Windows 10 Feature Update 2004 taking too long to install

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)

You're right - this "conversation" is at an end. You have made rubbish statements about what I wrote, insults and ad hominem attacks, and refuse to accept responses to things you wrote despite being directly relevant and true. Please do NOT respond to me again - I have no interest in seeing more passive-aggressive refusals of what are obvious facts for any sensible IT expert.

PS: I wish you success in helping your client.

May I suggest that if you don't want to be perceived as being hostile, you don't characterize someone's responses to other people as you did, and you certainly don't compare them to the son of a controversial politician? You definitely came across negatively.

Are vehicle companies required to train mechanics or even just owners? No.

When you buy a microwave/convection/air fryer or other oven, do you get a training class? No.

Are new homebuyers provided with classes by the architects, contractors, and other people involved in the creation of that home? No.

Do Cessna and other small airplane manufacturers provide training classes? No.

I cannot think of an example where a company that makes a product teaches people how to use it, although the exception would be when there is a small market for the product because people don't know how to use it at all, are resistant to change, or the marketplace otherwise need that initial push to make a product successful. Services are more likely to have some sort of class but, again, this is not common and is more likely to be to get a certification that the maker requires than for any other reason.

I agree that Microsoft, as the maker and vendor of a GUI, should be doing its best to make the experience an easy one. However, I would suggest that bad experiences are memorable, so we might want to expect MS to provide a GUI that has few, if any, problems for the average user and leave the headaches to programmers. And yet, as a former programmer, I don't think that the way Apple does things is particularly fair to them, and they certainly charge too much. The truth of the matter, as we both know, is that (in all cases that I'm aware of) MS has been more interested in money than in providing high quality software, and they helped to create the deadline-based software development cycle - a cycle that forces companies to release their product even if it's not really fully ready. This has taught consumers to accept the fact that they're going to get substandard software and that they should just accept it. But, I digress.

I could easily argue that Microsoft does make their product easy to use for the majority of people. Remember using DOS? I grew up on Tandy, Commodore and Apple II, so I remember having to type in every single command. That was not really user friendly, was it, but it sure succeeded. Even now, Linux and Unix continue to exist even where GUIs aren't overlaid. Microsoft provides a fair amount of documentation, too.  SHOULD Microsoft provide training to everyone? Ideally, yes, because that lack of computer understanding is one of the main reasons so many people and companies fall prey to malware, hackers, phishers, etc. Yet, even that doesn't make sense because it shouldn't be JUST Microsoft. It should be ALL computer manufacturers, OS makers, software makers, peripheral makers, etc. working together to provide the public with training to help fight the criminal invasions that constantly happen online. An expert once said: "Here's the solution if you don't want your computer to be compromised: Never plug it into the Internet." A more extreme response I've heard is: "Never turn it on." The former is increasingly not viable in an Internet-turned-storage-and-service space (I cringe at the cloud because of my understanding of security) - making it like the old days of LANs and terminals, and the latter is just a joke, but is actually accurate. The only way to avoid many of the problems of computing is to not use  a computer (but that doesn't exempt you from problems, because computers are omnipresent and we're constantly being monitored in so many ways).

I'm not quite sure why you placed Vista as being before '98, but I'm guessing you didn't realize you did that.

I've never been happy with Microsoft. I used to edit the MS Windows load screen to say "Microsloth" because I was so tired of all the problems.

I'm not saying that this isn't MS's fault - I'm just saying that for SOME people, it is NOT MS's fault because they can't set up their software for every possible configuration, a nearly infinite number for practical purposes, and never will be until an AI of sufficient capability is doing the work. To suggest otherwise is, for me, not realistic. For some users, the problems are because of their lack of understanding - not just of how to maintain their computer but that they NEED to maintain it. Since the advent of plastic, the world has moved more and more towards a disposable economy. Entire sectors are driven by disposability, planned obsolescence and other things that increase sales at the cost of wasting natural resources and increasing garbage. Broken TV? It may be cheaper to buy a new one - toss it! Did your child's favorite toy break? That's ok - a replacement is cheap! Many people don't even consider the true cost of what they're throwing away, attempt to recycle it, or even donate it. I am sure that "sanitation engineers" (what you and I used to call garbagemen) constantly see perfectly good stuff dumped in the garbage. Thus, with this throw-it-away mentality, people don't generally try to learn much, especially with something that is more challenging and the documentation doesn't guide you to maintain it. How many people know that they should periodically defrag an HDD? Or that they should run software to get rid of trash, temp files, the Internet cache, old update files and other "garbage" BEFORE that? Or, that you don't need to defrag an SSD? Does Windows come with documentation that explains that when you start using it? Is it presented when you boot up? Do you get a notification that it's time? Nope. Windows, I agree, is woefully full of shortcomings like that. Nevertheless, that doesn't mean that Microsoft is obliged to train every user, as I already stated. The world doesn't work that way. In almost all situations, if people want to know how to use something correctly, they read a manual, observe others doing it, watch a video, ask an expert, do research and/or take classes.

