Windows 10 And Windows Update

[BC_Programmer]

This was originally a question but I ended up finding a solution so I decided to post both in here in case others want to do the same thing.

I like to have control over when and if my system(s) perform Update tasks. As a result, I've configured Windows 10 Pro via Group Policy to the option to notify that updates are available, but wait for me to install them.

For the most part, this works exactly as it did with Windows 7 and 8.1. With Win10 I sometimes get a only mildly intrusive notification which doesn't prevent anything and just tells me  there are updates. That's fine by me.

However, it would appear Microsoft is not in any way fine with this. At intervals, My entire screen darkens, and a single, small dialog appears stating that "Important Updates are Available". This dialog presents one option- "Get Updates". Pressing the button or escape has the same effect; it opens the "Windows Update" options in settings. I can only presume it tries to force the update to take place but cannot proceed because of the Group Policy settings.

This notification angers me unreasonably for some reason, though after mentally telling it off I've usually forgotten about it. What spurred me to look into it and try to do something about it was that I had the sheer audacity this evening to watch a movie. Right in the middle of the movie, suddenly I get the "Important updates are available" notification. It's crossed the line and now it must die permanently.

Also, just to cut off any alternate solutions "Just run Windows Update"- Aside from not wanting to wait a good 30 minutes to use my PC again, none of the updates it deems so are even important. There's a flash player update (Security updates are somewhat less important when the product in question is not even installed). There's a Windows Update which addresses a problem when a Windows 8 PC is upgraded to Windows 10, where Manufacturer bloatware is disappointingly removed, and an update to the servicing stack which applies to the creation of ISO media for Win10. "Important"? Hardly.

Anyway- on to the solution.

After some investigation I found that the notification itself is basically just Windows launching "MusNotification.exe" and "musnotificationUI.exe", presumably at times of it's own choosing for wholly undocumented reasons and triggers. Whenever it feels like it I guess, or Maybe once a day. Who knows. Anyway, This suggested to me that replacing those files with a do-nothing stub program might solve the problem. However, I'm sure the issue would be "fixed" in a later update- in that those files would return. So I decided to take a batch file approach. If I update later and Win10 reverts the behaviour, I'll be able to run the batch file to hopefully get it back to the way I want.

I created a do-nothing stub program by basically compiling the Visual Studio default template. The files in C:\Windows\System32 are set as owned by TrustedInstaller, so it was necessary to take ownership of the files, then give full control on the files to administrators. I then renamed the originals and copied the stub into their place. The  batch file I ended up creating to do this looks like this. I was lazy and used absolute paths here so it's hardly a "generic" solution.

Code: [Select]

takeown /f C:\Windows\System32\Musnotification.exe
takeown /f C:\Windows\System32\MusnotificationUX.exe
icacls C:\Windows\System32\Musnotification.exe /grant Administrators:(F)
icacls C:\Windows\System32\MusnotificationUX.exe /grant Administrators:(F)
rename C:\Windows\System32\MusNotification.exe musold.exe
rename C:\Windows\System32\MusNotificationUX.exe musoldUX.exe
copy "C:\Users\BC_Programming\Documents\Visual Studio 2015\Stub\Stub\Debug\Stub.exe" C:\Windows\System32\MusNotification.exe
copy "C:\Users\BC_Programming\Documents\Visual Studio 2015\Stub\Stub\Debug\Stub.exe" C:\Windows\System32\MusNotificationUX.exe
pause

Now I wait and see if I ever see the notification again.

[DaveLembke]

Nice substitution solution. Surprised that you didnt run into file protection, where it says it has a handle to it and cant be replaced.

 I have used the file substitution method before on other programs to control/suppress triggers or add a pause condition prior to the actual original EXE executing and sometimes have run into situations where there is a service running that has a handle open to the EXE and then you have to kill the service or boot the system in Linux and do the swap where the file handle protection isnt functional and all is fair game, and then boot system normal and now its holding onto the replaced EXE which is your own that points to the other with a pause condition etc; however curious as to how your EXE is able to execute and not have it pop up a window while your in the middle of say watching a movie? Are you doing a window suppress in your code so that if and when it triggers it doesnt steal the focus and stack a window on top of the movie playing? All replacements I have done pop up a shell window and I have never suppressed it to keep it from stealing window focus.

[BC_Programmer]

I don't know why SFC doesn't "protect" those two files, but I'm glad it doesn't, makes it a lot easier.

however curious as to how your EXE is able to execute and not have it pop up a window while your in the middle of say watching a movie? Are you doing a window suppress in your code so that if and when it triggers it doesnt steal the focus and stack a window on top of the movie playing?

It's an empty Win32 Application. It doesn't show any Window and just exits. It's not a console application so it doesn't get allocated a console window, either.

[BC_Programmer]

Just an update on a minor detail- I mentioned:

There's a flash player update (Security updates are somewhat less important when the product in question is not even installed).

As it turns out, Windows 10 includes Adobe Flash Player. I won't surmise why Microsoft decided to include one of the buggiest piece of insecure crap in the OS ever constructed, but I do not, under any circumstances, want Adobe Flash on my system. Microsoft, once again, has decided that what I want is immaterial. As a result I was forced to once again assert my choice.

I did something similar as I did above with the "C:\Windows\Syswow64\Macromed" folder. I took ownership, changed the security permissions to give Administrators full control, and then deleted the folder outright.

This deleted the included version of Adobe Flash. But it didn't prevent Windows Update from figuring it should update it (possibly due to it now being considered a system component) So I hid the update. The ability to hide updates was removed from Windows 10, so in order to hide updates it is necessary to run this troubleshooter instead, and I hid the Flash Update.

[Saurabhdua]

Hello BC_Programmer!

It would have been much easier had you relied on a Freeware Software Application--- "O&O ShutUp" from German creators!

It has all the relevant options to enable a Complete control over these & many other intrinsic & surreptitious features of Windows 10.

[BC_Programmer]

"O&O Shutup" does not do either of the the things I discussed here. It does not prevent the full-screen "Updates are available" Notification every day or so, and it certainly doesn't remove Adobe Flash Player.

There is also a bit of irony in the users trying to preserve their privacy by running an arbitrary executable. Which demands admin access, I might add.

I still have no idea what the green and red switches actually mean- I'd assume the red ones are disabled and the green ones are enabled but the captions have idiotic text that makes it unclear. If I make a switch green that is titled "Telemetry Disabled" Does that mean it's disabled? or is it green because it's still actually enabled? It's enough that I wouldn't use it on principle.

It seems like many of the important options were green anyway. (Telemetry and updates were all green, and since I've disabled updates I can only surmise that green is good) Though I don't know if we want red to mean the features are disabled or green to indicate it's "good" from the perspective of the people who would use the application.

[Saurabhdua]

Hello BC_Programmer!

Yes, the Green indicator suggests that the Privacy is protected (particular feature being enabled/set to most desirable state).

Red indicator on the other hand indicates that default Windows settings are in place.

The "Action" button at the top of the interface allow us to choose either of the 3 options viz. 1) Recommended settings (Minimum Privacy) 2) Some option associated to above -average Privacy settings. 3) Optimized Privacy tweaks.

Thanks to this Software that I have been able to get hold of all hidden/surreptitious/intrinsic characteristics of Windows 10.