Windows 10 is a service and updates are regularly released to address issues and add new features to the operating system.

Windows 10 automatically downloads and installs updates via Windows Update service in the background. Most of the updates for Windows 10 are in MBs. However, at times, Microsoft pushes out huge updates that are in GBs. We often see users complaining that their internet connection becomes unusable when Windows Update is downloading updates.

If you are on a slower internet connection, you might want to limit the Windows Update bandwidth to avoid slowing down your web browsing experience when updates are being downloaded in the background.

Before this, we had to use third-party tools to limit Windows Update bandwidth. Luckily, with Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (v1709), Microsoft introduced a provision to limit Windows Update bandwidth.

While limiting Windows Update bandwidth is easy, the option is buried deep in the Settings app.

Set Windows Update bandwidth in Windows 10

Follow the given below directions to limit Windows Update bandwidth in Windows 10. Please note that the feature is available in Windows 10 version 1709 and above.

Step 1: Open Settings app. Navigate to Update & Security > Windows Update.

Step 2: In the Update settings section, click Advanced options link.

Step 3: On the Advanced options page, in the Pause updates section, click Delivery optimization link. This will open Delivery Optimization page of Settings app.

Step 4: Here, click Advanced options.

When you are at the Delivery optimization page, you might want to turn off Allow downloads from other PCs option to stop Windows 10 from downloading and uploading updates to other PCs using your internet connection bandwidth.

Step 5: Finally, you can see the how much bandwidth Windows Update uses in the background. In the Download settings section, check Limit how much bandwidth is used for downloading updates in the background option and move the slider to the left or right to set the bandwidth used by Windows Update for downloading updates in the background.

By default, Windows Updates uses 45% of the bandwidth, which is fair enough as you will have more than half of the bandwidth at your disposal.