Cancel or delay Windows 10 from installing

[Tarun 20]

Some people wish to delay, postpone, or just not install Windows 10, especially due to the privacy issues. Several tools have cropped up to help users adjust their privacy settings too.

Have think I have found a(n unsupported) solution to this problem. Next few days (and upcoming Windows Updates) will have to prove if it is a permanent/good solution, so I you want to follow it, you do so at your own risk:

 

The steps I took:

1. De-install KB3035583, this is the GWX (get Windows 10) software, which (amongst things) provides the taskbar icon and defines the steps the system should take. This I have done to prevent running into this same situation again.
2. Stop the Windows Update service.
3. Remove all registry entries in the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\OSUpgrade" tree.
4. Remove these two registry entries in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\Auto Update:
   • OSUpgradePendingReboot
   • OSUpgradeRebootScheduledTime
5. Reboot the system
6. Run "cleanmgr" and remove the temporary windows installer files (saved 6,21 GB on my system).
   That removes the "C:\$WINDOWS.~BT" folder where the downloaded Windows 10 files were stored.

When running Windows Update again, it marks KB3035583 as an important update again. For now I have chosen to "hide" it. By the time I want to upgrade to Windows 10 I will install KB3035583 and follow the (now familiar) process, or download the Windows 10 ISO and perform the upgrade manually.

 

If I encounter any adverse effects of my actions, I will note them here.

 

I hope this helps people in a similar situation. If someone follows my tips (no guarantees given, this is not Microsoft official or anything!) and runs into trouble, *please* post an update here for future readers! If this works perfectly, I'd like to hear that too :-)

 

Source: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-update/how-to-cancel-windows-10-upgrade-for-now/71a30488-8171-48fe-9a4d-728b4081bfd3?auth=1