Windows 11 Installation Time: How Long Does It Really Take?

Although it is almost a year that Microsoft released Windows 11, many users still want to upgrade their system to Windows 11. All these users want to know that how long does Windows 11 take to install. Here, in this article, we are going to tell you all about Windows 11 installation duration and the factors that affect on the speed of installation.

How Long Does Windows 11 Normally Take to Install?

If everything is ideal, it should not take more that 10 to 20 minutes to install. But the installation time varies based on the device that you use. For instance, updates on older devices take more that 20 minuets or in some cases it takes hours. In modern devices with SSD storage, the time is almost 10-20 minutes.

One of the things that influences on the installation time is the size of the update. Some of the updates are small, but some of them are not that they take almost a huge time for installation. Also, the time of installation depends on whether you use a CD drive or USB drive. The total amount of time for installation in modern devices is almost 14-17 minutes because of 10 minutes of installation and 4-7 minutes of setup time.

Below, we mentioned the time of installation in different scenarios:

How Long Does It Take to Install Windows 11 from USB or CD/DVD?

The time of installation depends on whether you use a USB flash drive or CD/DVD. If you install your Windows 11 with USB drive, it is faster and it loads all the files that you need for installation. The factors that play important roles are hard disk speed, processor speed, and RAM speed.

• The installation time will be almost 1 and a half hours if you use a hard drive and CD/DVD.
• The installation time will be almost 45 minutes if you use a hard drive and USB drive.
• The installation time will be almost 45 minutes if you use an SSD and CD/DVD.
• The installation time will be almost 30 minutes if you use an SSD and USB Drive.

We mention them in the table below for you not to get confused:

How Long Does It Take to Install Windows 11 After Restarting your Device?

The option of Restart this PC helps you Recovery your Settings when the installation file causes an issue or error. Thus, you can easily reset you Windows Settings without having any harm to personal files.

Now, let’s see how long the installation of Windows 11 take after restarting your PC:

• The installation time is 1 hour if your PC has HDD and you install Windows 11 after resetting.
• The installation time is 30 minutes if your PC has SSD and you install Windows 11 after resetting.

You can quickly check out the table below.

How Long Does Windows 11 Update Take to Install?

Microsoft asserted that this operating system will receive smaller and fewer updates, and it is great feature since it saves lots of time. Since so much time was used before for the updates. Moreover, every user was annoyed by these updates and also faced many problems after updating.

The time of updates is usually 30 minutes for small KB updates, but if you enabled the option of Download Automatic Updates, they don’t take long times. But, the installation of these updates needs almost one or more hours to update. Restarting the CPU frequently and applying the updates consumes a lot of time.

If you upgrade your operating system from Windows 10 to Windows 11, it takes almost 1.5 hours to update. And with Windows 11 Media Creation Tool, it takes more time because it needs to finish the download process of installation and then install.

How Long Does Windows 11 Update Take When You Are Limited to Resources?

Whenever you are limited by your CPU, RAM, HDD/SSD, or other hardware components, so it can take almost 20 to 40 minutes to complete the Windows 11 installation.

What Happens When You Are Limited to Network Speed/ Bandwidth?

Whenever you are calculating your download, and your installation time, network limitations can be pretty difficult.

On a decent connection, the time of installation can be varied between 20 to 30 minutes, but you can follow the steps below for determining and confirming your download and installation times.

Whenever you determine the speed of your download, you can mint it by 0.125 and you will get possible download speed. Also, it is also use formula below to calculate your download time and installation time accordingly.

Time = File Size / (Download Speed in Mbps / 8)

Also, you can use online speed calculator to help you do the process.

Note: Remember that these are estimates and can be different with time and hardware components.

What Happens When You Are Limited to USB Transfer Speeds?

Usually, the cause of the slow Windows 11 installation is USB port and their variants. You might have a fast USB stick, but you may have a slow USB port on your device. Also, you may be limited because of your HDD/SSD on your system. You can be limited by your motherboard’s port capabilities or by your SSD’s NVRAM.

