Where does Update Assistant Download and Store Windows 10 Setup Files?

Whenever Microsoft releases a new feature update for Windows 10, it provides an official tool to easily upgrade existing Windows 10 machines to the new Windows 10 version. This tool is called as Windows 10 Update Assistant.

The Update Assistant tool keeps the installed programs, apps, personal files and custom user settings. It upgrades the old Windows 10 version to the new version automatically.

Its a very good tool for Windows 10 users who don’t want to wait for Windows 10 feature update to arrive via Windows Update which may take long time up to several months. You can immediately install the new feature update in your Windows 10 machine with the help of Update Assistant tool.

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Many people asks us many questions regarding the Update Assistant tool such as does the Update Assistant download full ISO file of Windows 10? What is the size of Windows 10 setup ISO downloaded by the Update Assistant? Where are the Windows 10 setup files stored by Update Assistant?

To answer all these questions, today I decided to create this topic.

I did a research on one of my Windows 10 machines. I upgraded it to latest feature update using Update Assistant and following are my observations which will help you in getting all your doubts cleared:

Windows 10 Update Assistant downloads the full Windows 10 setup files to your machine so the file size may be 3-4 GB depending upon the edition of Windows such as 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64).

When you run Update Assistant tool and click on “Update Now” button, it checks for hardware compatibility issues and once it finds everything ok, it starts downloading Windows 10 setup files and shows the percentage of download progress.

Windows_10_Update_Assistant.png

Behind the scenes, it creates a new folder “Windows10Upgrade” in C:\ drive which contains several files. The Update Assistant starts downloading Windows 10 setup files in form of a .ESD file which is stored in the same “Windows10Upgrade” folder.

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Windows_10_Setup_ESD_File_Downloaded_Update_Assistant.png

The file size increases every second as the file is being downloaded by Update Assistant.

But the ESD file is kept in this folder temporarily. As soon as the complete ESD file is downloaded (when the download progress reaches to 80% approx.), the ESD file is extracted to following folder:

C:\$GetCurrent\Media

Windows_10_Full_Setup_ISO_Stored_Update_Assistant.png

This folder contains full setup files of Windows 10 which can be used to install Windows 10 in any other machine.

But there is a problem!

The Update Assistant deletes this “Media” folder very soon after copying the files to required directories. So if you want to take a backup of Windows 10 setup files, immediately copy the “C:\$GetCurrent\Media” folder as soon as its created.

Once you copy the folder, you have the full setup of Windows 10 latest feature update which can be installed in any other machine. You can also create bootable USB drive to clean install Windows 10 in other machines.

How to Create Bootable USB Drive of Windows Setup without Using Any Software?

List of Freeware to Create Bootable USB Drive to Install Windows and Linux

You can also manually download Windows 10 full offline ISO file officially from Microsoft as mentioned in following tutorials:

[Tip] Get Direct Download Links of Windows 10 Offline ISO Files from Microsoft

Download Latest Windows 10 Setup ISO for Clean Install or Upgrade

Also Check:

[Guide] Things to Do After Installing Feature Update in Windows 10

Published in: Windows 10

About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on various TV channels.

Comments

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  1. VG after updatating to new windows 10 update my start menu seems to be corrupted.
    I am trying unpin those default tiles from there but after restart they are restored there automatically, And also my computer , user folder or any other app / folder i try to pin there they are not appearing there. Any Info to fix it ?

  2. ^^ Such kind of issues may occur after upgrade, thats why I always recommend clean installation. You can try the Reset this PC feature.

  3. VG, I have recently upgraded my Windows 10 OS from 1607 to 1803 version. I did it by running the ‘Windows 10 update assistant’ exe file which I think ( I am not sure ) I had downloaded from Microsoft website and it got saved in the ‘downloads’ folder of my pc. Now that the upgrade is completed, would like to know is it safe to delete the exe file from the downloads folder as I don’t wish to keep unnecessary files in the folder ? I am not sure whether or not this will disturb the smooth functioning of the pc. In case its unsafe, can I cut and paste the file to some other location . Pls suggest suitable location.
    Regards, Preeju

  4. Hi
    I downloaded the update installer file…only to mistakenly cancel the update…now I can’t find the downloaded file and the assistant app is downloading freshly again…what can I do?

  5. Recently i downloaded window update assistant and completely downloaded window 1809 from this App but there is i saw two file in window update folder as same name…so it is corrupted ya not and i can convert it into .iso -if yes so which can choose from two..

  6. ^^ Enable file extensions using Folder Options and then check what extensions both files have.

  7. i got my laptop with windows 10 preinstalled, so my laptop has a digital license key,which is linked with my microsoft account, my doubt is if i just update my pc with windows 10 update assistance does i loose my license key my pc running in 1703 build no and the latest version is 1909. plz help

  8. ^^ Upgrading Windows 10 to feature updates will never remove your license or activation.

  9. VG I have a laptop with windows 7 I manually downloaded windows 10 setup not ISO file but it refused to run the setud on my machine but runs on other machines. What should I do

  10. ^^ What error message are you getting exactly? And how did you download Windows 10 setup?

  11. I was updating new version of windows 10 using windows10upgrader assistant. After 80-90% of updating process due to my internet connection failure, the updating process stopped but the ESD file was left in the windows10upgrade folder. This ESD file size is nearly 3.5GB that seems too much to me. I want to delete only the ESD file from that folder. Is it completely safe to delete? [Note: After a few days, my pc automatically updated the new version. But the ESD file stayed]

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