Several weeks ago, I updated an old notebook from Windows 8 to the latest Windows 10.
One of the problems, I faced is that the W10 installation hung in the updates searching phase.
From my investigations, it seemed a Windows Update problem of the almost phased-out OS.
Simply I didn’t want to fix a problem in an OS that I was going to wipe out.
The Solution
After a few failed tries, the solution was to disable this setup phase.
To do this, you cannot use the Media Download Tool to start the installation but you have to:
- locate the downloaded W10 setup folder ESD, (usually: c:\esd).
- open an administrative Command Prompt.
- go to <esd>\windows folder (usually: c:\esd\windows).
- start the installation by the following command line:
setup /auto upgrade /dynamicupdate disable
It will start the installation process, skipping the blocked phase, and allowing you to apply the latest updates when the new shiny W10 is up and running.