Windows 10 Feature Update 2004 taking too long to install

All I would like is for Microsoft to let me know approximately how long an update is going to take. That way I can schedule it accordingly. This last one I scheduled thinking it would take a half hour or so. It wound up taking 4 hours. Another thing that would help is an explanation ahead of installing the update on what it's for. I don't think either of these is unreasonable.

I totally agree. But what can be done about it?

My update 2004 took 80 minutes from "getting things ready" to final completion with the "what's new with this update" tutorial.

Indeed, many people are clueless about computers and even simple things like deleting temp files, defragging and emptying the garbage are unknown to them. I'm quite sure that this ends up driving a lot of purchases.

However, it's not the responsibility of computer and OS manufacturers to train each user - its their own responsibility and, with all the free and paid resources online and offline, there really aren't a lot of excuses that can be leveraged once someone has been online long enough aside from low IQ, a lack of confidence to explore and learn, fear of tech, having been mollycoddled to the point that they always rely on others to do things for them, etc. Of them all, only low IQ can form a permanent barrier to proper computer use, and millions, if not billions, have malware secretly installed on their computers because they don't know that the Internet is full of hidden nasties, especially on websites that provide gray and black market items.

I've used Windows since 3.1 and, if you look, you'll see that pretty much every version of Windows has thousands of glitches. Some are significant, others trivial. Updates also produce problems, which can sometimes be blamed on hardware, old computers, incompatible hardware, software/driver conflicts, lack of hard disk space, lack of memory, damaged registry, damaged drivers, Windows corruption, malware causing damage, antimalware software interfering, undefragmented files, and many other issues...Even still, at least some of those problems should result in an explanation for the user and advice on how to proceed or a link to this forum. I don't like to go elsewhere for answers to my Windows questions because there are too many websites with incorrect or even dangerous advice, not to mention that some procedures are very technical. I was once locked out of my extra computer, having forgotten my password, and it took days of research to piece together how to fix it without pricey software. I've used the technique a few times since then and, with a few tweaks, it still works.

My point is that OSes are complicated and the developers can only successfully program to predict a proportion of the hardware problems and software conflicts that will pop up until a report shows them another one.

If someone wants a much faster choice, then Linux is the way to go, especially if you choose to forego a GUI (graphical user interface, e.g. Windows and Apple OS).

The larger an update or upgrade is, the more areas that it impacts, the more users will be negatively impacted, just like us. Again, Microsoft has never been known to build the best products - Gates et al have been very good at marketing. Don't confuse Gates' philanthropism with altruism - I'm sure there's something else behind the money his foundation gives.

Hey now, I still have you beat. I got home last Friday night (Eastern Standard Time) and kicked off the "update" on my laptop and proceeded to make dinner. Before I could blink, it was Monday AM and I was heading back to work...checked the status and found the update to be chillin' at 84%. At this rate, I'll get it updated by the time Windows 13 comes out.  

How long did it take to complete?

I was finally "gifted" the update several days ago but, after it sat at 84% (having decreased from 86%) for several hours, I aborted the process. I tried again yesterday and gave up again.

I'm going to try the steps (below) listed on the first page by RogerOriginals, although I don't know how to do all of them, so it may be a challenge, tonight and see if they help. Last night, I used CCleaner to free up several GB of HDD space as well as moving some stuff to my storage HDD, so I have almost certainly eliminated any possibility of not enough space with 80+GB free. I may not do the registry clean-up, though, since most reg cleaners are iffy at best.

• Stopped the services 'wuauserv' and 'bits' from cmd in administrator mode
• Deleted whatever files were in C:/Windows/SoftwareDistribution folder (This removed past Windows Update records but did not remove any already-installed updates, so it was fine)
• Started the services 'wuauserv' and 'bits' from cmd in administrator mode
• Cleaned up my registry using Auslogics Registry Cleaner software
• Deleted all data from the temp folder (%temp%)
• Performed a 'sfc /scannow' check in cmd in administrator mode, which automatically repaired a few corrupted system files that it detected
• Went back to 'Windows Update & Security' settings, rechecked for Windows Updates, at which point it showed me that 2004 feature update is ready to be downloaded and installed, and I obliged.

What vexes me is that the update doesn't warn you how much space you should have, or any other things you should do, and MS hasn't even assigned an MVP to help us benighted users.