How Long Should A Windows 10 Update Take

Enquiry shows Windows updates can take half-dozen hours to complete

Devices running Windows 10 and 11 can accept up to eight hours to fully download and apply software updates, co-ordinate to a new report from Microsoft.

Lucas Mearian By

Senior Reporter, Computerworld |

Editor'southward annotation: An before version of this story said some devices need upwards to viii hours of time continued to the cyberspace to update; the story has been revised based on updated information from Microsoft.

Windows devices that aren't connected to the net for upwardly to half-dozen hours at a fourth dimension are "very unlikely" to successfully update fully and properly, a recent Microsoft investigation revealed.

Microsoft program managing director David Guyer wrote in a recent web log postal service that devices need a minimum of 2 continuous connected hours, and six total continued hours to install "quality and feature updates."

"This allows for a successful download and background installations that are able to restart or resume once a device is active and connected," Guyer wrote.

Nearly a week after the weblog was outset posted, Guyer answered some pointed questions in a comment thread, explaining that the bulk of updates — from starting time to cease — can take less than an hour.

"The six 'total connected hours' (not eight) I cited in this post are based on studies that include devices that are infrequently used, often but online for a few minutes across multiple hours, take intermittent connectivity, and are often running on battery ability," Guyer wrote. "Some parts of the update procedure tin can restart where they left off, similar the downloads. Others need to restart from the beginning if the device shuts down. So these are both taken into account in the criteria."

The trouble with long updates, Microsoft claimed, is most prevalent on devices running Windows x; those systems crave substantially larger updates than Windows 11. Microsoft reduced the size of updates for Windows eleven by 40% through compression engineering science, "thereby cutting fourth dimension and bandwidth requirements for updates," a Microsoft software engineer and program manager wrote in an October 2021 blog postal service.

heatherpoulsen 1 1643291738979 — How devices with Bereft update connectivity prove up in the Windows Expedited update written report in Intune.

Microsoft, Guyer wrote, has invested in a meaning endeavor to understand why some Windows devices are still not always fully up to date.

Near half of Windows 10 devices that are no longer running a serviced build don't spend enough time online for the updates to be downloaded and installed. That number drops to 25% of Windows x devices that are on a serviced build but have security updates more than than 60 days out of engagement, according to Microsoft.

One problem is end users ability down their systems at the terminate of their workday, eliminating the possibility of updates overnight. "Impress upon [users] the importance of keeping their devices connected so their devices can stay protected and they can stay productive," Guyer said.

When investigating the issue, Microsoft found "insufficient update connectivity," or the corporeality of time and bandwidth needed to update hardware completely during the vi hours of connected fourth dimension. "If a device has insufficient update connectivity, so investigating other update issues is complicated because the low update connectivity can create new issues that go away in one case at that place'south enough connectivity," Guyer wrote.

The bottom line, yet, is that Windows updates are large, and even breaking the updates into smaller segments and spacing them out so they don't have identify all at one time still requires the auto to be on a long time; so, once the update is fully downloaded, the PC notwithstanding has to incorporate the software in groundwork manner to have minimal touch on on the machine performance.

The updating outcome for Microsoft has been a problem for years; information technology's non something new with Windows 10.

"Microsoft volition have a tough time moving beyond this scenario, but they are trying to do so with each new Os, and getting better at it, simply yet have a ways to go," said Jack Gilt, principal analyst at J. Gilt Associates.

The key problem is that the way Microsoft has structured Windows and the update process essentially requires a very large part of the OS to be updated whenever at that place is a new version, according to Gold.

"Other OSes, especially some of the mobile ones…, have figured out how to do a componentized arroyo to updating just the portions of the code necessary," Gold wrote in an email response to Computerworld. "Microsoft is trying to move in this direction also, and Windows xi does practice better at this. But the fundamental architecture of Windows makes it hard to motility fully to a less burdensome process, given that much of the existing lawmaking and platform is used in new versions of the OS."

heatherpoulsen 0 1643291738955 — A failure report filtered to the Insufficient Update Connectivity alarm, which shows devices with Bereft update connectivity.

If Microsoft tried to give OS updates the priority they need to complete quickly, it would basically take over a automobile'southward CPU, leading to sluggish performance for all applications on the system.

To address the outcome, Microsoft settled on partial downloads, performing one, waiting a bit, then downloading some more, Gilded said.

"Basically, they are throttling back so as non to overly bear upon performance…, and then as not to totally trash the user working on the machine," Gold said.

Other OSes take similar issues, but to a much lesser extent. For example, Apple's macOS is built on a Linux kernel that's much more segmented than Windows. So updates to the arrangement aren't ordinarily equally big, unless a user is upgrading to a totally new version of macOS.

"Just, that'due south non to say that the updating process on Macs is a breeze either," Gilt said. "It all the same takes compute resource to download and brand upgrades. It's just a picayune easier on the system and user than Windows."

Co-ordinate to Microsoft, another consequence affecting updates is ability management. Some power settings and related policies put a device into a deep slumber or hibernation too rapidly, which can prevent updates from occurring outside agile hours.

Microsoft provides recommendations on how to brand sure updates are done, including power settings that allow devices to stay electric current with security updates. Information technology admins using Group Policy Objects to manage policies can use the settings in the Windows security baselines, available as part of the Security Compliance Toolkit, to configure power settings.

Companies might too want to consider filtering out devices that exercise non take the minimum update connectivity. The reasoning is that those devices are not "update salubrious," and irresolute policies or targeting them with more updates will non assist until they meet the minimum Update Connectivity measurement required for success.

Admins tin can bank check which devices take Bereft update connectivity using Microsoft Intune. In one case in that location, navigate to Devices > Monitor and select either the Feature update failures or Windows Expedited update failures report.

Senior Reporter Lucas Mearian covers Windows, Futurity of Piece of work issues, mobile, Apple in the enterprise, and healthcare IT.