Microsoft is rolling out a ‘turbo mode’ for Windows 11 installation as part of the big drive to fix the OS

• Microsoft is rolling out an option to skip updates during Windows 11 installation
• This will speed up the process in a big way for some users
• However, without updates, you won’t have the latest security fixes – but this is still a situationally very useful (and much-requested) ability

If you’ve ever sat drumming your fingers, waiting for Windows 11 to finish installing for what feels like forever, then you’ll appreciate a new change Microsoft has made to allow the operating system to complete setup much more swiftly.

Windows Central reports that Microsoft is now introducing an option that lets you skip the part of the installation where Windows 11 pulls in and applies relevant updates, speeding up the process hugely.

This was flagged by Ariaupdated on X who provided a screenshot of the feature which is now actively rolling out.

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How does it work? When you get to the part of the Windows 11 installation where it downloads all the updates and security fixes that have been released (on top of the core OS install), this will still get underway, but you can click an option to ‘Update later’ if you want to skip it.

This makes good on one of the promises Microsoft made to improve Windows updates by allowing them to be bypassed during the OOBE or out-of-box-experience, the initial setup of a Windows 11 PC. Another much bigger move is inbound, too, namely allowing users to pause updates for as long as they want (whereas five weeks is the maximum amount of time you can delay an update currently).

Analysis: options on the installation table

It’s always good to have a choice, and the choice in this case is to get through the installation and to the functioning desktop much more quickly than you can now (with updates being automatically applied). This could save you maybe 20 to 30 minutes of waiting for setup to finish, depending on various factors (including the speed of your internet connection, of course). And that might be very handy in certain situations.

For example, you might be on a metered, or very slow, internet connection while performing the installation, so you’d appreciate the ability to defer any chunky downloads until later, when you’re on a better connection.

What you must be aware of is that a default Windows 11 installation, minus initial updates, will be short of a whole raft of security fixes, and some features, too. It’s the holes in security that represent a danger, though, as if you go start browsing the web for example, you’re leaving yourself more open to potentially be exploited by something malicious lurking in a website or downloaded file.

So, taking a shortcut like this with installation is fine – and could be very useful depending on your situation – but I’d be wary of doing much online before you apply all those updates (via Windows Update).

One useful tactic here could be to skip updates during installation, and then get them running as soon as you get to the Windows 11 desktop. This way, you can have those updates ticking away in the background while you begin to configure your preferences for the system, desktop, themes and so on. In other words, you’re doing something useful with the time spent waiting for updates to come through, rather than being stuck in the installation screens for an extra half an hour.

At any rate, it’s good to have options in this regard, and to see Microsoft realizing some of the promises it’s made to improve Windows 11 in a swift manner. That said, there are cynics on Reddit who believe that Microsoft is only now taking these actions due to the threats posed by Linux (mainly driven by SteamOS) and Apple‘s popular new MacBook Neo, which is definitely a challenge to Windows 11’s laptop dominance at the budget end of the market.

As one Redditor put it: “Interesting timing with everyone jumping ship to Linux or MacBook Neo.”

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Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel – ‘I Know What You Did Last Supper’ – was published by Hachette UK in 2013).