WIndows update - what's it up to?

Nelek

Rich Leyshon wrote:

So, is Windows doing some prep work in the background, before I've agreed to the update or is it maybe the AV scanning everything that has been downloaded?

Probably both...

M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.

OriginalGriff

I've noticed that with mine as well - I assume it's a combination of large download files, prep work, and poor code in the updater spending too much time checking the download status / validity.

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Dave Kreskowiak

I just got hit with an update to 21H1 a couple days ago, so probably that.

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obermd

Windows will download and stage for installation security definition updates and any update Microsoft has internally marked critical prior to the user accessing Windows Updates to configure this. It's part of the OOTB (Out Of The Box) subsystem.

OriginalGriff

obermd wrote:

It's part of the OOTB (Out Of The Box) subsystem.

Also known as the OOIM* subsystem. * Out Of It's Mind

"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!

pkfox

I had that this morning Rich on my Surface Pro - it was quite hot ( fan on constantly ) and a bit sluggish so I thought I'd reboot - then I got the Windows is preparing... etc - took anout 30 minutes to sort itself out. All good now though.

"I didn't mention the bats - he'd see them soon enough" - Hunter S Thompson - RIP

RedDk

Prolly a "cumulative" update is downloading ... fire up TM and under "Processes" tab sort on CPU use to see whats currently dogging your senses. Sometimes it's Windows other times it's some nube virus writer. Yesterday I encountered an exploit which logged me off a "Sign-In" site ... but didn't do anything more than test my patience. The typical system-crash/bsod might not have been what he was after. Nor was my wait to log back into the site until I powered down completely and restarted the computer. Ha! Nube.

dandy72

Patch Tuesday as it's commonly known (2nd Tuesday of the month) is still a thing, so yeah, this is when MS releases their regular updates. That would explain the "why now". For anyone who has to update multiple systems, and want to remain in control of what gets installed and when...I strongly suggest reading up on WSUS. It's been built into Windows Server for ages, and it's rather easy to set up and maintain, and you can set it up so nothing goes by without you getting involved and approving of anything it has on offer. I've used it to block countless nagware patches MS has pushed over the years, including that full-screen "upgrade to Windows 10" thing that was showing up on Windows 7 and drove everyone crazy. I have dozens of systems, both physical and virtual, that all need to be patched, and I'm doing this through a tiny 5mbps connection. Patches, *if* you approve them, only get downloaded once and the endpoints never need to go out to the internet. For that alone I find it's worth my time. I quite literally remote into that system only once a month to review and then approve the updates that are queued and waiting.

Mycroft Holmes

Let mine happen overnight as I have moved into that fatalistic area where I don't give a rats. When I restarted this morning it wanted to reset my browser functionality, install Office365 and when I rejected that is wanted to create web links to Office365. MS fatalistic does mean fucking stupid!

Never underestimate the power of human stupidity - RAH I'm old. I know stuff - JSOP

Robotek23

Hah, I thought it was my work computer making me reboot to install updates (meaning my IT guys), but yes, it has slowed down and the only thing to do was to do a reboot and lo and behold there were updates. It may be an intentional thing as this has been happening for the last year or so. Ken

agolddog

I just updated as well, noticed a drop in performance before and after. Don't see anything alarming in Task Manager, maybe I'm just imagining it. Although it does bother me that the blue screen told me for several minutes each time that the "update" and the "cleanup" steps were 100% complete. If they're 100% complete, how come I'm not using the device? Seems that Bill Gates & co have a different definition of "100% complete".

RedDk

agolddog wrote:

100% complete

... then it's not a dark sky, right?[^]

Chris Maunder

Yes - we get hit with this on our CodeProject servers. We've noticed that once updates are downloaded and ready to install - but not actually installed - the servers get a little dodgy. It's...not comforting.

cheers Chris Maunder

Gary R Wheeler

My experience has been that the staging process for the update seems to break Windows networking, as that's the first symptom something's going on. I have a feeling they put some kind of filtering in place once the update is ready so that it can't be corrupted by malware prior to installation. Unfortunately the filtering causes a lot of things to stop working.

Software Zen: delete this;

rjmoses

I have a little older laptop, dual core, 2.6GHz, 4GB memory, that has gotten slower and slower. Windows now uses 100% of one core even for simple things. Frequently runs out of memory. Firefox needs to be restarted every few hours. Don't know what they're doing under the covers, but I'm taking a serious look at Linux.

pmauriks

Sounds like a new strain of COVID . . .