Installing the Windows 11 24H2 Update: Darcy’s Experience
Last week, Darcy updated her Microsoft Surface Pro to Windows 11 24H2 with 16 GB of RAM and 500 Mbps internet speed. After 45 minutes the update was incomplete and the screen displayed the typical message “Updating… do not turn off your computer”. Normally, her updates take less than fifteen minutes.
After 45 minutes, in frustration, Darcy turned off her computer, waited, and turned it back on. When her computer restarted. the “Updating… do not turn of your computer” message was displayed on the screen. She messaged me and I called her and told her I’ve heard of cases where the upgrade took two hours, so be patient, I’m sure it will update.
Patience paid off. About an hour and 10 minutes after the 24H2 update started installing, the update completed successfully, and now Darcy is running Windows 11 24H2.
We’re telling you this so you know that the Windows 11 24H2 update that is now rolling out to all Windows users is a major update. It can take over an hour, in some cases even two hours. The best thing you can do when updating to Windows 11 24H2 is not sit there and watch the computer screen—just walk away and let it update. A watched pot never boils, you know.
We hope this little bit of advice will help those who have yet to update to Windows 11 24H2, relax and not worry. Things will work out just fine.
Now how about a little bit of humor?
There I was sitting at the bar staring at my drink when a large, trouble-making biker steps up next to me, grabs my drink, and gulps it down in one swig.
“Well, whatcha’ gonna do about it?”, he says, menacingly, as I burst into tears.
“This is the worst day of my life,” I say. “I’m a complete failure. I was late to a meeting and my boss fired me. When I went to the parking lot, I found my car had been stolen and I don’t have any insurance. I left my wallet in the cab I took home. I found my wife with another man and then my dog bit me.”
“So I came to this bar to work up the courage to put an end to it all, I buy a drink, I drop a capsule in, and sit here watching the poison dissolve; then you show up and drink the whole thing! But enough about me, how’s your day going?”
I got 24H2 on December 13. It took forever, that’s for sure. At first I thought there was something wrong with my laptop when I tried to start it up in the morning and nothing happened but then I did the old TC trick of turn it off and let it sit for 10 minutes. It must have been near the end of the process because voila! My laptop suddenly told me “update completed” and life returned to as near normal as it can be these days.
Tried to install twice, knocked out my video both times. I run classic start menu which acts like windows 7 menu system. I think that may be the problem.
I’m in the UK and have two active PCs, both running Windows 11. This one, the one I’m using to write this, is an Acer standalone with 8GB RAM and a 1TB HDD with plenty of space, was upgraded from Windows 10 to 11 by Microsoft. Win10 on it was installed at purchase.
I can’t prove it of course but I do strongly believe that when the 24H2 update started to download it caused the computer to crash. That was mid-morning, 09:30-ish and I’d been using a graphics program at the time but not doing anything special with it. Because of the crash, nothing worked on the PC and even CTRL-ALT-DEL wouldn’t function. I’d not seen a crash like it in many a year. Long story short, I just walked away from it. Other things to do! I later noticed there had been two attempts to install 24H2, and both had failed.
At around 11pm that night I switched it on again and this time, almost immediately, there was the warning that updates were happening, don’t switch off. Around 2 hours later the installation was complete and everything was normal again. I have to say that the PC – this one – has been much improved in terms of speed particularly – since that update.
I also have a 6 month old laptop, Acer, 1TB SSD but with 32 GB RAM. On the same day as the desktop update started, but later in the afternoon, there was the taskbar notification that an update was ready to install. I gulped, clicked “Update” and something like 10 or 12 minutes later – and it may well have been quicker – 24H2 was safely installed with no (apparent) problems at all.
Go figure. Two entirely different experiences with the same update in the same house.
Hello, I purchased a Lenovo 32.GB Windows 11 Pro back in November 24. Don’t know why I received a Pro; I didn’t order a Pro. After reading your weekly newsletter about being forced to install 24H2, I decided to install it last Thursday, the 23rd. (I have my computers set to wait a week after upgrades come out) I did the install without any problems. It took about 40 minutes total time from start to finish. Everything is still working as it did before. Surprise, surprise; I have never had anything go so well. Sorry, everyone is having problems. Have a great, blessed day.