How to limit Windows Update bandwidth in Windows 11
Since a lot of settings have been added for Windows 11, the approach and options have changed with the Windows 11 Settings menu. One such case is with the Delivery Optimization options. If you are using a limited data network for your system and don’t want to exhaust all of your data for downloading Windows updates, then you can set a specific percentage of the data which can be used for updating your system. The procedure to limit Windows Update bandwidth in Windows 11 is as follows:
Limit Windows Update bandwidth in Windows 10
To limit data consumption for Windows Updates in Windows 10: Select the checkbox that says, “Limit how much bandwidth is used for downloading updates in the background.” After that, you can select a percentage of the bandwidth. By default, it is set to 45%. But, you can change it using the slider. The same thing can be done with the Upload settings. You would be able to set the Monthly upload limit if you want to limit the uploading bandwidth by either percentage or data (5 GB to 500 GB). The uploading bandwidth limitation feature works only when you have enabled Allow download from other PCs option that comes under Delivery Optimization. If you haven’t activated this feature, the “Upload Settings” options are not mandatory. Once the predefined limit is reached, all the update activity will be stopped automatically. You can also check how much data is used or available on the same page. Read: How to specify Absolute bandwidth that can be used to download Windows Updates.
Limit Windows Update bandwidth in using Group Policy
In Windows 11/10, the same feature can be enabled with the help of the Group Policy Editor as well. To open it, press Win+R, type gpedit.msc and hit the Enter button. Next, navigate to the following path- On your right-hand side, you will find two different options-
Maximum Download Bandwidth (in KB/s)Max Upload Bandwidth (in KB/s)
Double-click on an option > select Enabled > enter a value in the corresponding box (in KB/s) > click on Apply & OK.
Hope this functionality will be helpful for you to limit Windows Update bandwidth usage in Windows 11/10.
How much data would Windows Updates need?
Just in case you are wondering whether or not to use the mentioned option, a general Windows Update needs hundreds of MBs of data and a featured update would need a few GBs of data. Thus, if you are using a network with limited data, then the mentioned option is the best.
