WSUS Feature updates for Windows 10 won't install

Well as you should understand there billions for adminitrators that have the problem that you have.

Just a few days after the thread published, Microsoft published a detailed article that explains how to handle these update properly.

The key thing is the distirbute the updates gradually, the since you have 18 months to update you have plenty of time from doing that.

For further reading Deploy Windows 10 updates using Windows Server Update Services (WSUS)

Thanks zvitam, the link to the Microsoft WSUS tutorial page was for once, surprisingly helpful, I've never seen them write anything in such a clear & understandable way before.  And right at the very bottom there appears to be instructions for releasing the Features Updates, which I will definitely try.  Why do you say I have 18 months to deploy, where does that time frame come from?  These feature updates seem to come out about every 6 months, so surely in 18 months I'll be way behind security-wise.

But I've already installed the latest 1803 Feature update on a laptop that just returned from having its mainboard replaced, & hence was already off the network, so I thought I'd install the update while I could.  And now I can't connect it to the domain, I don't know if its related to the mainboard repair or the 1803 update, so until I resolve that, I'm not going to try testing the 1803 update anywhere else.

The script looks like it could solve my problems too McKnife, I'm just not very clued up on scripts, so I'll need to research that one a bit more.  

Just one other question, I keep seeing references to WSUS 4.0, yet in my Updates Services I get version 6.3.9600, am I looking at the wrong version number?

6.3.9600 means you have server 2012 - its WSUS version is perfectly ok.
"I'm just not very clued up on scripts, so I'll need to research that one a bit more" - research what? Ask me, it is my script :-)

Hi McKnife, its more that I have someone who helps fill in the gaps in my very limited understanding of running a domain, & who understands our domain very well.  If he understands your script & how it applies to us, then I think it will be really useful, anything that avoids me having to individually supervise every feature upgrade on every device will be a help.  

Now if your script can also prevent the upgrades from uninstalling random programs, from changing the user profile folder so all my Office setup, dictionary & signatures are lost, from re-adding all the annoying Startup menu icons that aren't appropriate in a business environment, from changing the location & date format for every single login, from changing the default browser & can spend 10 minutes apologising to each user for the mess its left their computer in, then I'm sold.

You need to learn about the upgrade process and test what happens when in a clean and controlled environment (test VM).

Most of what you claim an inplace upgrade does is not seen here even though we don't take active measures against it. Only thing that I have seen myself (and I have supervised and performed hundreds of inplace upgrades) is that setup has uninstalled a healthy service that used "/" in its executable path by mistake instead of "\".

The script does nothing but run an automated upgrade - nothing is configured afterwards as there is no need normally. I sometimes have upgrade people's computers during their lunch hour and they simply continued to work afterwards without complaining.

I haven't been able to test either offered solutions by zvitam or mcknife, but believe one of them will solve my problem & will test in due course.  Am puzzled why I can't offer a split solution any more.

You should not close a question before you try out the solution.
Splitting is still possible, next time look at the closure wizard closely, you can select multiple answers right at the first stage of closure.