You’re not alone.
Many people jumped at the Windows 10 icon when it appeared, thinking they would get Windows 10 immediately. In reality, of course, it’s only a reservation for a download that will occur when the product is released.
Realizing this, and for a variety of other reasons, many people are electing to cancel the reservation and wait to get Windows 10 until sometime well after its release.
How to cancel is not obvious, and there’s a bit of trick.
Become a Patron of Ask Leo! and go ad-free!
Cancel only after the reservation is made
I need to point out that you can only cancel your Windows 10 update reservation if you actually made a reservation.
If you’ve noticed the Windows 10 icon, but you’ve done nothing with it, then there is nothing for you to do here. You don’t have a reservation, so there’s no reservation to cancel.
You can happily ignore the icon and get Windows 10 later, or not, when you’re ready.
Finding the cancel option
Right-click on the Windows 10 icon in the notification area.
If you have a reservation, the option to “Check your upgrade status” will be present. Click on that.
This will display the “All done for now” status page.
The trick, so to speak, is that hamburger menu in the upper left.
“What’s a hamburger menu?” I hear you saying.
It’s something designers think we should all recognize, but the reality is that many people have no idea what it is. It’s those three little lines in the upper left, that if you look at them the right way could, kind of, sort of, look like a hamburger. Hamburger menus indicate that there are more options available, but hidden tidily out of the way.
Click on the hamburger and a menu will appear.
Click on “View confirmation”.
The application will will tell that you your upgrade is reserved.
You’ll also notice a “Cancel reservation” link. Click on that.
Beneath the admonishment about everything you’ll lose if you cancel, you’ll find a “Cancel reservation” button.
Click on that.
For some reason my machine then asked me to “Please wait” for quite some time.
Eventually, the cancellation is confirmed, along with an option to cancel your cancellation.
What if I want Windows 10 later?
What Microsoft doesn’t make clear is that this is not the only way to get Windows 10.
After release, Microsoft will most certainly have additional ways of getting Windows 10. More importantly, their “free upgrade” program doesn’t rely on decisions you make today. You’ll still be able to get the upgrade for free, assuming you qualify and are still within the offer period (currently one year after Windows 10’s release).
So misleading admonishments aside, there’s no harm in not using this reservation system, and no harm in cancelling your reservation. You can decide again later whether you want Windows 10 or not.
Do this
Subscribe to Confident Computing! Less frustration and more confidence, solutions, answers, and tips in your inbox every week.
I'll see you there!
Leo, what if I have made my reservation and then disposed of the Windows 10 icon? (It wasn’t easy to do, but I did manage to do it!)
You know … I’m not sure! I guess it depends on how you got rid of it. I’d probably start by re-taking the Windows Update that put it there in the first place if you can.
If by “disposed”, Art means he hid it, he should be able to un-hide it. You can hide the Windows 10 icon (called “GWX”) just as you can hide anything in the taskbar, by clicking on the up-pointing arrowhead to the left, and then clicking Customize. For each icon, you can hide it, and, presumably, un-hide it. If, however, he morally, ethic’lly, spiritually, physically, positively, absolutely, undeniably and reliably disposed of it, I have no suggestions.
Doesn’t work to dispose of it that way. Mine keeps popping back up the next day. Every single day I have to free up space on my task bar by re-hiding the icon. I just HATE that kind of interference.
I signed up for the update then got rid of the icon by uninstalling update KB3022345. Then after reading I could cancel I reinstalled update KB3022345 but the icon does not now come back. It’s been 2 weeks and no icon ??.
Another option is to clic on hidden icons, then drag the W 10 icon from the task bar and place it out of sight until you are ready to get W10….or not …
Thank You for the step by step to cancel Windows 10.
You, as always, make something that seems complicated, very easy for the everyday user to understand!!
I jumped to quick to reserve Windows 10, without reading much about it first, and after reading about it, wondered
how to cancel the reservation, they certainly didn’t point it out. So once again…..Thanks!!