By default, USB ports and devices use the speed for the older variant when you transfer incompatible data. For instance, when you use a USB 3.0 thumbstick with a USB 2.0 port, will default you to USB 2.0 speeds. It is valid because of the Type-C USB variants.  The speeds below can be used to refer to and gauge the compatibilities of the current device and storage device.

• USB 1.1
  • Speed: 1.2MBps
• USB 2.0
  • Speed: 480MBps
• USB 3.0 (now known as USB 3.2 Gen 1×1)
  • Speed: 600MBps
• USB 3.1 Gen 1 (now known as USB 3.2 Gen 1×1)
  • Speed: 625MBps
• USB 3.1 Gen 2 (now known as USB 3.2 Gen 2×1)
  • Speed: 1250MBps

What Happens When Your Microsoft Servers Faces Issues?

It is possible to check Microsoft server for issues. This problem can be documented and acknowledged within minutes and you can fix it very soon.

What Happens When You Are Facing Issues with Your HDD/SSD?

We don’t suggest you to install Windows 11 on a hard drive with a problem, but just in the case that you need some computing immediately. Failing drives can have errors or corrupt files in the background that they cause problems when installing Windows 11, or when you use your installation. Thus, it can lead to bugs, crashed, BSODs, unwanted behavior, and data loss in the worst cases.

It is suggested to install Windows 11 on a backup drive on your system or on an external drive. Although it is not a good way, but at least it serves you better than a failing hard drive.

What Other Factors that Influence Windows 11 Installation Time?

The other factions that can influence on the time of installation are mentioned below:

Speed of the Internet Connection

It is an essential factor since it plays an important role when you download and install Windows operating system. It is because with a slow internet connection, the process of downloading files will take more time.  

Less Free Space

It may take more time or sometimes it may deny updating if you don’t have enough free storage on your hard drive.

Number of Downloading Tasks

If you are downloading different files at the same time, it will take more time to install.

Old Hardware Components

If your device has an old hard disk drive with huge data, you installation takes more time than when your computer has a new hardware component.

Beta Updates

I will take so much longer to complete the installation if you look at the Windows 11 Beta.

Specs (Resources Available)

Based on the configuration of your system and those resources, which are available for you, they can affect on your installation times. Windows 11 customizes, installs, partitions and goes through tons of processes during the process of installation that help you set up your PC based on the requirements of your hardware components.

Although because of the lack of a GPU, you will not lose anything, you might not have a good experience because of lacking RAM, having limited CPU due to available Cores or thermal design, or having a slow SSD or HDD.

Bandwidth

In the case that you use a Recovery or installation media, this factor is not for you. Downloads can be instant even you have a Gigabit connection over LAN when it comes to network installation. If you use a Wi-Fi, then your experience can be different.

Ping

All downloads need a stable connection to install and transfer files without interruptions. Thus, if you have a high Ping, which leads to an unstable connection, you will have an increased install times because of slower downloads.

Wi-Fi Bands

When you are in a public place with many Wi-Fi connections available, the Wi-Fi band that you are using plays an important role when it comes to installing Windows 11, and it especially true when you have a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network that leads to slower downloads.

USB Transfer Speeds

If you use USB storage media to install Windows 11 on your computer, it plays an important role in the speed of installing Windows 11. In the case that you are using one of the devices below, we suggest you to check all its specifications. Then, you can estimate your download times.

• External HDD/SSD
• USB stick
• External CD/DVD drive
• Other external mass storage device

Server Availability

Sometimes, Microsoft servers face some problems in downloading especially when there is an update or hotfix was issued to the devices, which can lead to increased wait times because of limited bandwidth and server availability. Severs can face issues or downtimes in your area.  

Although it is rare, it might happen and leads to some errors that prevent you from installing Windows 11 for some times. Other factors that lead to a server unavailability or issues can be the issues that you ISP faces. Also, the DNS settings can cause problems with downloads in different scenarios.

Conclusion

Windows 11 installation doesn’t take so much time, but it depends on some factors that we mentioned them all above. If you want to upgrade your Windows 10 to Windows 11, and worry about the timing, this article is for you. Do you want to upgrade your operating system? share your ideas with us.