Delay monthly updates by a few days — via Microsoft Learn

Group Policy

Open gpedit.msc (Pro, Enterprise and Education only) and go to:

Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update > Manage updates offered from Windows Update > Select when Quality Updates are received

Registry equivalent

Double-click a .reg file and confirm to merge it. Right-click → Edit first if you want to read it, which is always a good idea with any .reg file from the internet.

Apply

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; Oddbyte.Me: Delay monthly updates by a few days

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate]
"DeferQualityUpdates"=dword:00000001
"DeferQualityUpdatesPeriodInDays"=dword:00000007

Undo

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; Oddbyte.Me: undo Delay monthly updates by a few days

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate]
"DeferQualityUpdates"=-
"DeferQualityUpdatesPeriodInDays"=-

Same thing from a command prompt

Run in an administrator Command Prompt or Terminal.

reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate" /v "DeferQualityUpdates" /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate" /v "DeferQualityUpdatesPeriodInDays" /t REG_DWORD /d 7 /f

Undo:

reg delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate" /v "DeferQualityUpdates" /f
reg delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate" /v "DeferQualityUpdatesPeriodInDays" /f

The policy allows up to 30 days. Microsoft normally publishes quality updates on the second Tuesday of each month.