Microsoft has announced that the next big Windows 10 update will be installed in just 30 minutes—substantially faster than previous updates which took nearly an hour or even two hours to complete.
The problem with installing such updates is that users might actually be using their PC all day long, and waiting a whole afternoon to apply an update could be frustrating for many.
This is the issue Windows hopes to address in its faster Spring Creators Update.
Dubbed officially as Redstone 4, the next Windows update is generally known among the user community as the Spring Creator’s Update.
Splitting the Update Process
Microsoft Senior Program Manager Joseph Conway said in a blogpost that the developers have tweaked the update in such a way that you don’t have to abandon your PC while it keeps restarting every five or ten minutes. They have pushed a major part of the update behind the scenes so that you can continue using your computer while the update takes place without disturbing your activities.
The Spring Creators Update has been split into two different stages:
- First is the online stage, during which the files necessary to complete the update will be downloaded. The feature update program will also create a temporary partition where the new version of the Windows OS will be created, allowing you to continue using the older OS partition without any hurdles.
- The second stage in the update is the offline process, which is when users will no longer be able to use their computer. Windows assures that when the process is being carried out in the background, there will not be any performance issues or battery life problems as it has been designed in a non-intrusive manner.
In the offline mode, your computer will restart several times and the second phase of the Spring Creators Update will be completed in 30 minutes.
Previous Updates Took Nearly Two Hours to Complete
Windows users at times dread the update process as it makes their computer unusable for hours at a stretch. Every year, Microsoft rolls out two major upgrades for the operating system, and the Creators Update and Fall Update were the recent ones on the list.
These two updates largely relied on the offline process, locking users out of the PC as everything—including the download—was done with a screen that says “Windows is being updated.” The Windows 10 Creators Update took a significant time to complete, about 82 minutes. The Fall Creators Update took about 51 minutes.
Reducing the Update Time by Tweaking Offline Stage
In the blog post, Conway also said that developers have made changes to allow the online mode to do most of the heavy lifting. The offline stage will be activated only when the user is ready to restart their computer.
The concept is very similar to what Google does with their Chrome browser. Every time the Chrome browser receives an update, it will silently download the applications in the background. The user experience will not be hindered during this time and when you restart the browser, the update will be applied in a couple of minutes.
Considering the fact that Windows 10 is an entire operating system which has to be updated, the total time of about 30 minutes sounds like the least the developers could provide with a such a huge update as the Spring Creators Update.
Creating a temporary folder can help with this, as all the new files will be downloaded into this folder and when you start your PC, they will automatically be re-written over the older ones.
Spring Creators Update Expected to Be More Convenient
Windows believes that by reducing the amount of time users have spend updating their systems, they will find it less annoying every time a new update is rolled out.
Since the company has changed Windows to the Software-as-a-Service model—requiring regular upgrades with new features every year—users find it easier to invest in the ecosystem.
By significantly bringing down the Spring Creators Update time to just 30 minutes and lesser time for all future updates, Microsoft asserts that it is giving another reason for people to update to Windows 10 while also making existing users feel comfortable with this frequent update cycle.