diff --git a/doc/03-cli.md b/doc/03-cli.md
index 217d2ea0a..37a3f5723 100644
--- a/doc/03-cli.md
+++ b/doc/03-cli.md
@@ -149,6 +149,7 @@ php composer.phar update "vendor/*"
 * **--dry-run:** Simulate the command without actually doing anything.
 * **--dev:** Install packages listed in `require-dev` (this is the default behavior).
 * **--no-dev:** Skip installing packages listed in `require-dev`. The autoloader generation skips the `autoload-dev` rules.
+* **--no-install:** Does not run the install step after updating the composer.lock file.
 * **--lock:** Only updates the lock file hash to suppress warning about the
   lock file being out of date.
 * **--no-autoloader:** Skips autoloader generation.
@@ -201,7 +202,8 @@ If you do not specify a package, composer will prompt you to search for a packag
 * **--prefer-dist:** Install packages from `dist` when available.
 * **--no-progress:** Removes the progress display that can mess with some
   terminals or scripts which don't handle backspace characters.
-* **--no-update:** Disables the automatic update of the dependencies.
+* **--no-update:** Disables the automatic update of the dependencies (implies --no-install).
+* **--no-install:** Does not run the install step after updating the composer.lock file.
 * **--no-scripts:** Skips execution of scripts defined in `composer.json`.
 * **--update-no-dev:** Run the dependency update with the `--no-dev` option.
 * **--update-with-dependencies:** Also update dependencies of the newly required packages, except those that are root requirements.
@@ -237,7 +239,8 @@ uninstalled.
 * **--dry-run:** Simulate the command without actually doing anything.
 * **--no-progress:** Removes the progress display that can mess with some
   terminals or scripts which don't handle backspace characters.
-* **--no-update:** Disables the automatic update of the dependencies.
+* **--no-update:** Disables the automatic update of the dependencies (implies --no-install).
+* **--no-install:** Does not run the install step after updating the composer.lock file.
 * **--no-scripts:** Skips execution of scripts defined in `composer.json`.
 * **--update-no-dev:** Run the dependency update with the --no-dev option.
 * **--update-with-dependencies:** Also update dependencies of the removed packages.
diff --git a/src/Composer/Command/InstallCommand.php b/src/Composer/Command/InstallCommand.php
index 033f32195..5f5565248 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Command/InstallCommand.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Command/InstallCommand.php
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ class InstallCommand extends BaseCommand
                 new InputOption('no-autoloader', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Skips autoloader generation'),
                 new InputOption('no-scripts', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Skips the execution of all scripts defined in composer.json file.'),
                 new InputOption('no-progress', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Do not output download progress.'),
+                new InputOption('no-install', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Do not use, only defined here to catch misuse of the install command.'),
                 new InputOption('verbose', 'v|vv|vvv', InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Shows more details including new commits pulled in when updating packages.'),
                 new InputOption('optimize-autoloader', 'o', InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Optimize autoloader during autoloader dump'),
                 new InputOption('classmap-authoritative', 'a', InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Autoload classes from the classmap only. Implicitly enables `--optimize-autoloader`.'),
@@ -82,6 +83,12 @@ EOT
             return 1;
         }
 
+        if ($input->getOption('no-install')) {
+            $io->writeError('<error>Invalid option "--no-install". Use "composer update --no-install" instead if you are trying to update the composer.lock file.</error>');
+
+            return 1;
+        }
+
         $composer = $this->getComposer(true, $input->getOption('no-plugins'));
 
