Enable or Disable Auto Updates in Microsoft Store on Windows 10
Windows 10 has an official app store; the Microsoft Store and while it still isn’t as big as the Mac App Store, it’s still a source for most apps from Microsoft and the Netflix app. Most stock apps update when there’s a major Windows 10 update however, smaller updates are occasionally released via the Microsoft Store.
If you do download apps from the Microsoft Store, you also update them from there. You can choose to update apps automatically or manually. Here’s how you can enable or disable auto updates in the Microsoft Store.
Auto Updates In The Microsoft Store
Open the Microsoft Store app and click the more options button at the top right. From the menu, select Settings.
On the Settings screen, you will see a switch labelled App Updates. Turn it on and the Microsoft Store will automatically download any app updates when they are available. If you prefer to manually update apps, you can turn this switch off.
If you have your WiFi network set as a metered connection to avoid Windows 10 updates being downloaded in the background, it will also impact the Microsoft Store app. Even if you have auto updates enabled, the metered connection status of your connection will prevent apps from updating.
We should mention that this is the Microsoft Store app and it’s not as reliable as other app store apps that you might find on other platforms. You may enable auto updates in the Microsoft Store but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it will work. You might have to run the app, and still click the Update All button.
On a good day, the apps might update on their own. Ideally, once you have auto updates turned on, the app will search for new updates and install them. For app updates, you won’t need to restart your system, and you can continue using the app. This is what happens if everything is working the way it should.
If there’s something wrong with the Microsoft Store app, or the background services that need to run in order for it to check for and automatically install new updates, you will get mixed results. In some cases, the app will check for new updates but it won’t install them. In other cases, it won’t do anything. You will need to launch the app and that’s when it will check for updates. Once it detects updates are available, it may or may not install them. You can wait a while to see if the updates install, and if they don’t, you will have to install them manually.
