How Long Does The New Windows Update Take

Microsoft'due south original promise for Windows 10 was that "Windows every bit a service" would make life with your PC simpler. Instead of the disruption (and cost) associated with a major upgrade every three years, you lot could expect those big changes to exist broken down into smaller update packages that would arrive, free of charge, roughly twice a year.

That'south not exactly how it worked out.

The first few Windows 10 feature updates turned out to exist more than like full-sized upgrades: fourth dimension-consuming to install, disruptive to productivity, and difficult to postpone or manage, as my readers were not shy to point out.

The upgrade pain reached its elevation with the November 2018 Update, version 1809, which earned the dubious distinction of being the just characteristic update to be pulled from Microsoft'south servers every bit the company worked to fix a data-destroying bug. Information technology was five weeks before the update reappeared.

Since hit that nadir, Microsoft has changed its ways, big fourth dimension.

Characteristic updates are now optional. Those twice-a-twelvemonth updates are no longer mandatory.

Each new Windows 10 feature update is supported for a minimum of 18 months. Enterprise customers who install the H2 update (typically released in October or Nov) tin can have reward of an extended support calendar of 30 months.

Version 1909 was a most invisible feature update, delivered as a tiny "enablement parcel" for systems already running version 1903.

After finishing the preliminary installation of a new feature update, you'll come across this prompt, which allows you to schedule the concluding stage.

At present, with version 2004 just effectually the corner, anyone responsible for managing Windows 10 PCs has to approach this new update with some trepidation. It appears that Microsoft is being ultra cautious with this update. It'southward been available as a preview release for almost a year, or roughly twice equally long equally normal, and the final major build, 19041, arrived in the Windows Insider Slow ring before the end of 2019, much earlier than usual.

To get some idea of how the update process volition work, I spent last weekend connecting a vi Windows x PCs to the Tiresome Ring so that they could get a preview of the upcoming version 2004 update. The results were encouraging.

Almost of the process of downloading and installing a characteristic update now takes identify in the background. On my examination systems, the download took up merely over 3 GB of disk space, and subsequently the preliminary installation work was complete I saw this notification.

Instead of scheduling a restart, I chose the Restart At present option and timed how long the final phase of installation took from start to finish (fully signed in at the Windows desktop).

On three systems equipped with SSDs as primary storage, the boilerplate fourth dimension required was exactly 7 minutes. Ironically, the fastest finish, hands downwards, was on a almost seven-yr-old Dell XPS 8700 desktop PC congenital in June 2013.

I was curious how much longer the update process would take on a organization with a conventional hard drive instead of an SSD, and then I reconfigured that old PC with the hard drive it originally shipped with and ran the examination again.

This fourth dimension, the concluding update took more than three times every bit long, requiring me to look more than 17 minutes before I could go dorsum to work. The background phase of the installation took much longer likewise, with the system struggling to keep up as the hard disk chugged away while downloading and installing the new organisation epitome.

Based on that experience, my recommendation for anyone who plans to install this characteristic update is to accept advantage of that Restart Tonight option. That'southward especially true if the target organization is relatively old and slow. On a modern PC with an SSD equally the master organization storage, y'all should be able to complete the update in about the time it takes to get a cup of coffee.

If you lot've already updated to version 1903 or 1909, you tin postpone that process for several months, at to the lowest degree. And given the history of recent feature updates, that might be the smartest strategy of all.