How to reset your Microsoft account password. Activate Windows. When you only want info about updating Windows 11, you'll find answers to many of your questions here:. When Windows 11 is ready for your device, it will be available to download and install from the Windows Update page in Settings. Choose a time that works best for you to install the upgrade. You'll then need to restart your device and complete the installation.
After that, your device will be running Windows Check for updates. If a feature update is available for your device, it will appear separately on the Windows Update page. To install it, select Download and install now.
Make sure that your device is connected to the internet. Downloading updates requires an internet connection. Run the Windows Update Troubleshooter. Under Most frequent , select Windows Update. If the Troubleshooter doesn't fix the problem, see Troubleshoot problems updating Windows or Fix Windows Update errors. The time required to download updates primarily depends on internet connection speed, network settings, and update size.
Make sure your device is plugged in and connected to the internet to download updates faster. Here's how to temporarily pause updates from being downloaded and installed. Note that after the pause limit is reached, you'll need to install the latest updates before you can pause updates again.
Next to Pause updates , select the pause length you prefer. To finish installing an update, your device will need to restart. Windows will try to restart your device when you're not using it. If it can't, you'll be asked to schedule the restart for a more convenient time. Or, you can schedule anytime by following these steps:.
Select Schedule the restart and choose a time that's convenient for you. You can set active hours to make sure automatic restarts for updates only happen when you're not using your device. Get updates when you're away from your PC with active hours in Windows.
For more tips on freeing up disk space, see Free up drive space in Windows. This way, if updates are installed outside active hours, your device will have enough power to complete the installation. An update history is available so you can see which updates were installed, and when. You can also use this list to remove specific updates, although we don't recommend this unless it's necessary.
View update history. However, if you must remove an update, you can do so in update history. Feature updates are typically released twice per year and include new functionality and capabilities as well as potential fixes and security updates. Quality updates are more frequent and mainly include small fixes and security updates. Windows is designed to deliver both kinds of updates to devices through Windows Update. To find which version of Windows you're running, see Which version of Windows operating system am I running?
Reserved storage will be turned on for new devices with Windows 11 preinstalled, or devices on which a clean install of Windows 11 was performed. In Windows 10, you decide when and how to get the latest updates to keep your device running smoothly and securely. If other questions come up when you update Windows 10, here are some other areas that might interest you:. Get started with Windows When you only want info about updating Windows 10, you'll find answers to many of your questions here:.
When the Windows 10 November Update is ready for your device, it will be available to download and install from the Windows Update page in Settings. Choose a time that works best for you to download the update. After that, your device will be running Windows 10, version 21H2. To get help updating to the latest version of Windows 10, go to the Microsoft software download page and download the Update Assistant. Under Get up and running , select Windows Update.
Then choose one of the following options:. Select Advanced options. Then, in the Pause updates section, select the drop-down menu and specify a date for updates to resume. Reserved storage is not automatically turned on by Windows in any update scenarios. It is only turned on for new devices with the Windows 10 May Update version or later preinstalled, or devices on which a clean install was performed.
The best way to keep Windows 8. Important If you install a language pack after you install this update, you must reinstall this update. Therefore, we recommend that you install any language packs that you need before you install this update. For more information, see Add language packs to Windows. This update is provided as an Optional update on Windows Update.
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.
See the terminology that Microsoft uses to describe software updates. The English United States version of this software update installs files that have the attributes that are listed in the following tables. Be aware that dates and times for these files on your local computer are displayed in your local time and with your current daylight saving time bias.
