Windows downloads its updates by itself. How do you see whether they finished?
You pay for the computers to stay current, Windows downloads updates automatically, and most of the time that is exactly what happens. The download is only the first half. Many updates finish installing at a restart, and a laptop that goes to sleep every night may not have restarted in weeks.
The second boundary: Windows Update covers Windows. Browsers, PDF readers, meeting apps, and other programs keep their own schedules. Three checks on three computers take you most of the way. A person who is not technical can do them.
Pick three computers
Choose the one used most often, the oldest one, and the one that stays asleep instead of being shut down. Different computers fail for different reasons, so a single computer tells you little about the rest.
Write the computer’s name and today’s date at the top of a page, then answer the five checks below for it. Repeat for the other two. A page for each computer is easier to hand to your provider than a verbal summary.
Checks on each computer
- On Windows 11, open Start, then Settings, then Windows Update. On Windows 10, open Start, then Settings, then Update & Security, then Windows Update.
- Read the top of the page. If an update is waiting for a restart, Windows says so and offers Schedule the restart. Microsoft’s documentation says an update needs a restart to finish installing, and that Windows asks you to pick a time if it cannot restart on its own.
- Open Update history (on Windows 10, View update history). Microsoft describes it as showing which updates were installed, and when. Look at the date of the most recent entry. A date from this month is the normal result. A date several months back is worth a note.
- Look through the history for any entry marked as failed. A failed update can keep reappearing and keep asking for a restart.
- Check the Pause updates setting. Microsoft says you cannot stop updates entirely, and that once the pause limit is reached you must install the latest updates before pausing again. A computer paused for the maximum time is a reasonable choice someone made after an update caused a problem once, and it is still worth knowing about.
What Windows Update never covers
Update history lists updates delivered through Windows Update. It does not list the browser, the PDF reader, or the meeting app, each of which updates on its own schedule or, in some cases, not at all.
Open the list of installed programs under Settings, then Apps, and write down the 10 programs you use most. For each, open its About page and note the version and whether it offers an update. CISA keeps a public catalog of known exploited vulnerabilities and tells organizations to use it as an input when deciding what to fix first. A program with a pending update that also appears in that catalog goes to the top of your list.
If a computer runs Windows 10
Microsoft ended support for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025. The computers still work, and Microsoft no longer provides security updates for them unless they are enrolled in Extended Security Updates. For businesses, that program is paid, bought by the year, and available for up to three years. A computer must be running Windows 10 version 22H2 to be eligible.
Articles that describe a later date, in 2027, are describing a program for personal devices. Do not read that date as covering a company’s computers. Ask your provider for the enrollment record for each Windows 10 computer: which ones are enrolled, and which are not.
What these checks can and cannot tell you
Windows may also be holding an update back for a reason you can see. Updates that broke a printer, a driver, or a boot once are a common reason someone paused them or turned off a setting and never turned it back on. Each is a reasonable choice at the time. The history page shows the result of that choice, not the reason for it.
They tell you the state of three computers on the day you looked. They do not show whether the other computers match, whether a failed update was repaired, or whether a program outside Windows Update is current. A clean result covers what you examined, on that date.
We can do the same checks across every computer with you, count what we find, and give you the dates. A person reads the result.
An update that is waiting for a restart has not finished installing.
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Written by Craig Peterson, 35+ years successfully running IT and security for businesses. Last reviewed October 27, 2026.