Prior to 1903, Win 10 Pro had a simple way to control when updates landed on the PC. Under Windows Update, Advanced Settings there were two drop downs, one that deferred (my emphasis) feature updates, i.e. when 1709 became 1803, became 1809, etc. The other drop down deferred (my emphasis) quality updates, i.e the monthly patches released on the second Tuesday of each month. I set my preferred number of days for deferral and then left Windows to it.
Sure enough I got the next version of Windows the expected number of days after it was first released for beta testing via the masses. Similarly monthly security patches showed up the expected number days after they were first released.
Now that I'm on 1903, the two drop downs for deferral are still there but this simplicity has been confused by an additional option to pauseupdates (again my emphasis). That 'pause' drop down gives a list of the next 35 days, i.e. it enhances the basic 'pause for 7 days' option that's in the main Windows Update dialog.
My question therefore is how does this 'pause' option interact with the 'deferral' option?
I found this thread on Woody's site: https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/w ... e-v-defer/
I think that means if I ignore the 'pause' option and leave the 'defer' settings as they've been since I first set them using the Group Policy Editor back in 1803, things will carry on in 1903 as they did in 1809.
I have Pro 1909, but I also have the defer and pause options… ( and as its Pro version , so I also have the Group Policy Editor stuff )
What you said, Ken, … deferred (my emphasis) feature updates, i.e. when 1709 became 1803, became 1809, etc.….. is approximately correct – you can defer those 4 digit feature creatures. On average that seems to be mostly what defer is about, but not always.
Quality updates can approximately be called security updates, and are more likely the things that you would pause. But you can manipulate them a bit in other ways as well, and as you mentioned, you used to be able to defer them as well.
In fact, I think it looks like I can still…
Its definitely all as clear as mud , as is the interactions between them
I think it might be impossible to completely answer your original question , Ken, because the situation is so dynamic.
That has been my experience so far, that is also what I have read from a lot of research, and it is also what is said at the reference Han’s gave.
There are lots of concepts , sometime conflicting , going around. . Microsoft’s naming/ organising of updates is obtuse, confusing, contradictory, and dynamic. On top of that, it is no secret that sometimes the options do not do what / when they should.****
So the short answer to your question is:
Nobody knows for sure. Even if they did, it might change tomorrow, or yesterday - they also retrospectively change the definitions as they were previously applied!!! - total madness!!!
( For me its worse, the words used do not translate directly and in some cases the same word used in two places in English Windows 10 is translated in the German Windows 10 to two different words having different meanings!. For all I know the same 4 digit feature versions may work differently regarding updates and other things in German than in English. The ISOs can be very different! )
This definition of the two things is as good as anybodies. Deferred:
Microsoft want you to do stuff to you at a certain time, lets say time X
But you have defer options so that it can be Offset to be done at X + Y instead.
X is constant (theoretically, but sometime in the practice isn’t). So this option only allows you to prevent up to a specific time interval after they wanted to do something. It is like a relative thing.
Where and how you set this ….see ***
Paused
It’s a pause button, like on your cassette recorder. You press, at any time, and decide when it will be un pressed. Or saying the same thing another way,… you can decide how long the pause button is held down. Theoretically in the in between time, whilst the pause button is held down, the thing you paused won’t be done. In some cases if you hit the pause button a few times, the paused time will increase, in multiple steps. It is like an absolute thing
Where and how you set this ….see ***
( So, by design they can be conflicting. Its anybodies guess what happens in the case of conflicts. But that is hardly significant as things may happen when all those settings and other settings say they wont, anyway. … )
Your final conclusion in your last post is approximately correct, I think
But I don’t think it is worth trying to hard to understand how 'pause' option interacts with the 'deferral' option, since by the time you figured it out it may have either changed, or options vanished, as a result of an unexpected update which you got despite all your setting saying that it should not happen: This phenomenon is being reported more often as well. Ken, you may well have had some updates that you know nothing about. It does happen, and it makes a total nonsense of all the other definitions and settings and interactions, as anything can happen at any time – .. rare maybe – But it does happen!
My limited experience so far suggests that the interaction/ resolution of conflicts is such that updates are held off if any of the settings say to block an update. But others have reported other things, including the occasional random updates at a time against all settings..
Alan
P.S. Ken, if you have a screen shot of your current update Advanced options, it would be interesting to see, to compare with the others I have seen. It might also be useful for you to check against later if, by whatever vehicle, it might change later.
I am having difficulty logging in with this account just now.
You can find me at DocAElstein also
still as clear as mud 
