LinWinux,
I have to disagree about Microsoft’s W10 update system. In my experience and that of many others, it is simply a nightmare and causes users untold problems and wasted time. Previous Windows versions were nowhere near as poor in this respect.

I have one more year to look after after a community group’s W10 laptops and then it is goodbye to W10 and I will be 100% Linux.

Here is a sample of a single W10 update and the many and varied errors it can produce:
https://www.windowscentral.com/windo...lems-and-fixes

One Windows Central forum comment summed things up neatly:

I think that a very large number of W10 users would readily swap their W10 update system for a far more reliable and robust Linux one which requires negligible effort to enter a Linux password occasionally.

W10 Pro users can defer W10 updates but the far more numerous W10 Home users receive W10 updates automatically whether they want them or not.
Unlike Linux users they have absolutely no control of the update operation and the automatic W10 updates often produce errors or, in a worse-case scenario, a broken system.

Well, some of these comments aren't really helpful at all as far as the thread topic is concerned, since the updates work perfectly fine without a password in our livingroom MX Linux, so I'm sure that it can't be a very big deal. I actually thought that by posting in the antiX / MX Forum, perhaps some serious MX gurus or even MX developers out there, might be able to help with my questions?

As far as Windows 10 is concerned, I can't speak for others. I work on systems where I'm the one who installs Windows 10 and the only variety of that which I ever install is Windows 10 Professional. Perhaps it has something to do with my location as well, since we're located in Germany? But the fact of the matter is ... at least for myself ... is that I have had literally *ZERO* problems with any windows 10 updates, including the latest version update that became available recently. Literally zero problems, what can I say? (I do disable several aspects within Win10 immediately after the installation though and I also install 3 additional browsers after the installation, one of which is set up in the default starter apps.).

I did run into two problems from clients of mine. One with Windows 8.1 which he hadn't updated in over 2 years. That one took me about 9 hours to fix from beginning to end, since the client had no backups. I also ran into a problem with another Windows 10 client who had Windows Home installed, with *TWO* additional commercial virus checkers on top of the default Windows Defender Anti-Virus. That one was a nightmare to fix, took me overnight, but eventually I was able to revert to a far earlier restore point. The system came to me with a black screen and nothing was working ...

BTW: Here in Germany there are now numerous expert resources Online which have been around for 20 years or more, who state that as of 2017 Windows Defender has gotten so many improvements that by using additional third party Anti-Virus Software, a general or even small business user is more likely to create additional problems on their machine with hidden conflicts, as opposed to solving them. As of 2018 I've been recommending for all of my clients to stop installing third party anti-virus software and so far there've been zero complaints about any problems. I truly despise Microsoft for the company that it is, but I have new found respect for windows 10 which I'm beginning to like a lot more when compared to Windows 2000, Windows Vista, or Windows 8. Well, that's *MY* story and I'm sticking to it ...
To me personally, it actually feels as though Microsoft copied a lot of Linux functionality over to Windows 10.
(I'm talking about the feel & functionality of the XFCE desktop environment)

LinWinux,

Like you, I use W10 Pro.

After 3 failed attempts to install W10 version 1903, May 2019 using the inbuilt updater, I decided to try doing a manual installation using the Media Creation Tool:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=691209

The download succeeded and everything was going well until it reached about 86% of the installation when I received the “installation failed” message.

I am fully aware of how to reset Windows Update components as per the following long list:
https://pureinfotech.com/reset-windo...oads-installs/
since I was once obliged to do it on W7.

However life is far too short to be wasting any more time on this dreadful Microsoft W10 updating “system”.
I will simply defer the 1903 May 2019 update for 365 days, in the faint hope that Microsoft has managed to remedy matters in the meantime.

If I understand your question correctly, you want to click on the little (green) box icon and not have to put in a password.

1) find these lines in /etc/sudoers:

# Allow members of group sudo to execute any command
%sudo ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL

and change them to:

# Allow members of group sudo to execute any command
%sudo ALL=(ALL:ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL

2) In users and passwords, add yourself to the group "sudo".

3) In Settings, Session and Startup, Application Autostart uncheck MX Updater

4) Make a new entry "Root MX Updater" with the command line: sudo apt-notifier

It will appear in your system tray, as always, but will work without any further authorisation.

1 members found this post helpful.

Thanks a lot, I'll try that sometime within the next week or so. I'm curious though, will those adjustments stay in place even after dist-uprades, or would that require the setting that up again?

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I'd keep a copy of the revised /etc/sudoers somewhere just in case it's revised by an update or you have to reinstall. The other stuff is in your personal settings so shouldn't be affected. If you need to reinstall you might need to add yourself to the group "sudo" again.

Thanks. In hindsight I'm beginning to think that maybe it's not a good idea to do the automatic updating after all. Every once in awhile some of the more extensive updates require confirmation to keep or replace this or that, so the automatic updates with the by-passed password probably wouldn't work during those instances, right?

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The sudoers method? Why shouldn't it - you choose to configure your system that way, that's what it will do.
That's the difference between Linux and $PROPRIETARY_OS - you are in control, and there's no ultimate safety net.

Much to do with advancing years. I installed a new version of MX Linux and couldn't remember what I did! So I did an internet search and came across my own post from 2019!

In response to LinWinux's concerns, the amended sudoers file has never been overwritten by an upgrade, and I've never had any problems with this. You can still decide whether or not the upgrade goes ahead, you just don't need to put in a password. I do trust the MX Developers not to make an upgrade that will break the system. And the method still works on the latest/current version of MX Linux.