You’re sitting there. Staring at a progress bar that hasn't moved in ten minutes. We’ve all been there, especially when a massive new Chapter drops and the entire planet is trying to squeeze through the same digital doorway at once. It’s annoying. It’s frustrating. And honestly, it's usually avoidable.
If you want to know how to make fortnite update faster, you have to stop thinking about just "internet speed" and start looking at how the Epic Games Launcher actually handles data. It isn't just about your megabits per second. It’s about disk write speeds, server bottlenecks, and some weirdly specific settings buried in your Windows or console menus that act like a digital parking brake.
Let's get into the weeds of why your download is crawling.
The DNS Trick That Actually Works
Most people just leave their DNS settings on "Automatic." That’s a mistake. When you do that, you're relying on your local Internet Service Provider (ISP) to translate web addresses, and frankly, ISP servers are often sluggish or overcrowded. Switching to a public DNS provider like Google (8.8.8.8) or Cloudflare (1.1.1.1) can shave significant time off the handshake process between your device and the Epic servers.
It won't magically double your fiber speed. But it reduces latency and helps you find a cleaner path to the update files. On a PS5 or Xbox, you can change this in the network settings under "Manual" configuration. For PC users, it's in the Network and Sharing Center. It takes two minutes. Do it.
Your Hard Drive is the Real Bottleneck
Here is something nobody tells you: Fortnite updates aren't just downloading files; they are patching existing ones. This is why you’ll see the "Read" and "Write" graphs in the Epic Games Launcher spiking while the "Download" graph sits at zero.
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If you’re still running Fortnite on an old-school mechanical HDD (Hard Disk Drive), you are basically trying to fill a swimming pool through a straw. The update process involves moving massive chunks of data around. An NVMe SSD is the gold standard here. If your drive is almost full—say, 90% or more—the controller has to work twice as hard to find open blocks to write data. Clear some space. Delete that random 100GB game you haven't touched since 2022. Your update speed will thank you.
Ethernet vs. Everything Else
Stop using Wi-Fi. Seriously. I don't care if you have a "gaming" router with eight antennas that looks like a robot spider. Wi-Fi is half-duplex, meaning it can't send and receive data at the same time with the same efficiency as a wire. Walls, microwaves, and even your neighbor's Bluetooth speakers interfere with the signal.
Plug in a Cat6 Ethernet cable. Even a cheap one from a bin is better than the best Wi-Fi signal. If you absolutely must stay on wireless, move to the 5GHz band. It has a shorter range but much higher throughput than the old 2.4GHz band, which is usually crowded with every "smart" lightbulb and fridge in your house.
Epic Games Launcher Settings You Need to Toggle
Open the Epic Games Launcher. Click your profile icon. Go to Settings. There’s a checkbox there for "Throttle Downloads." Make sure it is unchecked.
Sometimes, paradoxically, setting a very high limit (like 999999) can actually perform better than unchecking it due to how the launcher manages its bandwidth allocation. It's a weird quirk, but many players swear by it. Also, disable "Allow Installs During Gameplay." If you’re playing another game while trying to update Fortnite, your CPU and Disk usage are being split. Give Fortnite 100% of your system resources if you want it done quickly.
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The "Restart" Myth and the "Clear Cache" Reality
People say "just restart your router." Sometimes they're right, but not for the reasons they think. Restarting clears the temporary cache and can sometimes force your ISP to assign you a new route to the backbone of the internet.
On PC, you should also clear the Epic Games Launcher web cache.
- Close the launcher completely (check the system tray).
- Press Windows Key + R.
- Type
%localappdata%and hit Enter. - Find the
EpicGamesLauncherfolder. - Open
Savedand delete thewebcachefolder.
When you restart the launcher, it has to rebuild that index, which often fixes the "stuck at 0%" bug that plagues big seasonal updates.
Background Apps Are Bandwidth Vampires
Check your Task Manager. Right now. You likely have Chrome open with fourteen tabs, Discord, Steam, and maybe Spotify. All of these are "talking" to the internet. Chrome, in particular, is notorious for eating up background resources.
On consoles, make sure you don't have a game "suspended" in the background. On Xbox, "Quick Resume" is great, but it can occasionally throttle background download priority to ensure the suspended game stays ready. Close out of everything. Let the console focus entirely on the patch.
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Dealing with "Checking Resources"
Sometimes the update isn't slow; it’s just stuck. This happens when the launcher is verifying the integrity of your current files before adding the new ones. If you've been "Checking Resources" for more than 15 minutes, the best move is actually to cancel the update, restart the launcher as an Administrator, and try again. Running as Admin gives the software higher priority for disk access, which is usually where the hang-up occurs.
Real Talk on Server Load
Sometimes, there is nothing you can do. When Epic releases a new season, millions of people hit the servers at the exact same second. Even the best infrastructure has limits.
If you see the "Server Offline" or "Waiting in Queue" message, your local internet speed is irrelevant. In these cases, the best way to make Fortnite update faster is to wait an hour or two until the initial surge dies down. It's not the answer you want, but it's the reality of modern gaming.
Actionable Next Steps for Maximum Speed
- Switch to a Wired Connection: Get an Ethernet cable between your router and your device. It is the single most effective change you can make.
- Optimize Your DNS: Set your primary DNS to
1.1.1.1and secondary to1.0.0.1. - Update Your Drive: Ensure Fortnite is installed on an SSD, and make sure that SSD has at least 20% free space.
- Manage Launcher Settings: Disable "Throttle Downloads" in the Epic Games Launcher and close all background applications using Task Manager.
- Check Windows Delivery Optimization: In Windows settings, go to Windows Update > Advanced Options > Delivery Optimization. Turn off "Allow downloads from other PCs" to prevent your computer from uploading parts of the update to others while you’re trying to download.
Following these steps ensures that the bottleneck isn't on your end. Once your local setup is optimized, you're simply at the mercy of the Epic servers, but at least you'll be at the front of the digital line.