Research reveals Windows updates can take six hours to finish
Devices working Windows 10 and 11 can take as much as eight hours to completely obtain and apply software program updates, in line with a brand new report from Microsoft.
Microsoft / IDG
Editor’s be aware: An earlier model of this story stated some gadgets want as much as eight hours of time related to the web to replace; the story has been revised primarily based on up to date data from Microsoft.
Windows gadgets that aren’t related to the web for as much as six hours at a time are “not possible” to efficiently replace absolutely and correctly, a latest Microsoft investigation revealed.
Microsoft program supervisor David Guyer wrote in a latest weblog put up that gadgets want a minimal of two steady related hours, and 6 whole related hours to put in “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 every week after the weblog was first posted, Guyer answered some pointed questions in a remark thread, explaining that almost all of updates — from begin to end — can take lower than an hour.
“The six ‘whole related hours’ (not eight) I cited on this put up are primarily based on research that embrace gadgets which might be sometimes used, usually solely on-line for a couple of minutes throughout a number of hours, have intermittent connectivity, and are sometimes working on battery energy,” Guyer wrote. “Some elements of the replace course of can restart the place they left off, just like the downloads. Others must restart from the start if the gadget shuts down. So these are each taken under consideration within the standards.”
The drawback with lengthy updates, Microsoft claimed, is most prevalent on gadgets working Windows 10; these techniques require considerably bigger updates than Windows 11. Microsoft lowered the scale of updates for Windows 11 by 40% by way of compression know-how, “thereby chopping time and bandwidth necessities for updates,” a Microsoft software program engineer and program supervisor wrote in an October 2021 weblog put up.
Microsoft
How gadgets with Insufficient replace connectivity present up within the Windows Expedited replace report in Intune.
Microsoft, Guyer wrote, has invested in a major effort to grasp why some Windows gadgets are nonetheless not at all times absolutely updated.
About half of Windows 10 gadgets which might be now not working a serviced construct don’t spend sufficient time on-line for the updates to be downloaded and put in. That quantity drops to 25% of Windows 10 gadgets which might be on a serviced construct however have safety updates greater than 60 days old-fashioned, in line with Microsoft.
One drawback is finish customers energy down their techniques on the finish of their workday, eliminating the opportunity of updates in a single day. “Impress upon [users] the importance of keeping their devices connected so their devices can stay protected and they can stay productive,” Guyer stated.
When investigating the difficulty, Microsoft discovered “inadequate replace connectivity,” or the period of time and bandwidth wanted to replace {hardware} utterly in the course of the six hours of related time. “If a device has insufficient update connectivity, then investigating other update issues is complicated because the low update connectivity can create new issues that go away once there’s enough connectivity,” Guyer wrote.
The backside line, nonetheless, is that Windows updates are massive, and even breaking the updates into smaller segments and spacing them out so that they don’t happen suddenly nonetheless requires the machine to be on a very long time; then, as soon as the replace is absolutely downloaded, the PC nonetheless has to include the software program in background mode to have minimal impression on the machine efficiency.
The updating subject for Microsoft has been an issue for years; it isn’t one thing new with Windows 10.
“Microsoft will have a tough time moving beyond this scenario, but they are trying to do so with each new OS, and getting better at it, but still have a ways to go,” stated Jack Gold, principal analyst at J. Gold Associates.
The basic drawback is that the best way Microsoft has structured Windows and the replace course of basically requires a really massive a part of the OS to be up to date at any time when there’s a new model, in line with Gold.
“Other OSes, especially some of the mobile ones…, have figured out how to do a componentized approach to updating just the portions of the code necessary,” Gold wrote in an electronic mail response to Computerworld. “Microsoft is trying to move in this direction as well, and Windows 11 does do better at this. But the fundamental architecture of Windows makes it hard to move fully to a less burdensome process, given that much of the existing code and platform is used in new versions of the OS.”
Microsoft
A failure report filtered to the Insufficient Update Connectivity alert, which reveals gadgets with Insufficient replace connectivity.
If Microsoft tried to present OS updates the precedence they should full rapidly, it could principally take over a machine’s CPU, resulting in sluggish efficiency for all functions on the system.
To handle the difficulty, Microsoft settled on partial downloads, performing one, ready a bit, then downloading some extra, Gold stated.
“Basically, they are throttling back so as not to overly impact performance…, so as not to totally trash the user working on the machine,” Gold stated.
Other OSes have comparable points, however to a a lot lesser extent. For instance, Apple’s macOS is constructed on a Linux kernel that is rather more segmented than Windows. So updates to the system aren’t normally as massive, until a consumer is upgrading to a completely new model of macOS.
“But, that’s not to say that the updating process on Macs is a breeze either,” Gold stated. “It still takes compute resources to download and make upgrades. It’s just a little easier on the system and user than Windows.”
According to Microsoft, one other subject affecting updates is energy administration. Some energy settings and associated insurance policies put a tool right into a deep sleep or hibernation too rapidly, which may stop updates from occurring exterior energetic hours.
Microsoft offers suggestions on how to ensure updates are finished, together with energy settings that enable gadgets to remain present with safety updates. IT admins utilizing Group Policy Objects to handle insurance policies can use the settings within the Windows safety baselines, out there as a part of the Security Compliance Toolkit, to configure energy settings.
Companies may also need to think about filtering out gadgets that should not have the minimal replace connectivity. The reasoning is that these gadgets aren’t “replace wholesome,” and altering insurance policies or concentrating on them with extra updates is not going to assist till they meet the minimal Update Connectivity measurement required for fulfillment.
Admins can examine which gadgets have Insufficient replace connectivity utilizing Microsoft Intune. Once there, navigate to Devices > Monitor and choose both the Feature replace failures or Windows Expedited replace failures report.