Windows 10 Feature Update 2004 taking too long to install

Ha, nothing ever is (normal) with Microsoft. Stranger by the day. I'm hoping the shakeup at Microsoft I read about most recently will result in a better outcome, but I'm afraid their new direction of "Windows 10 is a service" means it's the end of the small bites of normalcy we had. I sarcastically suggested (to myself) maybe now is the time on get onboard with Mac, but then I remembered a recent experience a colleague had with upgrading his teenie weenie, wafer thin, "bro"fessional device from Mojave to Catalina. Maybe Ubuntu? Chromebook? Pen and paper? So many options, no real solution. LOL

Lance,

My IT friend has some suggestions and questions for you. I hope it helps.

"Well, first step for Lance:

1. Check Bios / if bios update available. This happened on 1903 and 2004 for me on Dell machines. If not latest bios it would hose.
2. update any and all drivers.
3. he already cleared caches, but https://www. may unstick it. All it takes is a bad file in there.
4. Check for software that may be old/uncompatible. Update software that can be. IE if you are running old Java, either update or temp uninstall if you need old version.
5. need to know error code it gives on failed install.

I was win 10 Alpha tester... The alphas were sometimes unusable. the betas were 2 steps forward and one back almost every launch. ended up using nightlies as it meant something from yesterday would get fixed... something would be a little better... and something else would break..."

Mine too (re: IT)! Unfortunately, it's what I went to school for (unlike most colleagues I know having an education in something other than IT), so I'm stuck with it.  :0)

BTW, I spent 4.5 hours last night trying to get W10-2004 to install...no success. From multiple manual update attempts, the removal/reset of WU components/caches, normal/diagnotic/selective startup (and every option in between), confirming there's nothing suspect in the registry (now I'm really getting paranoid) that would prohibit the update from completing, downloaded updates straight from Microsoft's Catalog site, used an ISO from Microsoft's "update" site and even went so far as to try an in-place upgrade using 3 different ISO builds from my company's volume licensing account...same result every time. "Congrats, your computer is compatible" and, after varying amounts of time, levels of progress and completion percentages, "We're sorry, the update has failed".

Where I blame Microsoft is this: A few weeks ago, I couldn't get anywhere close to applying this 2004 update -- Windows update would inform me, "You are up to date"...as in perhaps 2004 is/was already installed. Nope. I was one of the lucky ones to be shielded from that hot mess (and I'm thankful for that). Upon further investigation, a few of the problems identified would've put my system down for the count had I attempted to apply the update. Then, one day, I started getting notified, "you need updates". Great. When I visited the Windows Update Settings section, I'd see nothing. That lasted about 5 days. Now we've proceeded to being constantly reminded that my system will restart "after hours" and look at that, I see update 2004 "at the ready"...but still, no matter what I try (even doing nothing), the update fails -- wash, rinse, repeat. Prior to this, I never gave it a thought, tried tweaking/cheating things to get it, etc. I never minded updates in the past, but now that W10 doesn't easily allow you to disable it and I'm dealing with this constant reminder that I can't hide/ignore, yeah, I'm thinking I may take drastic measures (so I can enjoy some peace throughout the workday). I may convert my current system to a VM, install W10-2004 and rebuild...should the need arise, I can fire up the VM, do my work and put it to sleep...that's a wash, rinse, repeat I can appreciate.  :0)

It's anybody's guess what's going on with these updates and MS. I dreaded the loss of Windows 7 so bad that I built a special system to put 8, and 8.1 on, because I remembered going from XP to Vista, and it was a nightmare. I had to take little baby steps for some feature updates with Vista, but 8 to 8.1 was a dog with fleas. They knew 8 was a failure, and they gave us 8.1 until they could get 10 stable enough. I was beta testing then, and got the first iterations of Windows 10. They were trying to mimic Windows 7, with the Start menu and the taskbar, but still wanted to create something that would be tablet compatible too. 8, and 8.1, were made especially for tablets. This crossover deal was an abortion so they let it go, and Windows 10 is what we have. As an Insider, I am trying to get some kind of leverage from them about these updates. I recall 1903 being a bear too, when it came to updates. Hopefully, sooner, rather than later, they will resolve this. Until then, we got what we got, and it ain't normal!

Lance, I don't envy the hassles you and the other MS IT experts are going through trying to get this (and other) update to install on every device. If I'd kept up on all the latest, maybe I'd have a suggestion for you. The only thing I can think of right now is to backup your registry and run a decent fixing tool on it to see whether that makes a difference. In any event, I've just asked an IT expert I know if he'd be willing to try to help you guys. He knows way, way, way more than me. I'm a rusty collander these days. :(

I certainly am not trying to come across as being MS's ally or cheerleader, but one thing I noticed when I was more active with IT and malware removal is that with all of the tools for I had, something tended to gunk things up to the point that I had various problems, including the occasional update issue. However, that was before W10.

Why don't you use the WUAU show/hide tool and hide it for a while until you have time to deal with it? It did take a couple of restarts, but then I wasn't getting notifications about 2004...

Mine too (re: IT)! Unfortunately, it's what I went to school for (unlike most colleagues I know having an education in something other than IT), so I'm stuck with it.  :0)

BTW, I spent 4.5 hours last night trying to get W10-2004 to install...no success. From multiple manual update attempts, the removal/reset of WU components/caches, normal/diagnotic/selective startup (and every option in between), confirming there's nothing suspect in the registry (now I'm really getting paranoid) that would prohibit the update from completing, downloaded updates straight from Microsoft's Catalog site, used an ISO from Microsoft's "update" site and even went so far as to try an in-place upgrade using 3 different ISO builds from my company's volume licensing account...same result every time. "Congrats, your computer is compatible" and, after varying amounts of time, levels of progress and completion percentages, "We're sorry, the update has failed".

Where I blame Microsoft is this: A few weeks ago, I couldn't get anywhere close to applying this 2004 update -- Windows update would inform me, "You are up to date"...as in perhaps 2004 is/was already installed. Nope. I was one of the lucky ones to be shielded from that hot mess (and I'm thankful for that). Upon further investigation, a few of the problems identified would've put my system down for the count had I attempted to apply the update. Then, one day, I started getting notified, "you need updates". Great. When I visited the Windows Update Settings section, I'd see nothing. That lasted about 5 days. Now we've proceeded to being constantly reminded that my system will restart "after hours" and look at that, I see update 2004 "at the ready"...but still, no matter what I try (even doing nothing), the update fails -- wash, rinse, repeat. Prior to this, I never gave it a thought, tried tweaking/cheating things to get it, etc. I never minded updates in the past, but now that W10 doesn't easily allow you to disable it and I'm dealing with this constant reminder that I can't hide/ignore, yeah, I'm thinking I may take drastic measures (so I can enjoy some peace throughout the workday). I may convert my current system to a VM, install W10-2004 and rebuild...should the need arise, I can fire up the VM, do my work and put it to sleep...that's a wash, rinse, repeat I can appreciate.  :0)