Windows 10 Update To Build 2004 Question

[Mitchell Dvoskin]

About a month or so ago, I finally got around to attempting to update my Windows 10 laptop from Build 1909 to 2004. It got as far as 70% got stuck. Poking around the internet and finding most of the online solutions to this problem is to wipe the laptop and start over with a new install. This is not even close to an acceptable solution. Powering it down and up a few times, it finally rebooted back into build 1909 and has been running without problems ever since.

As there was nothing I particularly needed in build 2004, I left well enough alone at 1909. However, as a new build is due soon, dare I try again with the next build and risk bricking the laptop, or should I just stay at 1909 forever?

Suggestions/opinions requested.

[Tony Bandiera Jr]

There have been several updates (I didn't pay attention to which builds though) that took several hours (One I recall was almost 20 (!) hours) to complete. I do recall one that hung up at around 70% but I just left the laptop on and ignored it until it finally completed.

I suggest trying again, start in the early evening and leave it on all night. It may easily take that long for it to get past that 70% mark. If it hangs at 70 before you go to bed and is still at 70 eight or more hours later, then it is probably not going to go past it. But if it makes it past 70% overnight, just sit tight till it gets done.

Thankfully the latest updates all seem to complete within minutes, but the first several when I bought this laptop were deathly slow. (I am currently on build 1903 Win 10 Home Edition).

[Marcel Birgelen]

About a month or so ago, I finally got around to attempting to update my Windows 10 laptop from Build 1909 to 2004. It got as far as 70% got stuck. Poking around the internet and finding most of the online solutions to this problem is to wipe the laptop and start over with a new install. This is not even close to an acceptable solution. Powering it down and up a few times, it finally rebooted back into build 1909 and has been running without problems ever since.

As there was nothing I particularly needed in build 2004, I left well enough alone at 1909. However, as a new build is due soon, dare I try again with the next build and risk bricking the laptop, or should I just stay at 1909 forever?

Suggestions/opinions requested.

I've seen several systems stuck at updates, for whatever reason. If one of the intermediate updates fails, the whole process gets rolled back.

What you can try is to install the new version directly over the existing one, by using the ISOs of Win10 2004:

64-bit version
32-bit version

By doing so, you skip a whole lot of smaller updates, which need to complete, before the 2004 version gets installed.

You either burn them on a DVD or better, put them on a bootable USB stick. The process of doing so is explained here.

Usually, you should be able to install the new version of Windows over your existing one and you shouldn't lose any relevant settings. Obviously, as with all software related things: make a backup of anything you want to keep first!

Having your notebook stuck in the past regarding updates isn't a situation you want to continue, especially if you use it for day-to-day business, which usually includes a lot of on-line stuff. With the endless amount of on-line threats luring around the corner on-line (just click on the wrong link in Google), you should try to keep your machines up-to-date or sooner than later your machine will become victim of some kind of virus or malware.

[Randy Stankey]

I usually apply major updates to my computer's OS from scratch. Besides, I like to replace hard drives and do a scratch-installation of the OS, from time to time, just as a matter of maintenance. With hard drives often being installed in slide-in bays, nowadays, it is usually pretty fast and easy.

I have multiple hard drives in my system. The main drive has the OS and my daily use software. The secondary drives have all my files and data. I use a Sharpie marker to write the installation date on each drive.

Every couple of years, or so, I pull out the oldest drive, replace it with a new one then scratch install the OS. Then I put the deprecated drive into an external enclosure and copy all the information I need back onto the new drive. That drive gets stored, as-is, until I am sure that everything is working the way I want it to then I daisy chain copy/clone the other drives up to a newer drive. The oldest drive gets wiped clean and used as a backup, just in case of problems. I can clone the bad drive onto that spare and use it until I have time to get a new drive and install it.

In the eleven, going on twelve, years I have had this computer, I only had one hard drive problem where I needed to replace a drive and that was because I bought a cheap-ass Seagate drive from Best Buy, on sale. (Shoulda' known better!... )
Since I started sticking to Toshiba or Hitachi, I haven't had a lick of trouble but I still demote and replace my hard drives, in sequence, from oldest to newest, just as a matter of policy, like changing the oil in your car.

