I think it best to start a new, hopefully positive, thread on this as I
MAY have seen some light at the ed of the tunnel.

My new build does run Win 8.1 but it's clearly not designed for it so I
am in the process of putting Win 10 Pro back, some results of research:

It was Win 10 feature release 2004 that substantially limited the period
you could defer updates for. The previous feature release 1909 allowed up
to 365 days.

I searched through my Win 10 iso using this help:

https://winaero.com/how-to-see-which-build-and-edition-of-windows-10-the-iso-file-contains/#:~:text=wim%2C%20then%20type%20the%20following,letter%20after%20the%20WimFile%3A%20portion.&text=The%20DISM%20tool%20will%20print,architecture)%2C%20and%20so%20on.

to find the earliest build I had and chose the one closest to but not
exceeding 1909.

I then came across a utility called "InControl" from GRC:

https://www.grc.com/incontrol.htm

I should have guessed if anybody had a grip it was him. I won't repeat the
blurb here but the idea is it blocks feature updates to a level you choose
(1909 for me as above) but allow security updates. Strikes me that could
be exactly what I want. I have now set Windows updates loose and its first
message was "updating to feature release 1909" so looks good so far.

In the meantime my Z170-K is happily running Win 8.1 and has all my apps
installed and activated so I can play with Win 10 without affecting the
things I need to do!

A general note on installing 10 -v- 8.1 - why does MSFT think it is an
improvement for Win 10 to make up a computer name instead of doing what
previous versions did and ask what name you want to use?

--
Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
George Washington was a British subject until well after his 40th birthday.
(Margaret Thatcher, speech at the White House 17 December 1979)

On 17/01/2024 11:39, Jeff Gaines wrote:

> I then came across a utility called "InControl" from GRC:
>
> https://www.grc.com/incontrol.htm

I love the "Take Control" button - Boris must be envious. :)

I have no idea whether the software works like it says on the tin, but
the idea of automatically installing all security updates but letting
you choose feature updates seems sensible. I hope it works well for you.

On 17/01/2024 17:59, GB wrote:
> On 17/01/2024 11:39, Jeff Gaines wrote:
>
>
>> I then came across a utility called "InControl" from GRC:
>>
>> https://www.grc.com/incontrol.htm
>
> I love the "Take Control" button - Boris must be envious. :)
>
> I have no idea whether the software works like it says on the tin, but
> the idea of automatically installing all security updates but letting
> you choose feature updates seems sensible. I hope it works well for you.

I can similarly choose updates using WSUS, but that's a company thing
where you specifically run Windows Server and an Active Directory Domain
installation. That's actually not too hard to do as a home user with
spare virtualisation hosts on hand.

For that there are several free OS licensing options for "test and
development" purposes, or the dodgy reseller market that nobody knows is
legit or not.

--
Adrian C