Huge thanks to superuser.com’s thread for pointing me in the right direction and for providing the Windows 10 Home registry edit!
Disable automatic updates via Local Group Policy Editor
- On Windows 10 Pro, go to Start, type “gpedit.msc” and hit enter. This will open the Local Group Policy Editor.
- Under “Computer Configuration” in the left pane, go to Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update.
- Double-click on the setting “No auto-restart with logged on users for scheduled automatic updates installations”.
- Choose the “Enabled” radio button, and then click “OK”.
- Double-click on the setting “Configure Automatic Updates”. (Skip this and the next step if you’re OK with updates happening when nobody is logged on to the machine).
- Choose the “Enabled” radio button, then choose the appropriate setting under “Configure automatic updating” and click “OK”.I chose “3 – Auto download and notify for install” so I’m notified when updates are ready, but they won’t happen without my say so. You can also get more flexibility than the “Active Hours” section in the Settings App will allow.
- Close Local Group Policy Editor.
- Install updates as soon as you can, and consider undoing these changes when you no longer need to prevent updates from rebooting your machine.
Disable automatic updates via editing the registry (untested)