Force downloading Windows 10 ISOs instead of Media Creation Tool
Posted by jpluimers on 2022/02/25
When downloading Windows 10 builds, I usually want them as ISO files because I test them out as Virtual Machines before running on real hardware.
Downloading can be done from [WayBack] www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10, however what you get depends on what machine you start browsing.
The above WayBack link, because it got archived from a non-Windows machine redirects from https://web.archive.org/web/20210321163339/https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 to https://web.archive.org/web/20210321143203/https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO.
On Windows systems the redirect goes from https://web.archive.org/web/20210321143203/https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO to https://web.archive.org/web/20210321163339/https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
By default, when you are on a Windows machine, the download link only provides the Media Creation tool. This forces an extra step into getting the ISO file on the virtual machine host.
When downloading from a non-Windows machine, you get a possibility to download the ISO file directly after selecting which kind of build and language you need. This provides you with a time limited https link to download the ISO (in practice this seems to last at least an hour).
I didn’t dig into this before, but luckily others did, and the difference is as easy as changing the User-Agent in your browser, as these posts describe:
- 2017-03: [Wayback] How to Download the Latest Windows 10 ISO Files Directly Using Your Web Browser – Windows 10 MVP Insider Blog – Windows 10 Help Forums
- 2017-05: [Wayback] Download Official Windows 10 ISO Images Directly Without Media Tool
- 2018-06: [Wayback] download win 10 iso without media creation tool – Microsoft Community
Luckily, since ESXi 6.7, VMware ESXi added https as protocol to wget, so now you can download the https link you get via the above trick without hassle.
Oh, this answers my question from a few years back too: How can I get Win10_1511_1_English_x64.iso or Win10_1511_1_EnglishInternational_x64.iso ?
The Wiert Corner - irregular stream of stuff 
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