Windows Update is stupid and annoying

[+Warwagon MVC]

On 20/01/2026 at 09:42, Ixion said:

XP updates on a new machine took forever whilst it downloaded hundreds of updates all dependent on each other, it was nothing like as fast as "apply the latest cumulative" we have today.

If you would backup the softwaredistribution folder and restore it on a new Windows XP install, then the download of all those updates would take about 1 min. Even on dialup as all the updates were already there.

[Steven P. Administrators]

On 20/01/2026 at 17:47, Warwagon said:

If you would backup the softwaredistribution folder and restore it on a new Windows XP install, then the download of all those updates would take about 1 min. Even on dialup as all the updates were already there.

Windows 11 would just crap out if you did the same thing? (I have never tried this btw).

[+Warwagon MVC]

On 20/01/2026 at 11:25, Steven P. said:

Windows 11 would just crap out if you did the same thing? (I have never tried this btw).

Good question. Never tried it either.

[Steven P. Administrators]

On 20/01/2026 at 18:26, Warwagon said:

Good question. Never tried it either.

Could be a great tech article if it actually works in Windows 11 😛 

[+Warwagon MVC]

On 20/01/2026 at 11:28, Steven P. said:

Could be a great tech article if it actually works in Windows 11 😛 

Look at this ancient thread...

I used this method A LOT back in the day, when a lot of my customers still had dialup. It was a godsend. I would even use it when clean installing XP in my office. It saved me Sooooo much time.

I would restore the softwaredistrubution folder and it would process all the updates in like 3 mins. Then it would go straight into installing them.

There is really no point to do it today, as you can just download the latest cumulative off the web and throw it on a flash drive.

 

 

[Ixion]

On 20/01/2026 at 16:47, Warwagon said:

If you would backup the softwaredistribution folder and restore it on a new Windows XP install, then the download of all those updates would take about 1 min. Even on dialup as all the updates were already there.

Well, I have learned something new today! I was thinking more of the time to install all the separate updates rather than the download time necessarily, I don't miss the days of 200 updates needing 5 reboots to install them all

[erpster3]

and on some occasions windows update may automatically download & install certain driver updates along with the windows os updates, like what happened with this person mentioned on this page:

https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/pc-gaming/nvidia-microsoft-update-trust-pc-gaming