How Long Does It Take to Install Windows 11
If you are planning to upgrade your PC to Windows 11, or if you want to clean install Windows 11 on a PC after a system crash, and you are wondering how long it takes to install Windows 11, then you are reading the correct article. This is a justified question if you use your PC quite frequently, and would want to know for how long will it be rendered unusable so that you can plan the day ahead.
Factors affecting the speed of Windows 11 installation
There are a number of factors which determines how long will it take to install Windows 11 on a PC. We will discuss each of them here, and how to fix them if possible.
Internet Speed
When you are installing Windows 11, in most cases, the respective files required for the installation are downloaded from the Microsoft website over the internet. So, the speed of your internet connection plays a major role in determining how long will it take to install Windows 11 on your PC.
First thing you need to check what is the speed of your internet connection. You can do that by going to https://www.speedtest.net. This site will show both the download and the upload speed of your internet connection.
Second, you need to check what type of internet connection you have. Whether you have a cable, DSL, or fibre optics connection. If you think you have a slow connection, there are a few things you can do to fix it:
1. Make sure the PC is within the range of WiFi router, if you are using one.
2. Ensure that the PC is connected to a 5GHz network and not a 2.4GHz network, in case you have a dual band router.
3. Update PC’s network drivers from Windows Update.
4. Close other programs like Chrome that might be sharing the internet connection.
5. Run the Internet Connection Troubleshooter in case you are using Windows operating system.
6. Disable any firewall/VPN that you might be using and check once more to see if the speed has improved.
7. Turn off metered connection.
8. Connect your PC directly to the router using an ethernet cable instead of using the WiFi.
Size of Windows 11 Setup File
The setup file for Windows 11 is approximately 4 GB in size, so, depending on the speed of your internet connection it might take a while to download this file.
Type of Hard Drive on your PC
If you have a modern PC with an SSD then it will take lot less time for you to install Windows 11 than if you had a regular HDD on your PC. SSDs are much faster than traditional HDDs, which is why in a PC having both SSD and HDD, the SSD is chose to create the bootable Windows 11 installation. If you do not have an SSD, then you might consider upgrading to one.
Speed of the Processor and the amount of RAM on your PC
It’s best if your PC has a good processor, and atleast 8GB of RAM. More amount of RAM ensures that the installation of Windows 11 proceeds much faster.
Geolocation related to Windows Servers
If your location is nearer to the location of the Windows Servers, it will be faster to install Windows 11 since you’ll be able to download the setup files much quicker.
How Much Time It Takes to install Windows 11
Depending on where you are installing Windows 11 from, now we will tell you how long will it take to install Windows 11 on your PC
1. Hard drive and CD/DVD — If you are installing Windows 11 from a regular HDD or a CD/DVD, then the installation time will be between the range of 1 to 1.5 hours.
2. USB flash drive — If you are using a bootable USB to install Windows 11, it will approximately take around 45 minutes to install Windows 11 on your PC.
3. Windows Installation Assistant — If you are downloading the setup files for Windows 11 using the Windows Installation Assistant, it will take around 25 minutes.
Steps to take to make Windows 11 installation faster
Here are a couple of steps you can take to make the installation move faster:
Clean up the HDD
Use Disk Cleanup to clean up the hard drive of your PC. Here are the step:
1. Double click on the This PC icon on your desktop.
2. Right click on the HDD (or SSD), then click on Properties from the context menu.
3. From the Properties dialogue box, click on Disk Cleanup in the General tab.
4. In the Disk Cleanup tool, select all the items that you would like to delete and click on OK. That would delete those relevant items from your HDD.
Disable all the programs at startup
There are a number of programs that start automatically as and when Windows boots up. You can disable them to make your PC a little faster.
- Press Windows + R keys on your keyboard together, then write taskmgr in the Run dialogue box and press Enter.
2. Click on More details if it’s visible. Else, click on Startup tab.
3. Disable all the items that you don’t want to start automatically from this list and click OK.
Uninstall Bloatware
These are programs that gets automatically installed with Windows that you do not use. You can uninstall them like you install any other App/Program on your computer.
These should give you an estimate of how long it would take for you to install Windows 11 on your PC, and also, fix any issues that you might face in case you feel your PC is taking too long for the installation process.