It may be worth double checking that your cancellation ‘takes’. I checked a couple days after cancelling and it showed me as registered. It either just didn’t work the first time, (even though it gave me a notice of success), or it re-registered me. It seems to have worked the second time.
My understanding of the Windows 10 release is that, I can get it downloaded, but I can update my system later.
I have heard from some folks that have been bata-testing and that have been very positive.
I am recommending to my POS customers the go ahead and download, but we will wait the get the blessings from vendor to update.
Hi Leo, thanks for the info on cancellation. If I continue with upgrading to W10 & change my mind, can I go back to my previous OS (W7Pro64)?
Thanks Michael
Take a full image backup of your Win 7 installation, and you’ll be able to revert back to the state of your computer on the day you backed up. If you do revert, you should back up your Win 10 system before reverting, so you’ll have a copy of your latest data.
This article applies when upgrading any OS.
http://ask-leo.com/how_should_i_backup_my_computer_before_upgrading_to_windows_7.html
For those of you who choose to update, and then later decide you want your old operating system back. I would suggest that you do a image of your system so you can restore to the original OS.
Al
Leo, Thanks again for some valuable, well presented information for non tech old guy.
JimE
I’m not sure why people want to cancel the reservation. All it does is put you in the queue to get the download after it is available.
It does not force you to do anything and you can completely ignore it after it comes in or delete it.
One thing I can think of is disk space. The download will be large (a gigabyte or more as I understand it.)
not to mention windows will basically bug you every time you turn your pc on to update, and that’s not a mistake I want to make clicking away the update window.
I can see it now… “Our still experimental OS is ready to update, computer will restart and begin bugging your computer out in 10 minutes, or schedule for a later date.”
Knowing me, I’ll leave it minimized, and my PC will restart and install it after those 10 minutes… that’s how windows updates were for me.
You can get rid of the notification by uninstalling update KB3022345
How do you get rid of the Windows 10 upgrade Icon?
I used a file finder utility and deleted every file that mentioned GWX in any form that Trusted Installer didn’t block me from. The icon finally went away.
Dear Leo,
The procedure to cancel Windows 10 was very easy; thanks a lot. Appreciated your precious service, as you do always, for bringing it down to a layman like me too.
mprnair
Pat, change windows update settings to “notify and let me decide” then delete update KB3035583 and when it shows up in future notifications never select it. GWX icon still shows up in taskbar options but will not reset to show as before.
I think this boils down to a couple things for most:
Not having complete control of their computer
Those who associate such things with viruses (goes WAY back to some of our first experiences with ‘bundling’ and the internet)
Having brought many of them the internet in the first place, Microsoft should have at least one ‘old-timer’ who would remember these details, but when a company is somewhere around 40 years old perhaps everyone but Bill himself is gone (and he’s doing a lot of other, non-computer related things now).
Maybe some of his older “kids” should have a talk with “Dad”? ;-)
Anyhow, there are people like myself who haven’t even hit 50 (yet) who have a lot of memory routines available to call from their Noggin CPU.
I just followed the instructions. It worked fine. No notification was given but after you follow the instructions you can go back the hamburger menu and you will notice that the View has gone away. I have a HP 8. I have horrible problems with it with the “free” 8.1 update offered by MS. I do not want to go through that crap again. I hate this computer anyway. (HP Envy touch)
Hi-Leo.I just Log In and read your.Newsletter. The Hot topic in most Sites is the “Get Wins10=GWX” But before. I apologize for any-Inappropriate comments text done before. Having said that.
Yes! the point about the Reservation of GWX.Is a fair debate I guess.
Leo have advice us to wait, so an unknown %of users would do that-Until Win10 it has been launched to decide. No doubt the event.Status-Will be in headlines for a while. Thanks
I have tested Windows 10 since it was made available. I am now on build 1030. All I can say that it is not ready for prime time. The official release date is July 29, this is one month away and the build is full of inconsistencies. It does not crash but things are not working right. For you cannot logon with a PIN even though the box is checked.
The Start Menu sometimes can be expanded and sometimes not. Downloading updates from the Beta Store get errors that are not defined. Today, for no reason the Edge page would not go full screen for a while.
