What is the Fastest Way to Apply Windows Updates?

Question

For some reason Windows 10 updates seem to always happen at an extremely slow speed. I have several computers and this seems to be the case on all of them. When I look at task manager all graphs are low and there seems to be no obvious bottleneck. It's as if there was some sort of artificial limit/throttling that limits the speed at which the updates happen. Is there a way to control the limit? Alternatively is there a way to trick Windows to raising the limit? Would locking the screen trick Windows to use more power on applying the updates? Do the updates get applied faster or slower if I have the Windows Update window open?

Answer 1

I have several computers and this seems to be the case on all of them.

Is Settings, Windows Updates, Delivery Optimization ON; and is one or more computer slow (slow network, slow computer)? If the slow computer is on Delivery Optimization, this might slow things down.

Try turning Delivery Optimization OFF on a couple of machines and test update speed.

Answer 2

There can be many reasons for Windows Update to be slow:

• Slow network
• Slow disk
• Weak CPU
• Updating on peak-traffic hours when the network is saturated
• Third-party antivirus.

If none of the above seems to apply to your case, and if your computers are in a domain, and if you have the required technical experience, you could set up a local server for Windows Update. This would use either Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) or the newer Windows Update for Business (WUfB). This would also give you better control of the updates as they arrive.

For more information, see:

• Why You Should Use Windows Update for Business Instead of Windows Server Update Services
• WUfB vs. WSUS: Which handles Windows updates better?
• Windows Update for Business (WuFB): A Simplified Guide