How can I block Java updates, network-wide?

Question

Java is constantly prompting users to upgrade and, when they do, it tries to install all sorts of other things which we must uninstall. Lately it installs a backup program called Carbonite.

We’ve banned Java unless the user has a specific reason why they need it. Those people are getting upgrade prompts with “ride along” software.

How can we stop this?

• What site is it contacting to see if there’s an upgrade? It should be easy to block that at the firewall. (We did the same thing with RealPlayer.)
• Is there a registry entry or group policy that can stop it?

Answer 1

To disable the auto-update notification you should be able to set the dword value at HKLM\SOFTWARE\JavaSoft\Java Update\Policy\EnableJavaUpdate to 0 and HKLM\SOFTWARE\JavaSoft\Java Update\Policy\NotifyInstall to 0.

Here is a fragment from on of my startup scripts.

Option Explicit

Dim oShell
Set oShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

DisableJavaUpdateNotification()

Function DisableJavaUpdateNotification
    Dim Key,Value
    Key="HKLM\SOFTWARE\JavaSoft\Java Update\Policy\EnableJavaUpdate"
    Value="0"
    oShell.RegWrite Key,Value,"REG_DWORD"
    Key="HKLM\SOFTWARE\JavaSoft\Java Update\Policy\NotifyInstall"
    Value="0"
    oShell.RegWrite Key,Value,"REG_DWORD"
End Function