Like I said, I almost never apply updates over top of an existing installation. You never know what viruses, malware and other crap, not to mention twisted-up settings that happen over time, that could be lurking on an old installation and could trip you up. I think it's better to start from a clean installation.

Demote your old drive, put it into an external box and save it. Then, when the computer is working the way you want it, copy back the stuff you want.

Easy Peasy, Japanese-y!

[Darryl Spicer]

However, as a new build is due soon

The next major Windows 10 build will not be until next year. This is the first year since Windows 10 was introduced, that will not have a second major build in the same year. There was a feature update package that was put out back in August to correct a mass majority of the bugs from the initial build.

Scratch builds are better than the overlay because they are essentially fresh and you are not going to carry over any issues you may be having that are not hardware related. You just have to re-install any programs you may have. Scratch builds are better than cloning too in some cases. Especially if you have cloned the drive already once to a new drive. Windows does not like multiple clones. Better to just treat a new drive as if it was the first time it ever sees an operating system. So long as you do not change your mobo, you will always have a digital license. If you do have to change the mobo, you can go through Microsoft to get a new license.

[Leo Enticknap]

I've likely updated around 20 computers from 1909 to 2004 using the Windows auto-update method, all of them without problem or incident.

I am wondering if in this case, it got stuck trying to download something and the Internet connection went bad. As others have suggested, maybe use the Windows media creation tool to make a 2004 bootable stick, and upgrade using that?

If your data is not on a separate partition or entire physical drive, though (e.g. C: for the operating system and D: for data), I would be inclined to back up everything you can't afford to lose before starting this process.

[Bobby Henderson]

I think Microsoft now makes it easier than ever to install Windows 10 on a fresh new hard disc. Their web site makes it simple to create a boot-able installer on a USB flash memory stick.

I recently replaced the original hard disc in a 9 year old Dell XPS 15 notebook. The drive didn't fail completely; it just developed enough bad sectors in key spots that Win 10 Pro would no longer boot successfully. Not a big deal though; any valuable data was already backed up on other discs.

Just to be sure, I bought a really handy adapter cable with a standard USB connector on one end and an internal eSATA hard drive connector on the other end. IIRC, the cable cost around $9 on Amazon. The cable allowed me to connect the old notebook hard drive to another computer. I did have to change user account folder permissions to access data and sub-folders inside, but it was a fairly easy step.

I replaced the old HDD with a 1 terabyte Crucial eSATA SSD. The SSD came with a 2.5mm spacer that I didn't have to use. I was able to use the Windows 7 Ultimate serial number from the notebook's original OS for Windows 10 Pro activation. While I was at it, I doubled the old notebook's RAM from 8GB to 16GB. Overall, the computer runs better than ever. It boots up completely in only a few seconds. As for running current graphics applications, it can still run Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop adequately, but with some limitations. I'm going to have to cave and buy a new notebook soon. I'll still keep the old one around; the BD-RW drive still works.

[Marcel Birgelen]

I think Microsoft wants to get rid of maintaining three or more different code-bases of Windows, along with all their updates. Imagine how many resources are being spent only on delivering those updates for all those different platforms. That's why they still allow any Windows 7 and 8 install to upgrade to Windows 10. In the end, their new business-model is "Microsoft (Office) 365" and their Azure services, the client operating system is just a catch, not the big cash cow it used to be in the past.

[Darryl Spicer]

Well, now it looks like there will be another update coming in October. It is called 20H2, it sounds like just a feature update but maybe more so a build that will embed the new Edge browser into the software.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Absolutely HATE Windows 10 and am holding out for Windows 131

[Marcel Birgelen]

Is there any particular exciting thing happening at version 131?

But yeah, I suppose you got the memo? Windows 10 is like the end of the saga. According to Microsoft, there will be no Windows 11, no Windows 12 and no Windows 13...

