Turn Off Automatic Updates

Filestar updates itself: a major release installs at the next start, and a minor release asks when Filestar closes. If your organisation deploys Filestar with its own tools (Group Policy, Intune, SCCM or a patch provider), you can switch that off. Filestar then stays silent about new versions and leaves updating to you.

Set the policy

Set the DWORD value DisableAutoUpdate to 1:

reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Filestar" /v DisableAutoUpdate /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

HKLM applies to everyone on the computer. The same value under HKCU\SOFTWARE\Policies\Filestar applies to one user. Only administrators can write the Policies keys, so users cannot undo it.

Or use the installer switch

Add /DISABLEAUTOUPDATE to the silent install command and the installer writes the value for you:

Filestar.<version>.win-x64.exe /VERYSILENT /SUPPRESSMSGBOXES /NORESTART /ALLUSERS /DISABLEAUTOUPDATE

• With /ALLUSERS it writes HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Filestar.
• With /CURRENTUSER (a per-user install, without administrator rights) it writes HKCU\SOFTWARE\Filestar, because a standard user cannot write the Policies key. A user could remove that value; set the policy instead if that matters.
• /DISABLEAUTOUPDATE=1 works too, for tools that only pass name=value.

Upgrading or uninstalling Filestar leaves the value in place, so later installs don't need the switch again.

On build servers that run the Filestar CLI, the environment variable FILESTAR_DISABLE_AUTO_UPDATE=1 has the same effect.

What changes

• Filestar never contacts release.filestar.com, so it does not check for, download or install new versions.
• No update at start, no prompt when Filestar closes, and no update notices.
• Check for Updates in the Help menu and the CLI's update command say Updates for Filestar are managed by your organisation.

Plugins and resources still download and update per user, as part of running conversions (from nuget.filestar.com and cdn.filestar.com). They never change the installed application, so the version you deploy stays the version you deployed.

To turn automatic updates back on, delete the value or set it to 0. It takes effect the next time Filestar starts.

Detecting the installed version

Read DisplayVersion from the uninstall entry {A7472187-20F3-43DD-B331-C52604BAB494}_is1 under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall (all-users installs) or HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall (per-user installs). To uninstall silently, run its QuietUninstallString.

Versions before 30.5.1

Older versions don't read the policy. Block the host release.filestar.com (a proxy or firewall rule, or a hosts-file entry). Filestar uses it only for updates; without it Filestar starts normally, shows no error and does not update. Licensing, conversions and plugins use other hosts.

For everyday updating, see How to Update Filestar.