If you don’t want the Google Chrome browser to automatically update, you can disable it via Windows settings. Here are the steps to disable Chrome auto-update in Windows.
By default, whenever there is an update available, the Google Chrome browser updates itself in the background. When you relaunch the browser, the update will install automatically. In fact, the update is so seamless that most Windows users don’t even notice or know when and how Chrome updates itself. For the most part, the auto-update is pretty awesome as it makes sure that the browser is up to date in terms of bug fixes, security patches, and new features.
Though the Chrome updates are pretty seamless and pain-free, there might be times when you want to stop the auto-update. This is particularly useful if the new updates are causing problems or if you want to use a specific Chrome version without installing new updates automatically in the background. Thankfully, it is pretty easy to disable Chrome auto-update.
In this quick and simple post, let me show you the steps to disable Chrome automatic updates in Windows 10.
Steps to Disable Chrome Auto Update in Windows
To disable the Chrome auto-update, you have to disable the “gupdate” and “gupdatem” services in the Windows Service Manager. These services are responsible for checking and trigger the background update process. Here’re the steps you should follow.
- Open the Run window. You can do that by pressing the “Win + R” shortcut or searching for it in the Start menu.
- Type “services.msc” and press the Enter key on the keyboard.
- After opening the Services window, find and right-click on the “Google Update Service(gupdate)” service.
- Select “Properties“.
- Select “Disabled” from the “Startup type” dropdown menu.
- Click the “Apply” and “Ok” buttons.
- Next, find the right-click on the “Google Update Service(gupdatem)” service.
- Select “Properties“.
- Select “Disabled” from the “Startup type” dropdown menu.
- Click the “Apply” and “Ok” buttons.
- Close the services window.
- Restart Windows 10.
After restarting the system, the two services will no longer start automatically or manually. Since the services are no longer running in the background, the Chrome browser will not update automatically.
That is all. You’ve successfully disabled the Google Chrome automatic update in Windows 10. If you ever want to enable the auto-update feature, simply follow the same steps but select “Automatic (delayed)” and “Manual” for “gupdate” and “gupdatem” services respectively. Restart the system after changing the status of the services to make the changes apply to Windows 10.
I hope that helps. If you are stuck or need some help, comment below and I will try to help as much as possible. If you like this article, check out how to disable/enable Chrome extensions at once and how to clear or flush DNS cache in the Chrome browser.
