Why do you want to block windows updates?

Because working in security sometimes I want to test malware on outdated AV, blocking full internet causes command and control failures, creating a weird spot to analyse traffic. Disabling Defender is not persistent (it seems to switch itself on, etc).

If you disable defender using group policy, from my experience that's been disabled consistently for a year no problems. Latest version of Windows 10.

Note you need to disable tamper protection and reboot first otherwise it silently reenables itself.

It's standard practice. You don't roll out updates until they are tested.

You are looking for WSUS (Windows Server Update Services). If you have Windows Server somewhere, you can add WSUS role to it and use group policies to point your clients to it for updates.

Then, in WSUS console, you set up approvals for updates and then the updates will be offered to clients only once you approve them. You can divide the clients into groups and manage the approvals for these groups individually, so you can have a separate testing group.

Because somehow it gets worse and less usable each time. Also, planned obsolescence.

Sometimes Windows installs an upgrade that insists I must connect my user account to a Microsoft account. It will not let me boot the OS if I don't. Only hell if I know what my Microsoft account is. I never use it. I need to use my web browser to find out. But I can't, because I need to set up my Microsoft account first. So I have to use another computer which will let me use it even without a Microsoft account, and then try to figure out my Microsoft account password. Then boot into Windows, let it connect the accounts, go into account options and try to find the hidden dialog to separate them again because hell fucking no I don't want Microsoft to associate my user account with my email address.

Being shafted like this every now and then has eroded my trust for Windows' updates.

> eroded my trust for Windows' updates

Remember that security vulnerabilities in Windows are discovered all the time, so it's dangerous to use Windows without installing the updates. If you (rightfully) don't want to install the updates, then you should switch to an OS that actually respects your freedom instead, like Linux.

I can also just accept the risk.

(I already do all my important work on Linux, since like 20 years)

The nuke-it-from-orbit approach works for me but ymmv: a default-deny firewall for the Windows IP on the default gateway with external squid proxy for Firefox. netstat -on | grep $PID to add rules to allow access per process for things that just have to get through.

Look into WSUS / Windows Update Services

He said "without an enterprise install"

Set up SOCKS5 proxy (e.g. github.com/rofl0r/microsocks) on the nearest router and configure router's firewall to drop all outgoing packets whose TTL is near 128 (Windows). Then configure FoxyProxy in Firefox or Chrome to use your SOCKS5 proxy. Windows will think it's offline, browser and other apps which are aware of your proxy will work fine.

> how to cache windows updates on my local network without an enterprise windows install

https://download.wsusoffline.net/

will download Windows updates and create an installer for them.

I'm surprised "in-home router-level network caching" hasn't become a thing, really. Lets say you have a family of 4, all with iphones that need updating, windows updates, downloading same games from steam, app store, etc. It could be significantly sped up for whole house to download file 1 time instead of 4.

I believe Microsoft use BitTorrent to distribute updates. It took me a while to realise that many Linux distros use unencrypted http to enable caching, using signature checks to verify file integrity