[Leo Enticknap]

W10 was a bit hokey to start with (and W8 was an utter sh!t show), but I think it's pretty solid and reliable now. I find it interesting that MIcrosoft are making it progressively easier to upgrade older computers (i.e. you no longer have to upgrade W7 to W10, then nuke the hard drive and do a fresh install - the install ISO will accept a W7 key number when booted). One aspect of W10 that hasn't received much attention is that if you strip down bloaty processes (e.g. disable crapware running at startup and disable background processes), I've found it to be solid and responsive, even on decade-old PCs. No, you can't play 2160p60 games on them, but for plain vanilla desktop computing, it works well. This supports Marcel's argument that MS no longer regard Windows as their prime revenue earner, but rather as a foundation on which others are based. I would also guess that they are likely selling W10 licenses to hardware OEMs for a lot less than they did previous versions, too.

Most of the highly publicized W10 bugs and vulnerabilities have only affected a small number of users running specific hardware and/or applications. Given that W10 has to work with literally millions of hardware and software combinations (unlike MacOS, which only has to work with a very small number of hardware components and third party drivers), I don't think that's a particularly big deal.

[Steve Guttag]

I have a mixed bag of how W10 has behaved on upgraded machines. Zero issues (I think) on those machines that were built with W10 on them. My iMac running Parallels is running an upgraded W7 to W10 without issues. And, for reference, I did the 2004 upgrade without issues and that is the machine I do my primary Q-SYS designs on. If anything, things got more stable on this build of W10 and Parallels (they just updated again too).

[Marcel Birgelen]

Windows 10 had a pretty rough start with me and I held back most machines to Windows 7. But nowadays, I'd say it is's pretty stable and well-usable as desktop OS.

Yet, there is plenty of stuff I don't like about Windows 10, like the phone-home attitude of the thing and the forced updates. I can somehow understand that forced updates are necessary to keep those otherwise unmanaged devices halfway secure, but there should be more consistent tools for professionals, to be able to manage the update process. The forced updates have kept me from using Windows 10 for anything mission critical.

[Bobby Henderson]

Well, now it looks like there will be another update coming in October. It is called 20H2, it sounds like just a feature update but maybe more so a build that will embed the new Edge browser into the software.

Great. It will probably get pushed to Windows users the same week Adobe holds its annual MAX conference and officially launches the Creative Cloud 2021 version of its applications. It should be an interesting experiment.

Absolutely HATE Windows 10 and am holding out for Windows 131

Many of us are stuck using Windows due to no practical alternatives. For instance, I do graphics work in the sign/outdoor industry. It's impossible to run a sign company without having at least some Windows PCs hooked into the production chain. Almost all of the industry-specific software in that field runs only on Windows. There is only one Mac-based large format printing RIP application: Caldera. We use Onyx with our two big HP Latex printers and RasterLink Pro with our Mimaki flatbed printer. Those RIPs are Windows-only. All the traditional sign making applications that connect to vinyl plotters are Windows-based. The same goes for routing table applications. Back in the 1990's there was actually a few sign making applications that had both Mac and Windows versions. Not anymore.

Now with Apple fixing to dump Intel in favor of their own ARM-based CPU designs the days of running Windows natively on Apple hardware are numbered. My next work computer and notebook computer will both be Windows-based machines. But I do use an iPad Pro to supplement the creative work. For drawing and painting artwork directly on a computer-based screen the iPad Pro is the most cost effective alternative.

One aspect of W10 that hasn't received much attention is that if you strip down bloaty processes (e.g. disable crapware running at startup and disable background processes), I've found it to be solid and responsive, even on decade-old PCs.

That has definitely been my experience with replacing the original hard drive in my aging notebook with a new 1 terabyte SSD and doubling the RAM from 8GB to 16GB. With a plain vanilla version of Win 10 Pro loaded on a new SSD a 9-year old Core i7 notebook can fully boot in a few seconds. It takes more time for me to type in my PIN at the login screen. The performance feels almost like having a new computer. The machine would probably still boot pretty fast if it had all the original Dell crapware that came with it. But there would be a noticeable difference. I'm only going to install an application on this old machine if it needs it.