Windows 10 Feature Update 2004 taking too long to install

I'm having the same issue, only a few months later.

I was informed that an update was available (which routinely happens mid month) and without too much concern began the update process.

The machine presumably had to reboot to complete the install, and after about 20 min I was at a blue screen with the notice that it was updating. 4+ hours later, the screen hadn't changed. It would be nice if MS had bothered to put some sort of percent update status, but nothing except an endlessly spiraling circle.

I assumed that the install had stalled, which has happened in the past (gee, thanks Microsoft), so I did a hard reboot. That resulted in a black screen with the line "undoing changes." 3+ hours later, it finally came up to the desktop, but everything was glacially slow. I clicked on settings (waited 10+ min), clicked on updates (waited 10+ min) and saw an update status of "installing - 23%."

I though this a bit reassuring, so I went to bed, certain that by morning all would be well.

Morning.

Things are kinda working -- my off-line backup apparently worked without issue -- but that 23% had only crept up to 52% in 6 hours. Now, close to 20 hours in, and it's only at 75%.

Over the decades, I've fought through myriad updates. I was there in the DOS days and when Windows 3 (3.1) became Windows 95. But this latest has been the worst. 

Who needs a computer virus when you have Windows?

LOL! "Who needs a virus...", that's the best one yet. 

I am hearing this stuff, and it's chilling. It makes no sense that there are so many people with this 'slow update install' issue. Then there are others, like me, who've been getting them done in minutes. I have had only two customers, so far, that have had perpetual installs that had to be stopped. But I was able to get them done in, the longest, two hours. I just don't get it. And I'm not getting much from the Insider support group that is helpful. It seems too many wanna blame the system. I'm not buying that, unless, of course, MS is going into the hardware business!!!

Intel i5, 3.8GHz; 16GB RAM; 1 TB SSD, about half used.

Yea, not buying that it's the fault of "the system."

Admittedly, it's hard to design something that works smoothly on as many different systems and on as many different software setups, but after 3.5 months, one would like to think that the update process would be a bit less rocky. 

Good news: I'm at 82%. 

Bad news: it has been at 82% for about an hour.

Thank God for day drinking.

I'm still here...still not able to complete the update (now on attempt 27, maybe more). I successfully ported my physical system over to a virtual machine, removed all non-Microsoft tools and drivers that are no longer relevant in its virtual state and still, same failures in that environment. This confirms it's not hardware! My physical system still runs/operates without problems as does the identical virtual system. The only good news is the failure results are much quicker now in the virtual world. Still the same ole boring Update Failed (nothing but a dialog box indicating such), but now it only takes 45 minutes. I've reviewed the setuperr.log (among the many, many others), cleaning it out prior to every attempt, and still get nothing out of the process that provides even a hint of where the problem is or what caused the "failure".

Such a shame this product, as much as it sucks, isn't a vacuum (new business opportunity for Microsoft?).

On to attempt 28!

I'm still here...still not able to complete the update (now on attempt 27, maybe more). I successfully ported my physical system over to a virtual machine, removed all non-Microsoft tools and drivers that are no longer relevant in its virtual state and still, same failures in that environment. This confirms it's not hardware! My physical system still runs/operates without problems as does the identical virtual system. The only good news is the failure results are much quicker now in the virtual world. Still the same ole boring Update Failed (nothing but a dialog box indicating such), but now it only takes 45 minutes. I've reviewed the setuperr.log (among the many, many others), cleaning it out prior to every attempt, and still get nothing out of the process that provides even a hint of where the problem is or what caused the "failure".

Such a shame this product, as much as it sucks, isn't a vacuum (new business opportunity for Microsoft?).

On to attempt 28!

"The only good news is the failure results are much quicker now..., but now it only takes 45 minutes."

That is unbelievable!  And it makes is scary that in my beta environment, I may get caught up in a web of unexplainable craziness. I know that if it does, I'll just download the OS-Update from Media Creation Tool download, format my SSD and start over. That isn't a solution, that isn't a workaround. That's a a cop out perpetrated by the "gold standard" in the PC world that so many of us live in. That's tragic. It makes me wonder, "Why am I doing the "Insider" beta thing, if it doesn't help anybody?" It's crazy!!! When a failure result is "good news" because it only took 45 minutes to get there, something is gravely wrong with this picture.

I just found out why I'm not being responded to about this, and some other issues. I saw this headline from the "Insider" website. "

As of September 22, 2020, customers will no longer be able to ask questions in the Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer on Insider Preview forum

Why? What good is the program if it's members are not allowed to post questions? What?