- Microsoft is rolling out an option to skip updates during Windows 11 installation
- This will speed up the process greatly for some users.
- However, without updates, you won’t have the latest security fixes, but this is still a situationally very useful (and highly requested) capability.
If you’ve ever sat drumming your fingers waiting for Windows 11 to finish installing for what seems like an eternity, you’ll appreciate a new change Microsoft has made to allow the operating system to complete setup much faster.
Windows Central reports that Microsoft is now introducing an option that allows you to skip the part of the installation where Windows 11 enters and applies relevant updates, greatly speeding up the process.
This was pointed out by Ariaupdated on X, who provided a screenshot of the feature that is now actively rolling out.
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How does it work? When you get to the part of the Windows 11 installation where all the updates and security fixes that have been released are downloaded (in addition to the main operating system installation), this will still continue, but you can click an option to ‘Update later’ if you want to skip it.
This delivers on one of the promises Microsoft made to improve Windows updates by allowing them to be skipped during the OOBE, or out-of-box experience, the initial setup of a Windows 11 PC. Another, much bigger move is also on the way, namely allowing users to pause updates for as long as they want (whereas five weeks is the maximum amount of time an update can currently be delayed).
Analysis: options on the installation table
It’s always good to have a choice, and the choice in this case is to complete the installation and get to the working desktop much faster than you can now (with updates being applied automatically). This could save you 20 to 30 minutes of waiting for setup to finish, depending on several factors (including the speed of your Internet connection, of course). And that can be very useful in certain situations.
For example, you may have a metered or very slow Internet connection while installing, so you would appreciate the ability to postpone any heavy downloads until later when you have a better connection.
What you need to keep in mind is that a default installation of Windows 11, minus the initial updates, will lack a lot of security fixes and also some features. However, it is the holes in security that pose a danger, since if you start browsing the web, for example, you are more exposed to potentially being exploited by something malicious hiding on a website or in a downloaded file.
So taking a shortcut like this with installation is fine, and could be very useful depending on your situation, but I’d be wary of doing much online before applying all those updates (via Windows Update).
A useful tactic here could be to skip updates during installation and then run them as soon as you get to the Windows 11 desktop. This way, you can have those updates running in the background while you start setting your preferences for system, desktop, themes, etc. In other words, you’re doing something useful with the time you spend waiting for updates to arrive, rather than being stuck on installation screens for an extra half hour.
In any case, it’s good to have options in this regard and to see Microsoft deliver on some of the promises it made to improve Windows 11 quickly. That said, there are cynics on Reddit who believe that Microsoft is only now taking these actions because of the threats posed by Linux (mainly driven by SteamOS) and Apple’s popular new MacBook Neo, which is definitely a challenger to the dominance of Windows 11 laptops at the budget end of the market.
As one Redditor put it: “It’s an interesting time with everyone moving to Linux or MacBook Neo.”
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