonhard, who runs Woody on Windows, there appears to be a bug within the 'pause updates' feature.
"I had a chance to go back over the evidence, and it sure looks to me like some folks are getting upgraded from Win10 1903 and 1909 Home and Pro to Win10 version 2004—without a 'Download and install' option, without their consent—if pause updates expires," Leonhard writes.
Leonhard says "many people" report having the same problem. Looking over the reports, he believes there is a specific chain of events that lead to the May 2020 Update being pushed out without consent: A PC needs to be deemed "ready to upgrade" by Microsoft's AI scheme, a user must have "pause updates" turned on, and then either the pause updates feature expires or it gets manually turned off.
If those events occur, it can trigger an update to Windows 10 version 2004, Leonhard says, even in situations where Windows 10 Pro users have "defer feature updates" configured to extend feature updates.
Have you run into this problem? If so, let us know in the comments section below.
