W10 Feature update when to install?

[Silverwood]

Helllo

My PC is three months old and now has the update available. Given all the various stories about this update, when should you actually download it?

Someone suggested waiting a month to allow the 'bugs' to be worked out.

Keith

[Prométhée]

Hello
Indeed, for many years, I avoid rushing to important updates of windows and that is what I also recommend.
We often see that there are several fixes, I prefer to wait, and install them, rather than fixing the computer .
For the duration, it depends, but a good month or two seems reasonable to me

[Silverwood]

Cheers, thanks.

I suspected that would be best, but nice to have someone else agree!

Keith

[WAWood]

@Silverwood 

Several things to consider ...

First, new issues arise with the Win10 v20.04 feature update every week -- so the list is growing.  MS recently patched one of them with a Windows Update to address printer issues -- but there is no work on the others.

Second, no one has ANY idea when the other issues are going to be fixed.  A month is a guess -- but while it's not likely to be less, it could easily be MORE.  So, waiting for ALL the bugs to fixed, even if no more get added, could drag on into months.

Third, according to MS, if you are being offered the Feature Update, that is a sign that your PC is not affected by the issues that MS knows about.  Which is there way of saying it is SAFE for you to do the update.

But ... my advice is the following:

1) take an image backup of your OS prior to the update, that way, you have something to restore FROM if the update goes badly (more on this below)

2) Go ahead and do the Update.  

------------------------

I personally prefer to use third-party Backup solutions as they tend to be both more flexible and more reliable than any built-in solutions.

Macrium Reflect (MR) provides a FREE version that can be used to image and restore partitions or entire drives.

What I recommend is the following:
1) Download and install Macrium Reflect (MR) from here: http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx
2) Run MR and choose the option: "Create an image of the partition(s) required to backup and restore Windows" to write a full backup to an external drive or USB stick
3) Use the option to create a boot USB stick or CD

My experience is that MR, when using the High Compression option, typically can compress the saved image file to about 50% of the USED space in the OS partition. This means if you have an 80GB OS partition, and 40GB is used, MR only needs about 20GB to store the image file.

I use this all the time and it typically takes less than 15 minutes to do the image backup and about the same time or less to do a restore.

Plus, MR has the option to Add a Recovery Boot Menu entry. This allows you then to boot into WinRE, and you can then use that to do a restore -- when you can't boot into Windows!

NOW, you have the means to restore a full working system from the external drive or USB stick in only a few minutes.

[Silverwood]

Ok thanks.

I am not that techie, so what you suggest is well beyond me. The PC is covered by Currys, so I assume they would resolve any serious issues.

Your point about the bugs is a good one, so perhaps I will do the update - maybe next week.

Cheers.

Keith

[WAWood]

@Silverwood 

I can't speak for Curry's, but my guess would be that if YOU upgraded your PC to Win10 v20.04 and ran into issues, that Curry's would not repair it for you -- at least, not for free.

Why?

Because retail distributor support is usually limited to PC defects, and when YOU make the changes, that is outside their perceived area of responsibility.

You could contact them and check -- but then you have to realize that even if your are told they would fix any issues, that statement is probably not binding and when you then take it in later, they could charge your for any repairs.

[Prométhée · Accepted solution]

---

@Silverwood wrote:

Helllo

My PC is three months old and now has the update available. Given all the various stories about this update, when should you actually download it?

Someone suggested waiting a month to allow the 'bugs' to be worked out.

Keith

---

Yes, ok, but all this is another subject ..
The answer to the question has been given, must we wait, YES!
Obviously, if the user decides to update there are precautions to take ...
But if another user goes through here, and he wonders the same thing, he will predicate himself in a multitude of suggestions.
I think we should close this topic, the answer is clear, we should not rush!
Now, if our friend wishes to take the plunge, it is better to open another thread, in order to ask what is the advice to do to make it safe !!
@Silverwood  please mark the subject, in order to finalize this thread and we move on to something else!

[Silverwood]

Ok boss will do.