This post shows students and new users steps to turn On or Off Windows Update Delivery Optimization on Windows 11. By default, Windows allows your computer to receive updates and Microsoft Store apps from other sources in addition to Microsoft, like other PCs on your local network, or PCs on the internet that are downloading the same files.
Not only can your computer download updates from other PCs on your network or the internet, your PC can also send updates and apps to other PCs on your local network or PCs on the internet, based on your settings.
This speeds up Windows updates for your computer, but may also introduce some concerns especially if your computer is downloading updates from other PCs on the internet or your computer is sending updates files to other computers that you have no idea where they are or who owns them.
If this is a concern for you, then you can disable Windows Update Delivery Optimization and only download from Microsoft’s servers and never send updates to other PCs on your local network or internet.
How to disable Windows Update Delivery Optimization in Windows 11
As mentioned above, with Windows Update Delivery Optimization enabled, your PCs will download from other sources in addition to Microsoft. If you don’t want your PC downloading or sending updates to other PCs on your local network or across the internet, you can turn off Windows Update Delivery Optimization.
Below is how to do that.
Windows 11 has a centralized location for majority of its settings. From system configurations to creating new users and updating Windows, all can be done from its System Settings pane.
To get to System Settings, you can use the Windows key + i shortcut or click on Start ==> Settings as shown in the image below:
Alternatively, you can use the search box on the taskbar and search for Settings. Then select to open it.
Windows Settings pane should look similar to the image below. In Windows Settings, click Windows Updates, select Advanced option tile on the right pane of your screen shown in the image below.
On the Advanced options settings pane, select the Delivery Optimization tile as highlighted below.
On the Delivery Optimization settings pane, select the Allow downloads from other PCs tile and toggle the button to the Off position to disable.
That should disable computer from downloading or sending updates to other sources on the local network in internet.
How to disable Windows Update Delivery Optimization in Windows 11
By default, Windows Update Delivery Optimization is enabled in Windows 11. However, if you disabled it and want to re-enable, simply follow the steps above and reenable.
Click on the Start menu ==> Windows Settings ==> Windows Updates ==> Advanced options ==> Delivery Optimization then toggle the button to the On position for Allow downloads from other PCs to enable this feature.
Once enabled, you can then choose to allow downloads from only PCs on your local network or downloads updates from everywhere, including the internet.
That should do it!
Conclusion:
This post showed you how to enable or disable Windows Update Delivery Optimization in Windows 11. If you find any error above or have something to add, please use the comment form below.