There is no Help (unless it is so well hidden that I cannot find it). Periodically the tiles lose their icons and are blank.
I have read some suggestions that I should reinstall the build from an ISO file. That does not make sense. This late in the game, an update build should be more stable. If you cannot update a build successfully, how can you expect to update an older operating system?
I have the Windows Icon, not sure how to get rid of it because I don’t get the same choices when I right click it, as I haven’t yet agreed to reserve Win10 .. My choices: Get Windows 10, Reserve Your Free Upgrade, Go to Windows Update, Get to know Windows 10 …. How do you get rid of THAT Icon? Tks for any help,
Marilyn
New article on that: https://askleo.com/how-do-i-make-the-windows-10-offer-icon-go-away/
What if the windows 10 icon is gone? how then to cancel?
Arne
I don’t know. My belief is that the missing icon would also imply that the download will not happen, but … I’m not sure.
Leo
I have read that win 7 8 home machines set for auto updates will have 10 installed automatically. Profesional and Pro will not. Can you comment?
Keep up the good information outlet. Love it.
Bill
I think that you’re confusing two issues.
No one will have Windows 10 installed automatically. Period. You’ll have to at least OK it, and possibly actively ask for it.
Once Windows 10 is installed: Home editions of Windows 10 will take Windows updates automatically. That’s new. Pro and better will still allow you to defer updates to a time more convenient. That’s as it’s always been.
If I do not cancel my reservation, won’t I be able to just ignore the notification that Windows 10 is available for download? That would avoid the disk space problem. Or do you think Microsoft will download it to me anyway, as part of the automatic updates?
I believe registration means you’re asking for the download, so that will happen automatically. It will then ask you to install after the download is complete. You can say no to the install for as long as you like.
Nothing appears on any of the pages….whether right or left clicking. So I don’t know if I am signed up or not and I have decided that I don’t want it. What can I do?
After July, if it offers to install it, say no.
Hi Leo
I like so many others reserved my copy of windows 10. I saw your findings and now I am aware that it is not woth bothering
with W10. I am currently running W7, ultimate. I had some doubts in my mind at the time of reservation but I knew that I
could refuse to download when offered. I did try to get rid of the reservation icon from my Task Bar but it comes back. You
have shown how to cancel, so I will get to grips with it. I notice some one in the post have mentioned removing KB 3022345
update. I have been a subscriber to your News Letters for number of years and learnt a few things. So, thank you and continue
with your good work.
Correct decision. In my view there is no point in “upgrading” Windows 7 Ultimate to Windows 10.
To remove the icon, uninstall and hide the KB3035583 update. (The KB3022345 update you mentioned “Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry” is equally useless in my opinion. It has been superseded by the KB3068708 update. I do not install them and have hidden them also, in addition to the Windows 10 updates KB3035583 and KB2952664.)
I checked my status, and and saw that Microsoft changed the “All done for now” screen with this:
The instructions in the article still work, but don’t be confused if you see another screen.
Leo, I cancelled my reservation. I checked a few times and it was cancelled. Just had the Windows Icon saying I could upgrade for free. Well, Microsoft is ignoring my cancellation. I just had the whole damn thing down load and request rebooting for the new system to go into effect! HELP!
I am addressing my issue which no one has offered a fix to in this situation. I reserved my copy of windows 10, authorized it to download thinking I could reschedule it to upgrade for later, and found out the latest you can schedule the upgrade is two days away. I was thinking maybe 6 months or 9 months. Everyone says delete the KB3035583 update. This step does not work when you have already scheduled your upgrade. It merely gets rid of the get windows 10 ap. The other suggestion was to click and cancel your reservation. With the hamburger menu, or the three little lines, find view your reservation and cancel it. But if you have scheduled your installation, neither of these two steps will work. After talking to two Microsoft techs, one of them suggested system recovery to an earlier day before the Windows 10 download. He said there was a 50 percent chance that this would work. It worked for me. I have never seen the solution to my problem posted, so here it is. Hope it helps someone who is in the position I was in.
