Windows 10 Creators Update Installation
This page is saved for archival reference, as Windows 11 has now been released and Windows 12 is anticipated.
See: Windows 10 and 11 Books and References from Amazon
Windows 10 Creators Update Installation Tips
On April 11, 2017, Microsoft began making Creators Update available, along with a first Cumulative Update with fixes (15063.138) to the Creators Update release.
Tips on downloading and installing are posted at multiple web articles - ZDNet has a concise article with this guidance at http://www.zdnet.com/article/its-april-11-do-you-know-where-your-win-10-creators-update-is/ :
"The plan, as officials have said, is to make this a phased rollout, with newer machines getting the release first.
"Microsoft's guidance is for users to wait until Creators Update is automatically made available to them. This way, lingering bugs and incompatibilities have a better chance of being worked out before users install the latest update.
"Those who really want to get it immediately can do so by proactively downloading it from the Software Download site or using the Media Creation Tool. The bits are also available via Windows Update, Windows Update for Business and Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) as of today, April 11."
As officials said: "This (manual download) option is recommended for advanced users on devices running a licensed version of Windows 10."
A few remarks of my own:
If the update already has started on your computer, expect your system to be non-responsive during certain phases of the download and installation process.
While updates are downloading, your computer me be slow to respond to mouse or keyboard commands, and may be too busy to load webpages or email.
Depending on your settings, the computer may either begin a restart on its own to install the updated files, or may begin the installation when your click to restart or shut down your machine.
There may be an extended period of installation tasks going on while the machine shuts down, and then again the next time it restarts or gets turned on.
It's best to allow the machine to go through this routine without interruption.
Not everybody's Windows 10 computer will begin the update process right away, but most will begin the process very soon.
During this process the most important thing to keep in mind is this:
Do not turn your computer off by shutting off the power.
Sometimes the installation of a major update will restart your computer automatically, but sometimes the computer may not restart right away.
ADDENDUM – JUNE 2017
This month a major operating system update is beginning to download and install on most Windows 10 computers.
Microsoft's "Creators Update" to Windows 10 was released in April to install on new computers. Now the rest of us with Windows 10 will be receiving notifications to download and install the update.
These are a few of the improvements that come with this update:
- MOST importantly - Greater security and stability than before, with the addition of a helpful security and system health dashboard now called the "Windows Defender Security Center".
- Microsoft Edge changes including a "reading view" that strips away ads. Microsoft Edge now also will be less demanding on battery life. Also, Microsoft previously offered only a way to import bookmarks from other browsers, but now you also can import browsing history, and saved passwords to Edge, depending on which browser you were using previously.
- Gaming advances such as an Xbox console and Game Mode to improve performance and enable interactive live gaming.
- Improvements in the "Cortana" search tool to make it more useful, and easier to learn and use.
- Miscellaneous other changes such as improvements in computer display, self-cleaning features, and more user control over how and when updates are installed.
If you have Windows 10 on your computer already, you will receive notification when the update is recommended. This notification will be in the form of a medium-sized screen on your monitor display prompting you to change certain settings if you wish to do so.
You'll see a list of settings which you can change. The last item listed concerns the sharing of personal computer activity information so as to "customize" the ads you see on websites. Many people concerned with personal privacy may choose to click this option "Off".
After that, once you "OK" the settings on that notification screen, before you continue with the update, consider:
- As a precaution, you may want to make a backup of personal files on a flash drive, external hard drive, or cloud drive before doing the update.
- If your computer has not had a good system clean-up in awhile, it's a good idea to do that before a major upgrade. I suggest running a program like Ccleanup or Glary Utilities to do this.
- Unless you are using an Uninterruptible Power Supply unit, don't begin the update on a stormy day.
- I recommend starting the process when you're not going to need to use the computer for 5-6 hours.
Once you click to begin the update, plan on leaving the computer a few hours to download the files, and then another few hours to do the installation. If you begin the process early in the evening, it should be complete before you turn in or at least in most cases by time you're up in the morning.
During the installation, the computer will restart itself several times. During this process, the computer display will go dark for periods of time. If you think the process may be done but the display is dark for awhile and seems not to respond to commands, check to see if your computer's hard drive indicator is lit or flickering. If so, it indicates that the computer is busy working - either reading from the hard drive or writing information onto it.
Do NOT use the Power button on your keyboard or tower to turn off the computer. Once the update has begun to install, the best thing to do is to let it finish its work. If you're not sure whether or not it's finished, feel free to call for help.
Windows 10 has been fairly well vetted now since first released, so if you are moving up to a new computer the transition should be easier than in the past.
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