Microsoft is introducing major improvements to how Windows 11 handles system updates, with the company claiming installation times could be reduced by up to 45.6% while using less CPU power.

The speed improvements come from three key technical innovations in how Windows processes updates:

  • Parallel processing of component manifests, allowing simultaneous handling of multiple update elements
  • Improved manifest caching, eliminating redundant processing
  • Dynamic RAM allocation that scales based on workload demands
"Windows can process multiple update manifests concurrently, and update manifests are now cached after being processed, so if they are referenced elsewhere in the future, they can simply be retrieved from memory rather than processing the entire manifest again,"

Microsoft's internal testing shows impressive results across different scenarios. On well-maintained systems, users can expect:

  • 45.6% faster installation times
  • 39.7% faster restart times
  • 15.3% reduction in CPU usage

Even systems that haven't been updated for 18 months showed similar improvements, with 43.6% faster installation times and 25% less CPU usage during updates.

Beyond speed improvements, Microsoft has also managed to reduce the size of future feature updates by approximately 200MB. This reduction comes from smarter handling of built-in Windows apps, where the system now checks if the latest version is already installed before downloading unnecessary packages.

While these improvements represent significant progress in addressing one of Windows' long-standing pain points, some users have reported issues with the current Windows 11 24H2 preview builds, including Blue Screen of Death errors with certain SSD models from Western Digital and SanDisk. However, the update has shown notable performance improvements for AMD Ryzen processors.

The new update system is expected to benefit both individual users and enterprise environments, where faster installation times and reduced system resource usage during updates can significantly impact productivity. Microsoft continues to refine the update process as part of its commitment to improving the Windows 11 experience.