in visual studio 2026 how do i turn off automatic updates

Question

in visual studio 2026 how do i turn off automatic updates

Ron Baker 10

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2 answers

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Answer 1

To turn off automatic updates in Visual Studio 2026, adjust the update settings inside the IDE.

Open Visual Studio 2026.
On the menu bar, select Tools > Options.
Expand Environment, then select Product Updates.
In this pane:
- Clear Automatically download updates to stop Visual Studio from downloading updates in the background.
- Clear Always update on close (or do not enable it) so Visual Studio does not automatically apply updates when the IDE is closed.
Choose the installation mode Download all, then install only when manually updating, or simply leave the defaults and use Help > Check for Updates when an update is desired.

If extension update checks are also not desired:

Go to Tools > Options.
Expand All Settings > Environment.
Select Extensions.
Clear Automatically check for updates and Install updates automatically.

With these options disabled, Visual Studio 2026 and its extensions will no longer update automatically; updates must be triggered manually via Help > Check for Updates.

References:

Answer 2

Lizzy Dinh (WICLOUD CORPORATION) 705 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi @Ron Baker ,

Thank you for reaching out — we’re happy to assist with your question.

To disable automatic updates in Visual Studio 2026, please follow the steps below:

After open Visual Studio 2026, select Tools > Options
Expand Environment, go to Product Updates
To disable automatic updates, simply uncheck the option for automatic updates and click OK to apply the change.

For extensions, you can specify which ones should be excluded from automatic updates. In the same Product Updates section, open the Extension Manager dropdown and add any extensions you want to exclude. These extensions will then remain untouched during future update cycles. User's image

I hope the screenshots help make the process easy to follow. If you found this guidance helpful, I would truly appreciate your feedback using the instructions provided. If you need any further clarification, feel free to leave a comment — I’m here to help.

Wishing you a wonderful day ahead!

Lizzy Dinh (WICLOUD CORPORATION) 705 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-30T02:57:24.4833333+00:00

Hi @Ron Baker ,

Sorry to bother you. I'm just checking in to see whether my answer is helpful for your concern.

If you have any questions, please feel free to comment below. I'll be happy to help!
Scott 5 Reputation points

2026-05-18T17:02:23.3466667+00:00

I'm searching for a solution to this, and I've turned off 'Automatically download updates', but this only controls pre-downloading. It doesn't stop updates from automatically happening when you close Visual Studio.
Lizzy Dinh (WICLOUD CORPORATION) 705 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-05-19T08:34:12.68+00:00

Hi @Scott ,

Thank you for sharing your concern with us.

I’d like to clarify that, by default, Visual Studio does not perform updates silently without user involvement. Based on your description, it’s possible that the “Update on close” option was unintentionally enabled, which allows updates to install automatically after you exit the application.

You may find it helpful to review and adjust your update preferences using this guide: Customize update settings for Visual Studio.

I hope this information is helpful. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any further questions or need additional assistance.

Wishing you a great day!
Jason MacHardy 0 Reputation points

2026-09-29T21:15:54.88+00:00
Turning off "Automatically download updates" only turns off, automatically downloading updates; it does not however stop the following:

The incessant pop-up both when you load a project and randomly during work on a project, telling you its going to update. At which point you can either click Postpone or Update.

I've actually had it update when I specifically told it not to, and selected postpone, when I reloaded VS 2026. So it also doesn't really seem to work 100% of the time.

There isn't a need to fully update a development environment and recompile everything every single week, that's insane. Security issues, sure, if you're working on environments that require security. In my case I am not and I don't really need a constant stream of updates.

What this actually does for me every single week, is hinder my progress as I am forced to wait 4 hours every Tuesday for VS 2026 to update a couple of patches here and there for things, that I am probably not even using. (The four hours is the result of me being forced to re-compile my project. I should never have to do a full recompile of my project; in my case I am using Unreal 5.8.1 and once you've compiled it once, you only need to compile tiny fractional changes.)

Because of this update nonsense being shoved down the pipe, I am forced weekly to fully re-compile.

There needs to be an ACTUAL disable updates checkbox.

