Why are Windows updates so slow (and long) with VISTA

Anonymous
2009-10-27T21:27:29+00:00

Compared to WinXP, windows updates take MUCH more time with VISTA:

  • the downloads are often very slow(er)...
  • the installation is also very slow(er)
  • more annoyingly, after mots updates, a restart is required AND implies (often)

. a post-installation process ... (Configuring updates ... "Do not turn off your computer") thattakes several minutes before shut down...

. a second post-installation process (configuration) upon restart that takes also several minutes...

The last update took me about 40 minutes to complete !

Will Windows 7 improve this...  It makes people to refuse updates especially if they are using portable computers and are on the road.  Who can stop for 40 min ...

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Windows update

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  1. Anonymous
    2012-02-21T21:16:49+00:00

    I agree. Started a clean install of Vista-32 yesterday (I do PC repair ). Vista is ridiculous when it comes to installing updates.  I'd say 3 hours last night and 2.5 hours today and it's still not finished. Right now it's installing SP1 (it's been doing this for 45min) and its still not finished. The progress bar doesn't even show a millimeter of green. This is not cool. Nothing else is running except Anti-V and other background processes. Whats weird is the 400MB+ initial update finished in about 45min. SP1 is what 50MB? (I think that's what it said). Anyway, very frustrating. I need to f9ind a faster way in the future. Guess I'll look into slip streaming.

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  2. Anonymous
    2012-02-04T09:14:27+00:00

    Well I have just reinstalled vista for a friend. Disgusting. That bad I have taken to google because I thought the HDD was failing. Been doing updates all night., just took 15 minutes to download 25.4mb. I have a 1.5mbit connection, anything else of this size would take < 20 seconds.

    Usual poor responses from Microsoft too, what exactly is the point of this forum when the responses are either 'its down to internet speed' or 'start a new thread' when the posts are all exactly about the same thing.

    I don't know what I'm more upset about now.. these updates or the disgraceful replies from the officials in this thread. You'd be better off just saying nothing.

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  3. Anonymous
    2012-02-01T05:23:34+00:00

    Edit: the last post.

    bandwidth isnt the whole story.

    a 4.1 MB install has taken 5+ min

    ????????????

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  4. Anonymous
    2012-02-01T04:50:18+00:00

    Yep 3 hr 14 min. for the first update! after clean install. more to come. Nothing to do with personal bandwidth. The one view that i read, which i think is most probable is that Microsoft is conserving bandwidth. With all the millions of comps they have to update every 2nd Tuesday of the month, they're minimizing bandwidth costs.

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  5. Anonymous
    2012-01-04T18:38:10+00:00

    'you cannot fix a car that someone is driving'  - In Ubuntu, you can, even kernel updates are very quick and can be done while the old kernel is still running, and the reboot can be done at any time. I guess some cars just make more sense :\

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