Win 10 updates available as a single pack?

BhargavJ · 10 Feb 2017

I bought a Dell laptop with Win 8.1 Single Language preinstalled. Last year, when the Win 10 free upgrade offer was coming to an end, I upgraded to Win 10 Home Single Language. I made a system backup with Easeus ToDo Backup on the 2nd of August, 2016. Later, Win 10 kept automatically updating to newer versions on its own - it downloaded quite a lot.

I didn't know the version of Win 10 that I had earlier, so to find the Windows version from the backup image, I followed the instructions on this site:

Determine Windows version from offline image >> SkullSecurity

The result I got was:

At present, running winver in Start - Run gives the current version as:

Version 1607 (OS Build 14393.693)

I want to format C: drive and reinstall the Easeus system backup. After this, I'll have to update Win 10, and every time I reinstall the August 2016 backup image, I'll have to download the updates from MS. What I'd like to know is, is there any update pack of Win 10 that contains all previous updates which I can download and save on my computer, as there is for Win 7? Then, every time I reinstall the August 2016 image, I should be able to update Win 10 using the offline Win 10 updates copy.

Thanks.

dalchina · 10 Feb 2017

Hi, in general, Win 10 updates are cumulative, although there maybe the odd smaller update. So the number of updates you will receive is small - the latest cumulative update + anything else (if there is). There's simply no point in doing what you suggest.

Sure, all Windows updates are available should you need them, but normally, you should not.

Turning to your image- I'm wondering why, as time goes on, do you not update your image as normal? Normally a disk image set consists of a base image (large) and a set of incremental or some differential images (smaller).

Thus you keep programs and settings changes, and update your image set routinely or (conservatively) before and after each significant change.

BhargavJ · 10 Feb 2017

Hello, and thanks for the reply.

I'm sorry but I still don't understand the update stuff. The way I understand it is, there's a base operating system (Win 10), and there are updates over that. So if I reinstall the August 2016 image, Windows will again download all the updates after that time. The Anniversary update is a huge one, as far as I know. This site says it's about 3.5 GBs.

Official Windows 10 Anniversary Update ISO files now available to download | Windows Central

I don't know whether that size is for Windows 10 version 1607 or only the size of the update which has to be installed after installing Windows 10.

I hardly have any space on my hard disk, so I don't do the incremental backup thing.

What I want is a fully updated Win 10 system to begin with. Suppose at this point, I use the Reset / Refresh option in Win 10, will it revert Windows back to the August 2016 1511 version, or the current 1607 version? If it reverts Windows to the current 1607 version as if it is a brand new clean install, then my problem is solved.

Thanks again. :)

dalchina · 10 Feb 2017

I'll make it as simple as I can.
1. Updates.
If you install the latest build of Windows, you will probably then receive one large cumulative update, and possibly a couple of small updates.

Microsoft continually rolls up prior updates into the next in the series of cumulative updates. That renders previous updates since the previous major build obsolete.

Thus your statement about all updates in your 2nd para is based on wrong understanding.

2. Major builds.
Yes, a major build is a complete release of Windows. That's why each major build is so big.When this is installed, yuor previous Windows folder is named Windows.old.Note: this means you need to keep spare space on your system disk.

3. Cumulative updates
These too are typically large- perhaps several 100Mb.

4. Disk imaging.

The whole point is to create the images on an EXTERNAL STORAGE MEDIUM.
If your hard disk fails, you can use disk images on an EXTERNAL STORAGE MEDIUM to recreate what you had on a new disk.
If your images are on your hard disk, and your hard disk fails or is locked by ransomware, you can't. You're dead in the water.Buy a big USB disk.

5. Refresh etc.
If you reset/refresh your PC it reverts to the major base build you are currently using.Why? 'Cos the old build isn't on your PC.

BhargavJ · 10 Feb 2017

So a refresh / reset will still keep the 1607 version, after which Windows might download some smaller updates. That's what I needed to know.

I do keep a backup of the system backup on another hard disk. I keep two copies of everything. :)

Thanks a lot for your answers!

Edit: What happens to the drivers after a reset / refresh? Will they stay or will I have to reinstall them as well?