I just want to thank Leo for the generous information. The method worked for me.
Leo
, HELP…..I HATE WINDOWS 10, Since getting it I cant get on my e-mail or my face-book, the two things I use most..I’m about tottttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt junk my computer and the whole mess, I want my old windows back
The Windows 10 rollback to the previous version is supposed to work, but unfortunately it doesn’t always work. See this article for your options:
https://askleo.com/four-ways-to-go-back-to-windows-7-from-windows-10/
I was checking this article as today I received a notice to activate my Windows 10, despite the fact that I did NOT reserve it? I checked the icon and it still asks me if I want to reserve. On the notice I got I clicked on the POSTPONE OPTION thinking I could do that later and instead it gives me a 3 day window to install the Windows 10 at any time I wish. There is not SCHEDULE option to delay past that period and the only options at the bottom are CONFIRM TIME AND CLOSE or START THE UPGRADE NOW.
Just prior to receiving this I upgraded my ZUNE program for my Windows Phone. I assume that this notification has something to do with that upgrade?
I did open the HAMBURG thing in the upper left corner and there is no option as described in the posts. To me this means that somehow the UPGRADE has downloaded without me having reserved it which must have something to do with the ZUNE upgrade.
Here is a screen shot of the notices, the top is when I clicked to postpone (I can not go back to the prior notice) and the bottom is what shows when I click my hamburger icon that tells me I still have to reserve my upgrade.
http://www.mediafire.com/view/5385852os5bmtcg/win10_rlaughton.jpg
Now I need to find a way to stop this upgrade as I do not want Windows 10 on this computer. I am. however. going to install Windows 10 on my laptop that has Windows 8.1 as it can not be any worse.
Has anyone else seen this happen and how do we stop it?
Richard
I had reserved Win-10 at home and on the machine at work. I installed it at work, and after using it for a couple of weeks I’ll be rolling it back to Win-7. The networking in 10 is kludgy (can’t connect to the USB printer on the router, and the security settings are so tight it they were underwear they’d pop your eyes out) and some of my device drivers on a 3-year old Dell don’t work – like the sound!
At home the icon has apparently downloaded the install files, but I’ve used the very accurate info above to cancel the reservation. Only problem is that now the MS Windows update site won’t check my Win-7 for updates. It just keeps nagging me to install 10.
I’ve visited the Windows 10 experience, and I HATE it! Another home run for MS.
I cancelled my Windows 10 Upgrade invitation as soon a you released the information on how to do it. I’ve uninstalled update KB3035583 and hide the KB3035583 update also. I also uninstalled and hide the other Windows 7 updates that you listed in a previous article. When I select to install Windows Update the first thing that happens is it starts downloading the Windows 10 Upgrade so I cancel it. How can I skip stop the downloading of the Windows 10 Upgrade and just apply the Windows Updates that I need ?
Hi,
I already downloaded Windows 10, but I have to upgrade it within 72 hours. I changed my mind and I want to continue with my Windows 7. How can I prevent a Windows 10 upgrade?
Thanks in advance,
Greetings
Thank you for this very easy guide! Since hastily reserving my copy months ago, every time I left my PC idle for more than 5 mins I had a pop up saying, “UPGRADE TO WINDOWS 10 NOW.” No exaggeration, every 5 minutes of idle time without fail.
Now I don’t need to scream, “DIE WINDOWS 10,” while violently bashing my face off a wall anymore. :D
I have unistalled the update KB3035583 and cancelled my Windows 10 request but still every two days I get a damn pop up saying “Do you want to install it now or reschedule. It stops everything on my computer from working until I reschedule the confounded thing. It’s been doing this for months now since 6/10/15. When I go to Windows installed updates that update is not there. When I just go to Windows update it says “YOur upgrade to Windows 10 is ready” with a box saying “restart now”. Has it actually downloaded WIn 10 but not installed it and if so how do I get rid of it? Or at least how do I get rid of this confounded reschedule pop up?
It does seem to be getting more and more persistent. Microsoft seems to really want everyone to upgrade to 10.
Thank you for your help!