why do windows updates take so long to download???

I have fast connection fast computer, yet windows updates take forever to download... does anyone with insight on windows servers know why they take so long??? does M.S. care?

There's more than you accessing those services at any given time.

@retiredat44

When Windows Update shows an available update (or some time before that, because WU is slow to show new developments), the update is announced here on elevenforum by @Brink, and he posts a file download link for getting the update directly from MS or from UUPDump. The direct link always, and I mean always, gives me the downloaded file in a small fraction of the time WU takes to download the thing. Worth a try the next time you're tempted to click Download and Install and wait, and wait, and ....

Settings > Windows updates > Advanced options > Delivery Optimisations > Advanced options > Download settngs.

It is up to you to change the settings to suit yourself.

Of course during Windows updates the whole world is doing the same thing, and MS servers have limited capacity.

Maintenance, Windows does it automatically, but it is merely trimming rather than cleaning.
It is like groceries, you can store them faster, if you have everything in order, nice and tidy.
Then there dozens of subtle things, like 3rd party AV, DNS, background processes, etc.

retiredat44 said:

I have fast connection fast computer, yet windows updates take forever to download... does anyone with insight on windows servers know why they take so long??? does M.S. care?

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You're not providing enough information so we can only shoot into the dark, link below might help:

Some protected environments may need to update firewall and proxy rules to ensure that Windows updates can be properly accessed.

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For a cumulative update, Windows first works out what parts of it you need so that the download can be tailored accordingly. I suspect a lot of the time is spent doing that, rather than actually downloading. I noticed an update recently where the download seemed to be stuck on 7%, and then suddenly jumped above 80% and was soon done. I'm guessing the 7% download was just of the manifest and time was then spent calculating the download package needed.

retiredat44 said:

windows updates take forever to download... does anyone with insight on windows servers know why they take so long???

Click to expand...

It's probably not the server's fault. If you open Task Manager and watch what's going on while updating, then you'll see a lot of CPU activity and quite a bit of Disk activity, and now and then some network activity to download the patches you need.

A cumulative update is a package containing many individual patches/fixes. Windows Update only downloads the ones you haven't already got, and to do that it has to examine your own system to see which ones are already installed.

RFS said:

I suspect a lot of the time is spent doing that...

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You're right, seems to take a lot longer thinking about it than actually downloading.

Bree said:

open Task Manager and watch what's going on while updating...

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And to illustrate the point, MS have helpfully just released a CU for the Beta channel....