Do I need to go into my registry and nuke VS 2026 from using the internet?
Seriously this is obnoxiously absurd.
Lizzy Dinh (WICLOUD CORPORATION) 705 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-09-30T02:20:58.87+00:00
Hi @Jason MacHardy , @Scott ,

Thank you for providing the additional details and clarifying the scenario. I understand this may cause some inconvenience, so I’d like to suggest a few steps that may help.

Based on the behavior you described, there are two separate update settings in Visual Studio 2026 that are worth checking. Disabling Automatically download updates prevents Visual Studio from downloading updates automatically in the background, but it does not by itself prevent an available update from being applied when Visual Studio is closed.

To prevent both behaviors, please go to:

Tools > Options > Environment > Product Updates

Then make sure the following options are disabled:

Automatically download updates

Always update on close

With both options disabled, you can control when Visual Studio is updated rather than having an update downloaded in the background or applied when you close the IDE.

If you would also like to dismiss an existing update notification, go to View > User Notifications. From there, you can select the X next to the notification, or use Dismiss All to clear the notifications.

I hope this clarification helps address the behavior you’re seeing. If Visual Studio continues to install updates automatically after both settings are disabled, please let me know so we can look into the scenario further.

Have a nice day!
Jason MacHardy 0 Reputation points

2026-10-01T19:26:05.72+00:00

As I mentioned, you can not actually disable them;
1. There is only an option to check or uncheck "Automatically download updates". And as an important note, even with this left "unchecked" It STILL downloads the update and forces you to update.
2. There is no "Always update on close" option. There is only Installation mode: Install while downloading or download all then install. Neither of these affect the simple truth; VS FORCES updates. There is a little hotlink in that window, that claims "change update settings" but this actually goes into a window "UPDATE NOW" and there are no actual settings there, it just forces you to update.
3. The main reason this is a massive pain is multi-tiered;
3a. It forces updates no matter what options you choose.
3b. It locks all of your project files everywhere; you're no longer allowed to work on your project anywhere.
3c. It forces a FULL RECOMPILE of hundreds of thousands of files, that don't need to be recompiled.

3d. No one, anywhere in any development capacity (unless hi-test cybersecurity) want's to fully recompile everything every single week let alone update their whole environment with 'hotfixes' and 'patches' of stuff like "Apple Watch Icon Update" or "Android Added a New Button", I kid you not this is the kind of stuff I am seeing. I don't even use those platforms and they aren't included in my project!

All in all, this is why no one wants to use this application and have been fleeing in droves to Rider.

Edit: Also as of this reply, I once again hit "postpone" on the pop-up in the IDE (this happens every hour btw) and yet, it's now forcing me to update as it has locked all of my project files and I am unable to affect any changes. So even the "Postpone" doesn't do anything.
Lizzy Dinh (WICLOUD CORPORATION) 705 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-10-02T04:06:44.38+00:00
Hi @Jason MacHardy ,

I can certainly understand how disruptive this unexpected update behavior has been, and I appreciate the time you’ve taken to share the details of your experience.

Based on Microsoft’s documented update behavior, Visual Studio normally notifies you when an update is available, while automatically applying an update after closing is a configurable behavior. Given what you’ve described, I believe this behavior is worth looking into more closely.

If the issue continues, please select Help > Send Feedback > Report a Problem in Visual Studio. You can also select Report a problem from the Visual Studio Installer. If possible, please include:

Your Visual Studio edition and complete version from Help > About

Your Windows edition, version, and OS build

A screenshot of the update notification

Clear steps to reproduce the issue

The built-in feedback tool can collect diagnostic information that may help the Visual Studio team investigate what is happening.

As Microsoft Q&A is a community platform, we have limited visibility into your environment and diagnostic information. I’ve done my best to narrow this down based on the information available here, and I want to make sure your experience and feedback also reach the team that can investigate the behavior more closely. Submitting a report through Visual Studio would therefore be the most helpful next step.

After submitting the report, you’re also welcome to share the Developer Community report link here so the community can follow the issue and any updates.

Thank you again, Jason, for your cooperation and for the detailed information you’ve shared throughout this discussion. I genuinely appreciate your feedback and perspective.