Disable auto update in ver 4.x for Windows
Installed 4.0.9 on Windows 10
Changed gui.update.enabled to FALSE. Even after this, wireshark updated automatically to the current latest 4.2.0 after the interval specified in gui.update.interval elapsed. So it looks like setting gui.update.enabled to FALSE does not work.
Any other way to stop the automatic updates?
There have been several reported instances of this behaviour, which isn't by design. Sometimes the culprit is external management software, do you run in such an environment
no - this is a standalone laptop not linked to any corporate environment
Not that it helps, but in our office managed by Intune, we have 58 instances of Wireshark installed and have to manually initiate every update. I would love to have auto-update.
Everybody can have different requirements. In my line of work I use extensively custom dissectors and I was really unpleasantly surprised when the auto update upgraded my 4.0.9 version to the current 4.2.0 and as result I suddenly lost the ability use my dissectors because it turned out that in this version the developers decided to remove init.lua from the package without clear documentation how to proceed from there.
The point I was (obliquely) making was that Wireshark does not, by design, auto-update. An update can be offered (if enabled) but still requires manual action to OK the update.
Yet, we have sporadic reports, such as yours, that an update "happens".