Q. How can I stop the automatic deployment of SP1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2?

A. If you use Windows Update to deploy updates to your organization, it's possible to block the automatic deployment of SP1 through Windows Update using the Microsoft-provided Service Pack blocker tool. Microsoft usually provides such a tool for each Windows service pack.

The blocker can be downloaded from Microsoft and consists of a group policy template, an executable and a script.

As usual with the blocker tools, it sets the registry value

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwarePoliciesMicrosoftWindowsWindowsUpdateDoNotAllowSP

to 1. You could also set this value with your own method. The blocker will stop the installation for 12 months once the Service Pack is released.