I don't think you're going to agree with what I've written any more than you did the first time. MS doesn't get a pass - but users need to educate themselves. The fact that they don't know that they should make sure that their system is ready for an update is something that should be addressed by the update service prior to offering to install. The update service should verify that there is sufficient space on the drive and that hardware and software specs are met. I can't even begin to remember how many times I installed something only to discover, after the fact, that it wasn't compatible. Heck, buying software is fraught with that risk. I have a few video games I can't play because I forgot that my video RAM isn't sufficient. There have been a FEW times when the installer refused to finish an install because of a problem. When Windows 10 started being pushed, the software that checked for compatibility told me that my old laptop couldn't use it because of hardware incompatibility. Why doesn't the WUAU run a compatibility/readiness check every time? This would make sense and would certainly spare many users problems, and yet....We run into the problem, again, that software cannot predict/discover every possible problem. If WUAU did this check, how long do you think it might take to check for every possible problem? Just checking hardware shouldn't take much time, assuming that ALL hardware manufacturers have registered with MS (which is not the case), but then there's all the software, the glitches, the problems created by software, hardware and users, and so on...It would certainly take more than an hour, possibly several, and some users would get tired of waiting because there's no way for the software to accurately predict how long it would take to find things the software hasn't found yet. I used to make jokes about how Microsoft "time" during installs and such was from an alternate reality or whatever but the truth is that there are so many variables that cannot be found ahead of looking. So, sure, MS bears responsibility, but you're expecting something that is not currently possible. A doctor cannot figure out someone's ailment without examining them, possibly running tests, doing x-rays/CT scans/MRs, can they? Can a doctor accurately predict how long it'll take? Not usually. Does the doctor always get it right? No. I have a friend who has been struggling for MANY years now with health problems and doctors STILL don't know what it is beyond a very vague term, or how to treat it.

Since installing 2004, I've been having problems, especially with Chrome using huge amounts of memory and hogging the CPU. I don't know what the problem is but it's frustrating me. Did MS create the problem, or is there an incompatibility created by something else in my laptop? I don't know. Could it be malware? Maybe. Antimalware software can't catch every bug.

In a marriage, the problems are never one-sided, although sometimes they are awfully close to it. The blame cannot be put fully on MS. Hardware manufacturers, software develops and users are also culpable. To say otherwise is to mislead and enable users to continue to operate in darkness as if the computer is a magical box. I am not blaming users, but I've done enough customer support to know that a lot of users know next to nothing about computers and create a lot of problems. Are the 2004 update issues because of users? Sometimes, but my guess is that MS dropped the ball on this. It's been how many months since it was released and I only just got it, some people haven't been able to install it, and some people require 3-4 days to install it.

I absolutely understand your frustration, and your irritation with MS. I've been using Windows since 3.1, and computers since before that, and there've been times when I've wanted to blow my computer up or shove it **** of Gates, or Apple, or whoever...Once upon a time, backing away from computers was still a possibility, but now it's almost impossible to avoid them. So, we must adapt. We must become smarter users and learn to understand how to take care of the hardware and software we rely on. To fail to do so is not the failure of who makes it - it is our own failure.

Now that is way too much information. I'm gonna go back and finish reading it, but "because they can't set up their software for every possible configuration" is my problem with what you are saying. This thread isn't about setting up, and/or, configuring a system. IT IS ABOUT INSTALLING AN UPDATE ON AN ALREADY CONFIGURED SYSTEM!!!! Do you work for MS? That gibborish makes as much sense as that idiot politician's son does! I don't wanna be insulting, but Glenn, really? This ain't about toasters, or cars, or steamships. It's an update! One of my customers, a pure novice, started the update with me on Teamviewer, and it got to 70% and stayed there. I had seen that exact same issue, so I told him, give it time, and it'll finish. It did. Another customer, the one I mentioned earlier, I told him last night to unplug the computer to stop the update that got to 84% at 6:00 yesterday morning, and was still there at 6:30 PM last evening. The computer restarted, I told him not to do anything with the update, I'll do it when I can see him Friday afternoon. I am gonna run it with the MCT and be done with it. There are apparently some corruption in the WU files that blocked the feature update.

Look, I get your passion, but you were wrong to intimate that there was orthodoxy in the way this update is acting. This is on MS..., PERIOD. Now, I'm done with this conversation.

PS: The Vista thing was chronologically incorrect. Thanks for pointing that out.