How to Disable VS Code Auto Updates?

👤 Diwas Poudel 🕒 25 Feb 2023 📁 TECH

Automatic software updates are very useful tools that automatically update new features, critical patches, and security holes without your intervention and will download from the server.

However, it is not always the best option, and manual updates are required, which you prefer to disable.

In the case of VS Code: You want to disable VSCode so that when you open vscode after a long period of time, say, a month, vscode will notify you that a new version is available. You have the option to skip it.

Next time you open vscode , this update message still appears and happens every time unless you update vscode. And if you try to update this long time taking updates, you may become frustrated.

Note: Disabling automatic updates requires actively checking and installing VS Code updates. Disabling automatic updates should be done with caution because updating software for security and new features and improvements is suggested.

How to turn off VS Code Auto Updates using Setting.json file?
How to turn off VS Code Auto Updates using Setting Option?
How to disable Auto Check Updates for Vs Code extensions using Settings.json file?
How to disable Auto Check Updates for Vs Code extensions using Settings Option?

So, in this article, Ourtechroom will show you how to turn off VS Code Auto Updates.

🕜 Also Read: Visual Studio Code vs. Code OSS | What You Should Know

How to turn off VS Code Auto Updates using Setting.json file?

Steps:

1 Click on the bottom-left cogwheel icon located at the bottom left corner.

2 Click on Settings.

3 Click on the File Like icon at the top right corner.

This will open the settings.json file.

📓 Settings.json is a file that stores VS Code settings in JSON format.

4 Search for update.mode , if found then replace existing line with :

"update.mode": "none"

If no result is found while searching then add this key-value pair at the end of the curly bracket.

5 Save this settings.json file. Then VS Code may prompt you to restart.

Now after the restart, you will no longer receive the update notification.

🕜 Also Read: How do I restore the default visual studio code settings?

Update Mode in VSCode

There are altogether 4 update mode in vscode and they are:

update.mode: none
update.mode:default
update.mode:start
update.mode:manual

If you want manual updates then you can set "update.mode":"manual" in vscode settings.json file.VS Code will no longer check for updates on its own, but you can still update it manually by clicking on the cog in the bottom left.

If you have not changed any settings in vscode then by default it will be "update.mode":"default". It will auto-update when vscode found any new updates.

If you want to completely disable the update then it is to "update.mode":"none".

🕜 Also Read: How to insert a vertical line in VS Code?

How to turn off VS Code Auto Updates using Setting Option?

You can set VS Code Auto Updates simply with vs code setting and you do not need to touch-sensitive settings.json file.

Here are the steps:

1 Click on the bottom-left cogwheel icon ⚙ located at the bottom left corner.

2 Click on Settings.

3 Then search file for "update" and you'll get the data filtered, and somewhere you'll find Update:Mode, which you can change to none by changing the dropdown to none.

4 It will ask for restart, click on the Ok button.

Now the next time it will not ask you for updates.

How to disable Auto Check Updates for Vs Code extensions using Settings.json file?

VS Code will automatically update the extension as soon as a new version of the extension is available. If you do not want the extension to automatically update, follow the steps below:

Open Settings.json file and find for the word extensions.autoupdate and if found then replace this existing line with :

 "extensions.autoUpdate": false

If you do not find word extensions.autoUpdate then before the end of the last curly bracket add the above the line.

How to disable Auto Check Updates for Vs Code extensions using Settings Option?

You can enable VS Code Auto Updates for extensions and then use vs code settings instead of touch-sensitive settings.json data file.

Steps:

1 Click on the bottom-left cogwheel icon ⚙ located at the bottom left corner.

2 Click on Settings.

3 Then search file for "update" and you'll get the data filtered, and somewhere you'll find Extensions: Auto Check Updates, and just uncheck it.

4 It will ask for restart, click on the Ok button.