If your internet connection has a download cap set by your ISP, then you’re probably keeping an eye on your monthly internet usage to make sure that you don’t go over your limit. One way to help reduce the amount of data that your computer uses is to configure your network connection to be a “Metered connection” on your computer. A metered connection is a connection that has a charge linked to data usage.
Configuring your network connection to be a metered connection reduces the amount of data that Windows and Microsoft Store apps download. The aim of this is to reduce the impact background downloads have on your data usage. You can read our guide here {INSERT LINK TO OTHER ARTICLE} if you want to know how to configure a network connection as a metered connection.
Tip: Apps installed from the internet are not affected by this setting as they can’t be managed in this way.
One of the things a metered connection disables is the downloading of any Windows updates that aren’t critical security fixes. Unfortunately, this can lead to you not receiving feature updates that may include Windows features you want. This guide will walk you through the process of enabling the download of updates over a metered connection.
To enable the download of Windows updates over metered connections you need to open the Settings app to the advanced Windows Update options. You can do this by pressing the Windows key and typing “Advanced Windows Update options” and hitting enter. You then need to toggle the slider for “Download updated over metered connections (extra charges may apply)” to “On”.
Tip: This setting applies to all metered networks and does not need to be enabled or disabled for each network. Non-metered networks remain unaffected.
With downloads over a metered connection disabled, as is the default, only critical severity Windows security updates will download. If you want to receive all other Windows updates over a metered connection, you must change this setting to “On”.
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