---
title: "Delivery Optimization: stopping Windows using your upload for other people's updates"
description: "What DODownloadMode and the DoSvc service do, why peer-to-peer update sharing can use your upload while you play, and how to turn it off properly."
url: https://frozentweaks.com/tweaks/disable-delivery-optimization
author: Frost LIVE, Founder of Frozen Tweaks
published: 2026-08-30
updated: 2026-10-08
category: "Network"
source: Frozen Tweaks (https://frozentweaks.com)
---

# Delivery Optimization: stopping Windows using your upload for other people's updates

**Short answer:** Setting DODownloadMode to 0 under SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DeliveryOptimization restricts Windows Update to plain HTTP downloads and stops it sharing update files peer-to-peer with other machines. This is one of the few genuinely useful network tweaks, because the upload side can consume bandwidth and add jitter while you play.

## In the app

- Switch: Disable Delivery Optimization (Network, Free, Standard)
- Undo: Yes. Switching it off removes the Delivery Optimization policy values and sets the service to Manual, which Windows can still start when an update needs it.
- Catalog row: https://frozentweaks.com/tweaks#t-1016

## What it does

Delivery Optimization turns your PC into a peer that both downloads update content from, and uploads it to, other machines on your local network, and on the internet if that is allowed in Settings.

Upload saturation is a real cause of ping spikes, because a saturated upstream delays the acknowledgements your game is waiting on.

## When it helps

- Removes an unpredictable source of upstream bandwidth use, which is the kind that hurts latency most.
- Useful on connections with limited upload, which describes most consumer connections.
- Stops your machine serving update data to other PCs.

## When it hurts

- Updates may download more slowly, since they can no longer come from a nearby peer.
- On a LAN with many Windows machines you lose a genuinely efficient distribution mechanism.

## What it writes

Read from the app's source. "Switching it off" is what the app writes when you turn the tweak off again.

Registry values:

| Key | Value | With the tweak | Switching it off | What it does |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DeliveryOptimization` | `DODownloadMode` | `0` | Not set (the value is deleted; Windows decides) | HTTP only: no peer-to-peer sharing, on the local network or the internet. |
| `HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DeliveryOptimization` | `DOAbsoluteMaxCacheSizePct` | `0` | Not set (the value is deleted; Windows decides) | Gives the Delivery Optimization cache no share of the disk. |

Services (startup type):

| Service | With the tweak | Switching it off | What it does |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `DoSvc` (Delivery Optimization) | Disabled | Manual | Downloads update content and shares it with other PCs. Set to Manual, Windows can still start it when an update needs it. |

Source: Tweaks/delivery_optimization.hpp in the app's source, app 2.0.0, checked 2026-10-08.

## The same change by hand

Run in a Command Prompt opened as administrator. Make a restore point first.

```bat
reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DeliveryOptimization" /v "DODownloadMode" /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DeliveryOptimization" /v "DOAbsoluteMaxCacheSizePct" /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
sc config "DoSvc" start= disabled
```

Put it back:

```bat
reg delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DeliveryOptimization" /v "DODownloadMode" /f
reg delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DeliveryOptimization" /v "DOAbsoluteMaxCacheSizePct" /f
sc config "DoSvc" start= demand
```

See what it is set to now:

```bat
reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DeliveryOptimization" /v "DODownloadMode"
```

## How to undo it

Delete DODownloadMode and DOAbsoluteMaxCacheSizePct, then set DoSvc back to the start type it had before. Switching it off in Frozen Tweaks deletes both values and sets DoSvc to Manual; Windows can still start it when an update needs it.

## Verdict

Worth doing on a normal home connection. If you run several Windows PCs on the same network and care about update bandwidth, leave it on.

## Related guides

- [How to Reduce Input Lag on PC: The Whole Latency Chain](https://frozentweaks.com/guides/reduce-input-lag)
- [Windows 11 Gaming Optimization: What Still Works in 2026](https://frozentweaks.com/guides/windows-11-gaming-optimization)

## More tweak explainers

- [NDU (Network Data Usage)](https://frozentweaks.com/tweaks/disable-ndu-service)
- [Prefer IPv4 over IPv6](https://frozentweaks.com/tweaks/prefer-ipv4-over-ipv6)
- [BITS](https://frozentweaks.com/tweaks/disable-bits-service)

---
Written by Frost LIVE, founder of Frozen Tweaks. Canonical version: https://frozentweaks.com/tweaks/disable-delivery-optimization