         $commandEvent = new CommandEvent(PluginEvents::COMMAND, 'install', $input, $output);
diff --git a/src/Composer/Command/RemoveCommand.php b/src/Composer/Command/RemoveCommand.php
index 452b30585..7e4c7ed49 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Command/RemoveCommand.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Command/RemoveCommand.php
@@ -41,7 +41,8 @@ class RemoveCommand extends BaseCommand
                 new InputOption('dev', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Removes a package from the require-dev section.'),
                 new InputOption('dry-run', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Outputs the operations but will not execute anything (implicitly enables --verbose).'),
                 new InputOption('no-progress', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Do not output download progress.'),
-                new InputOption('no-update', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Disables the automatic update of the dependencies.'),
+                new InputOption('no-update', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Disables the automatic update of the dependencies (implies --no-install).'),
+                new InputOption('no-install', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Skip the install step after updating the composer.lock file.'),
                 new InputOption('no-scripts', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Skips the execution of all scripts defined in composer.json file.'),
                 new InputOption('update-no-dev', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Run the dependency update with the --no-dev option.'),
                 new InputOption('update-with-dependencies', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Allows inherited dependencies to be updated with explicit dependencies. (Deprecrated, is now default behavior)'),
@@ -237,6 +238,7 @@ EOT
             ->setClassMapAuthoritative($authoritative)
             ->setApcuAutoloader($apcu)
             ->setUpdate(true)
+            ->setInstall(!$input->getOption('no-install'))
             ->setUpdateAllowList($packages)
             ->setUpdateAllowTransitiveDependencies($updateAllowTransitiveDependencies)
             ->setIgnorePlatformRequirements($input->getOption('ignore-platform-reqs'))
diff --git a/src/Composer/Command/RequireCommand.php b/src/Composer/Command/RequireCommand.php
index 67188504d..7e290aca6 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Command/RequireCommand.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Command/RequireCommand.php
@@ -61,7 +61,8 @@ class RequireCommand extends InitCommand
                 new InputOption('fixed', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Write fixed version to the composer.json.'),
                 new InputOption('no-suggest', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'DEPRECATED: This flag does not exist anymore.'),
                 new InputOption('no-progress', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Do not output download progress.'),
-                new InputOption('no-update', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Disables the automatic update of the dependencies.'),
+                new InputOption('no-update', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Disables the automatic update of the dependencies (implies --no-install).'),
+                new InputOption('no-install', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Skip the install step after updating the composer.lock file.'),
                 new InputOption('no-scripts', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Skips the execution of all scripts defined in composer.json file.'),
                 new InputOption('update-no-dev', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Run the dependency update with the --no-dev option.'),
                 new InputOption('update-with-dependencies', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Allows inherited dependencies to be updated, except those that are root requirements.'),
@@ -284,6 +285,7 @@ EOT
             ->setClassMapAuthoritative($authoritative)
             ->setApcuAutoloader($apcu)
             ->setUpdate(true)
+            ->setInstall(!$input->getOption('no-install'))
             ->setUpdateAllowTransitiveDependencies($updateAllowTransitiveDependencies)
             ->setIgnorePlatformRequirements($input->getOption('ignore-platform-reqs'))
             ->setPreferStable($input->getOption('prefer-stable'))
diff --git a/src/Composer/Command/UpdateCommand.php b/src/Composer/Command/UpdateCommand.php
index 9c875a57d..4bb15fc9b 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Command/UpdateCommand.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Command/UpdateCommand.php
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ class UpdateCommand extends BaseCommand
                 new InputOption('dev', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'DEPRECATED: Enables installation of require-dev packages (enabled by default, only present for BC).'),
                 new InputOption('no-dev', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Disables installation of require-dev packages.'),
                 new InputOption('lock', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Only updates the lock file hash to suppress warning about the lock file being out of date.'),
+                new InputOption('no-install', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Skip the install step after updating the composer.lock file.'),
                 new InputOption('no-autoloader', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Skips autoloader generation'),
                 new InputOption('no-scripts', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Skips the execution of all scripts defined in composer.json file.'),
                 new InputOption('no-suggest', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'DEPRECATED: This flag does not exist anymore.'),
@@ -163,6 +164,7 @@ EOT
             ->setClassMapAuthoritative($authoritative)
             ->setApcuAutoloader($apcu)
             ->setUpdate(true)
+            ->setInstall(!$input->getOption('no-install'))
             ->setUpdateMirrors($updateMirrors)
             ->setUpdateAllowList($packages)
             ->setUpdateAllowTransitiveDependencies($updateAllowTransitiveDependencies)
diff --git a/src/Composer/Installer.php b/src/Composer/Installer.php
index 1a9d4fc4f..2bca0618b 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Installer.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Installer.php
@@ -129,6 +129,7 @@ class Installer
     protected $dryRun = false;
     protected $verbose = false;
     protected $update = false;
+    protected $install = true;
     protected $dumpAutoloader = true;
     protected $runScripts = true;
     protected $ignorePlatformReqs = false;
@@ -220,6 +221,10 @@ class Installer
             $this->mockLocalRepositories($this->repositoryManager);
         }
 
+        if ($this->update && !$this->install) {
+            $this->dumpAutoloader = false;
+        }
+
         if ($this->runScripts) {
             $_SERVER['COMPOSER_DEV_MODE'] = (int) $this->devMode;
             putenv('COMPOSER_DEV_MODE='.$_SERVER['COMPOSER_DEV_MODE']);
@@ -241,8 +246,7 @@ class Installer
 
         try {
             if ($this->update) {
-                // TODO introduce option to set doInstall to false (update lock file without vendor install)
-                $res = $this->doUpdate($localRepo, true);
+                $res = $this->doUpdate($localRepo, $this->install);
             } else {
                 $res = $this->doInstall($localRepo);
             }
@@ -250,13 +254,13 @@ class Installer
                 return $res;
             }
         } catch (\Exception $e) {
-            if ($this->executeOperations && $this->config->get('notify-on-install')) {
+            if ($this->executeOperations && $this->install && $this->config->get('notify-on-install')) {
                 $this->installationManager->notifyInstalls($this->io);
             }
 
             throw $e;
         }
-        if ($this->executeOperations && $this->config->get('notify-on-install')) {
+        if ($this->executeOperations && $this->install && $this->config->get('notify-on-install')) {
             $this->installationManager->notifyInstalls($this->io);
         }
 
@@ -307,7 +311,7 @@ class Installer
             $this->autoloadGenerator->dump($this->config, $localRepo, $this->package, $this->installationManager, 'composer', $this->optimizeAutoloader);
         }
 
-        if ($this->executeOperations) {
+        if ($this->install && $this->executeOperations) {
             // force binaries re-generation in case they are missing
             foreach ($localRepo->getPackages() as $package) {
                 $this->installationManager->ensureBinariesPresence($package);
@@ -1018,6 +1022,19 @@ class Installer
         return $this;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Allows disabling the install step after an update
+     *
+     * @param  bool      $install
+     * @return Installer
+     */
+    public function setInstall($install = true)
+    {
+        $this->install = (bool) $install;
+
+        return $this;
+    }
+
     /**
      * enables dev packages
      *