Microsoft shows how much faster Windows 11 24H2 updates are - nearly 50% quicker, in fact

Windows 11 24H2 brings in a bunch of new features, and one of them is faster ('checkpoint') cumulative updates, with Microsoft outlining just how much nippier such upgrades have got with the new version of its desktop OS.

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Shiny happy person watching their Surface tablet update much faster (Image Credit: Microsoft)

In a blog post, Steve DiAcetis, Principal Program Manager Lead at Microsoft, explains that version 24H2 brings in both quicker installation of updates, and swifter post-installation reboots, alongside reductions in CPU resource usage during an upgrade.

How much of a speed boost are we looking at? Microsoft demonstrates a test scenario of a Windows 11 24H2 PC on the February 2024 security base image being upgraded to the March security update.

Microsoft explains:

"We were able to integrate our new servicing stack into Windows 11, version 22H2 to allow us to test an identical security update payload installation with the old versus new servicing stack. We then compared Windows 11, version 22H2 servicing stack against the changes we made in Windows 11, version 24H2."

The result was that the installation was achieved in a far more timely manner, with Windows 11 24H2 being 45.6% faster, and the reboot after the update was much quicker with 24H2, also, to the tune of 39.7% faster. CPU usage time also clocked in at 15.3% less with 24H2, so this is a pretty impressive improvement - with the usual caveats about a company's own benchmarking taken into account.

A second similar test, albeit with a different spin in that it was updating a very out-of-date system, found similar results - a 43.6% faster install, 33.5% faster reboot, and in this case, a whopping 25% less CPU usage time.

Microsoft also notes that feature update downloads are smaller by approximately 200MB with Windows 11 24H2, and that helps to speed things up a bit too - maybe by quite a bit if you have a sluggish internet connection.

Read more: Windows 11 24H2 arrives out of the blue - here's what to expect on normal (non-Copilot+) PCs