Blocking Win10 Updates - Temporarily

[ReformedCharacter]

My wife has a Win 10 laptop which she needs for work. I frequently hear from her that her machine starts doing upgrades at a moment when it is inconvenient such as when she attends a meeting and needs to use it. Is it possible to use the hosts file to block the Windows upgrade servers at least on a temporary basis so that the machine cannot upgrade at an inconvenient moment?

RC

[Watis]

Yes. In: Settings - Windows Update - Change active hours.

Enter the hours during which Windows should not pester her to restart.

HTH,

Watis

[Breelander]

My wife has a Win 10 laptop which she needs for work...

Does she have Windows 10 Home or Pro?

Both versions have the Active Hours feature that Watis told you about. This is the primary means to prevent a restart happening at an inconvenient time. However that just stops the Restart required to finish installing an update, it doesn't stop the update downloading and beginning the install. While that shouldn't interfere with your work, it may slow the machine a bit.

Pro has additional controls in 'Windows Update > Advanced settings' that allow you defer updates or even pause them completely for up to 35 days.

[Infrasonic]

Switch it to metered connection, you can manually choose when you want the updates to download and install.
Additionally it speeds up boot times.