Windows 10 Feature Update 2004 taking too long to install

I always think about the tens or hundreds of thousands of citizens out there who don't have any computer skills at all and don't even know HOW to ask for help, don't even know about this or any other forum to air their questions or grievances, and just give up and get a new computer.  Isn't this exactly what MS and the Mfgs. hope for?  They put this pile of spaghetti "update" out there and some (very large) number of people just go over to Best Buy or Amazon and get a new one.  Perhaps it will even be a machine pre-loaded with 1909 and they'll be right back where they were.  Doesn't anybody think that consumer fraud and malfeasance should be looked into anymore?  What possible defense could MS have for inflicting this outrage on people?

Hi Susan, I appreciate the encouragement, however this "problem" goes far deeper than Internet congestion, COVID, etc. Having long been a supporter of Microsoft (I am an IT Infrastructure Support Engineer by career choice), Windows has become less of an operating system and more of an over-bloated sales and marketing engine (Candy Crush anyone?). Sadly, those who suffer are its users and, at the same time, Microsoft continues to push and pump garbage updates, patches and the like. Microsoft's "service" that boasts automagically updating any/all Windows 10 device, whether the user wants it or not, can/should be a seamless process, but clearly it's not ready for primetime. This posting says it all. For clarity, I've attempted this 1909 to 2004 update both online and offline, using the Windows 10 Update Troubleshooter, Update Assistant and a downloaded ISO from the Microsoft "business" Licensing Portal and still, the result is the same - a never-ending (multi-hour) "pause" of sorts at 59%. Nobody deserves such delays (seriously, 9 hours? Upgrading from Windows 95 to 98, with all them floppy disks, didn't take anywhere close to that) and, to boot, no explanation or error detail in which to further troubleshoot what's going on (wrong) with the update. Shame on Microsoft.

Well, now, look at that...while putting together this thoughtful response, I was (once again) attempting to complete the 1909 to 2004 update on the troubled computer and, after 5-10 minutes of hanging at 59%, I now get a Windows dialog box indicating, "The Windows 10 Installation has failed"...and nothing but an OK button. Progress!

Yeah... mine sat on 82% for like 9 hours. 

In-general unless your PC goes *completely frozen (like you can't even move you mouse on the screen) Windows Update doesn't really "freeze" it just hangs on to certain percentages while it does "something" behind the scenes (what we don't know and it probably shouldn't be doing).

SO: like you said "let it do it's thing". If you think it's frozen it probably isn't.

The 2004 Feature Update is a new version of Windows so the install does in "in-place" upgrade.  You can expect multiple reboots as this in-place upgrade installs.  Mine blew-up with a "THREAD EXCEPTION..." BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) on the second reboot.  If it does fail, a few reboots it will automatically roll-back the upgrade to the existing, installed release of Windows 10.

Read all the comments in response to this post as of August 5th and did not see any information on my question but glad to see I was not the only one having an issue with this update. Today 8/5/20 is the 3rd or 4th time of me trying to update. At this moment it finally got to Downloading - 99%. Can anyone tell me what happens next after Downloading says 100%. Does it have to install and reboot? I am guessing I will leave laptop on this time until it is done. The 1st try I had gotten an error message and will I looked it up online said means files are missing. The other times, it was just stuck like it is now and I finally shut off laptop and went about the rest of my day. 

First step is patience: If you haven't actually received a failure let it run (which you said you're going to do) but you get 0 savings from restarting the process so might as well let it go till it's done.

As for the first question: After Downloading you will get an Install part within that same Windows Update tool *pre-reboot. That's actually where I spent the vast majority of time in the first Phase (you probably just have a much slower internet connection than I do). "Installing" took many hours.

Once the Windows Update "app" Phase is over (You click the Reboot button) then you move onto Phase 2 which is in that "not in the OS yet" green screen saying windows is updating with a percentage. This whole phase took me 14 hours and was roughly the same amount of time if not a bit more than the "Installing" time I spent in the app. SO if you're just getting done with "Downloading..." you've got a long ways to go but at least at that point you shouldn't need an internet connection anymore.