Windows 10 Version 2004: Forced upgrade without user consent

[German]The new Windows 10 May 2020 Update (Version 2004) has been generally available since May 27, 2020 and is being rolled out only slowly. But I have already seen reports that systems are automatically updated to Windows 10 Version 2004 without any user interaction.

Feature update: This is how it should work

Since Windows 10 version 1903, feature updates should be offered as optional. The user must explicitly trigger the download and installation, as shown in the following screenshot for version 1903.

(Feature updates in Windows 10 May 2019 Update, Source: Microsoft)

Starting with Windows 10 May 2019 Update, Version 1903, Microsoft grants users in all versions a possibility to postpone quality updates by 5 x 7 days (35 days). I had described this in the article Windows 10 May 2019 Update brings back Update control. At the same time Microsoft has introduced a second, positive innovation. Functional updates can be postponed by the user until shortly before the end of the support period of the installation (see Windows 10 V1903: Update Control Inconsistencies – Part 2).

A reader’s feedback

End of May 2020 German blog reader H.v.H. contacted me and reported a strange observation (thanks for that). He writes:

Hello Günter,

without any action on my part, MS installed the 2004 update.
Only the reboot was still pending.

Procedure:

within 6 min 2 reboots
blue screen with “Updates for you are being prepared
after 7:30 min in total (SSD hard disk)
started Edge on my normal screen view
Firefox remained the default browser
tested the scanner: ok (driver works)
of the 86 installed programs, 35 got the current installation date (4 of them from MS)
Everything seems to be going as usual.

At the same time I received this comment here in my blog. EP refers to a discussion at askwoody.com where the same thing happened to a user. And Susan Bradley also puts together some observations of this kind in this askwoody short article. This is addressed also here.

Another reader observation about defer update

In the blog post Windows 10 Version 2004/Windows Server 2004 released I wrote that all feature updates are optional, and that the user need to click the Download and install link, to triger an upgrade. Blog-reader Martin responded with the following observation.

Yes and no… this is only true (at least according to my tests 1903->1909) if the setting “Delay function updates and/or quality updates” is set
is not used – i.e. remains at 0 days. If this is not the case (1 day delay is enough) a new version will be installed automatically.

This may have been an explanation, but it doesn’t quite fit together. Some users were probably with delay 0 in Windows 10 Home V190x.

Have update defer options been removed?

On reddit.com there is this post where someone asks if the delay options for feature updates in Windows 10 version 2004 have been removed.

Has MS removed option to defer feature updates for 365 days from Pro 2004?

I have just clean installed Pro 2004 (new iso today) on a pc and the option to defer feature updates for 365 days is missing.

Comparing registry with 1909, it is quite different and I have a suspicion you can now only defer feature updates on enterprise as the deferfeaturesupdate keyword has moved into a folder that seems only to apply for business users

Although one respondent explains that delay options for feature updates have not been required since the 1903 version, the answer is no longer necessary. But the experiences outlined above show me a different picture. Something doesn’t fit together anymore. Do you have had similar experiences or have an explanation?

Windows 10: Issues with update options – Part 1
Windows 10 V1903: Update Control Inconsistencies – Part 2