What to do if Windows Update is taking too long?

How Long Does Windows 11/10 Update Take? Windows 10 Update Taking Forever Fixes

Windows 11/10 Update Taking Too Long

Windows 10 pushes a lot of regular updates, with some improvement in stability and performance, and critical updates as well, mainly about bug fixes and shiny new features. Windows 10 update is quite normal and frequent, like twice each month. That's the point! You seem to reach the frustrating moment again, where Windows 10 updates are taking hours and hours downloading and installing itself correctly on your PC. How long does windows update take? How are you going to skip such long waiting?

Between 10 and 20 minutes

It may take between 10 and 20 minutes to update Windows 10 on a modern PC with solid-state storage. The installation process may take longer on a conventional hard drive. Besides, the size of the update also affects the time it takes. Some updates are small, and you might not even notice them installing, others are massive and take a good chunk of time to install. 

Why Does Windows 11/10 Update Take So Long 

The amount of time Windows updates can be affected by multiple factors.

• A low-speed internet connection or simultaneous downloads
• An old hard disk drive on your computer bursting with data
• Too many fragments cause Windows 10 update slow
• Microsoft's servers are getting slammed with many people all trying to download at the same time
• Windows update components might be broken
• The software might be conflicting with Windows update

5 Effective Fixes for Windows 11/10 Update Taking Forever Problem

Do you see Windows 10 taking forever in every 2018 update? Like one of the most seen blue screen loop, saying "getting Windows ready, don't turn off your computer". Be prepared. Your computer is now slowing down, plodding, frozen and stuck! Let's try the following methods to fix Windows 10 update slow issue.

Method 1. Optimize Your Network 

A faster internet connection may solve your problem and decrease the update speed. You can change to another faster connection by upgrading to a fiber-optic connection or purchasing more bandwidth from your internet service provider. You can also try a brandwidth management tool to ensure sufficient network resources are reserved for Windows 10 updates.

Method 2. Free Up Hard Drive Space by Cleaning Large and Junk Files

Windows 10 updates often take up a lot of hard drive space, so you need to make sure there is enough room for them to speed up the installation. This means deleting junk files and unnecessary large files. If there are a lot of files waiting for removing, manual deletion can be cumbersome and time-consuming. In this case, you can use cleanup software to help delete large amounts of files at once automatically.

Now, download this powerful disk management tool to fix the slow Windows 10 update issue.

Step 1. DOWNLOAD and install EaseUS Partition Master Suite for free and launch it on your Windows PC.

On the suite, hover your mouse on "PC Cleaner", click the Download icon to install and launch EaseUS CleanGenius.

Step 2. On EaseUS CleanGenius, select "Cleanup" on the main screen, and click "Scan" to start scanning.

Step 3. When the scanning process completes, select useless large files and click "Clean" to clean large files.

Step 4. When EaseUS CleanGenius completes cleaning the files you choose, click "Done" to finish the process.

Method 3. Fix Windows Update Errors with Windows Update Troubleshooter

Excluding the internal hardware factors, it's probably just the system bugs that throw your computer onto a blue screen where Windows 10 works on an infinite update.

The Windows own little program called Windows Update Troubleshooter can fix the broken components that might break the update progress.

Method 4. Disable Startup Programs That Conflict with the Update

You never know that third-party applications always conflict with the update because they happen to start at the same time. Along with applications, services and drivers are making the same effect. So, if you feel certain that the problem does not come from a poor internet connection or hard drive bad performance, consider this factor, and you may try performing a clean boot of Windows 10 before attempting to get the new update.

Step 1. Press Windows + R keys to open Run.

Step 2. Type msconfig in the Run box and click OK.

Step 3. In the System Configuration, click the "Services" tab.

Step 4. Check the box Hide all Microsoft services.

Step 5. Click "Disable all".

Step 6. Next, return and go on with the Startup tab.

Step 7. Click Open Task Manager.

Step 8. Click any startup program that is suspicious in conflicting with the update and click "Disable".

Repeat the previous step until all the startup programs in question were disabled.

Step 9. Close the Task Manager and click "OK" in the System Configuration window.

Step 10. Restart your PC and get the new update for the second time.

Method 5. Schedule Updates for Low-Traffic Periods

Massive Windows 10 updates with long installation can happen at any time. But your Internet connection may not be fast all day long. You can disable auto-updates and schedule it for after-hours when your computers and office network aren’t in use. Open the Windows Update window and specify when you prefer updates to be installed.   

Most of the time, people receive a Windows 10 unwillingly because Microsoft turns on an automatic update on our computers by default. To avoid receiving any problematic update in the future, you can always try to disable Windows 10 update for permanent.

By the way, whenever you suffer from a slow boot or startup issue after Windows 10 update, find solutions on this page. 

To Sum Up

This tutorial demonstrates how long does Windows 10 update take and why is Windows 10 update taking so long. The most six useful solutions here can help you fix Windows 10 update taking forever problems. Among them, freeing up storage space and defragmenting your hard drive is very useful. You can complete the job with the assistance of EaseUS Partition Master Free.

This free disk management program makes complex hard drive organization easier than ever, such as convert MBR to GPT, convert FAT to NTFS, convert a logical partition to primary or primary partition to logical, etc..

Windows 11/10 Update Taking Forever FAQs

1. How long does Windows 10 update take 2019?

Major updates to the Windows OS come about every six months, with the most recent being the November 2019 update. Major updates may take a little longer. The regular version only takes 7 to 17 minutes to install.

2. Why do Windows 10 updates take so long?

Why does Windows 10 update take so long? Windows 10 updates take so long to complete because Microsoft is constantly adding larger files and features to them. The biggest updates, released in the spring and fall of every year, usually take upwards of four hours to install. Besides, it's also relevant to the small available space, hard drive fragments, software conflicts, and other factors.

3. Can I stop a Windows 10 update in progress?

You can stop Windows 10 updates in progress in the services.

Step 1. Open the Search windows box and type Services in Windows 10. Right-click Services and select "Run as Administrator". 

Step 2. In the Services window, you will find out the list of all the services running in the background. You need to find the Windows Update service.

Step 3. Right-click "Windows Update", and from the context menu, select "Stop". Alternatively, you can click on the "Stop" link available under the Windows update option on the top left side of the window.

4. How long does it take to update Windows 10 1903?

It depends. On different devices, in different network situations, the time spent is different. The installing of Windows 10 1903 takes about 30 minutes. Configuring, and restarting may take a few times. In short, you'll probably upgrade to Windows 10 1903 in an hour. 

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