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.