How To Turn Off Google Chrome Automatic Updates on Windows 10

Google Chrome is pretty good about keeping itself up to date, downloading and installing updates automatically in the background. At least, most of the time it works smoothly, so you’re always running the latest security patches and features. But that can be a headache if someone actually wants to hold back updates—maybe for testing, compatibility, or just control freak reasons. Whatever the case, Chrome doesn’t give you a straightforward toggle in the settings to disable auto-updates, so you gotta get a bit crafty.

Most people probably shouldn’t mess with this, since staying current is crucial for safe browsing. Still, if you’re determined to prevent Chrome from updating itself, you’ll have to stop the services that run the updates. Here’s how to do it—trust me, it’s just a couple of steps, but you need to be comfortable with Windows services. Just don’t go messing with random stuff if you’re not sure, or things might break.

Prevent Chrome from automatically updating itself

IMPORTANT: We do not recommend disabling Chrome auto-updates unless you really know what you’re doing. Security risks are real, and Chrome is sort of obsessed with patching vulnerabilities. But if you’re aware of the risks and need to do it, here’s the way.

Finding and disabling the update services

Open the Services window: Hit Start, type services.msc into the search bar or Run box (Win + R), and hit Enter. This pops open the list of Windows services.
Locate Google update services: Scroll down to find Google Update Service (gupdate) and Google Update Service (gupdatem). They’re usually near each other, but on some setups, they might be missing if Chrome wasn’t installed properly.
Disable gupdate: Double-click on Google Update Service (gupdate). Under Startup type, change it to Disabled. Click Apply. This stops it from launching at startup.
Disable gupdatem: Repeat for Google Update Service (gupdatem). Double-click, switch startup type to Disabled, then hit Apply.

Sometimes, on a fresh reinstall or weird Windows setups, these services might not be there or might refuse to disable. It’s kind of weird, but on some machines, this fails the first time, then works after a reboot. So, if it’s not working right away, try restarting your PC and doing it again.

What to expect

Once these services are disabled, Chrome won’t auto-update anymore. It’ll just keep running the version it was on when you turned them off. Be aware—you’ll miss out on security fixes, and Chrome might even flag itself as outdated sooner rather than later. So, it’s not a permanent solution if security or new features matter — just a temporary workaround.

Want to turn updates back on later?

Just go back into services.msc, find the same Google services, and set the Startup type back to Automatic or Automatic (Delayed Start).
Remember to click Apply after changing them. Next time you restart Chrome, the updates will kick back in.

To re-enable auto-updates, you can also do the reverse: set the services’ startup type to Automatic. Sometimes, Windows can be persnickety and re-enable services after updates, so keep an eye out if you want to keep control.

Enable Google Chrome auto-updates in Windows 10

If later you decide to let Chrome update again, just open services.msc again, find the same Google services, double-click, and change the startup type back to Automatic. Hit Apply and restart Chrome. Easy as that.

If you’re wondering about importing passwords from CSV into Chrome, that’s a separate thing. It involves going into chrome://settings/passwords and using the import feature. But that’s another story.

Anyway, controlling Chrome updates isn’t super clean or officially supported, but these service tweaks do the trick if you’re hell-bent on it. Just keep in mind that missing out on updates isn’t ideal, especially for security. Better to weigh the pros and cons before diving in.