When a new version of Windows 10 is released, Microsoft also releases new ISO disk images of the operating system to perform clean installations or create a bootable recovery environment. This article provides two ways to download the latest Windows 10 ISO images from Microsoft.
An ISO image is a sector-by-sector copy of the Windows DVD stored as a single ‘.iso’ file on your computer. You can then burn that ISO file to another DVD, create a bootable USB drive, mount it as a drive letter in Windows, or extract your files using 7-Zip.
ISO images are useful as they allow you to create bootable media that can be used as a recovery environment to troubleshoot or perform clean installations of Windows 10. You can also use them to create Windows 10 virtual machines using Hyper-V , VirtualBox, or VMware.
Microsoft recommends using its Windows 10 media creation tool (MCT) to download the latest ISO image or create a bootable USB drive.
This article will show you how to use MCT to download the latest ISO or trick the Microsoft website to allow you to download ISO images directly.
Method 1: Use the media creation tool to create an ISO
Microsoft offers a tool called the Media Creation Tool, which allows you to download the latest ISO version of Windows 10 to a file or burn it to a USB drive.
To use the media creation tool to obtain the latest ISO, follow these steps:
- Visit the Windows 10 download page using your browser.
- Under ‘Create Windows 10 installation media’, click the ‘Download the tool now‘link and save the executable. At the time of writing, the MCT executable was called MediaCreationTool20H2.exe.
- Once downloaded, run the program and Windows will ask for permission to run it. At this prompt, click Yes, and MCT will load and prepare some things before proceeding.
- When finished, a license agreement will be shown. To continue, click on Accept button.
- The tool will now inform you that it is’ Preparing some things’ and, when finished, will display a prompt asking if you would like to update the computer or ‘Create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD or ISO file) for another PC.
At this prompt, select the Create installation media option, then press the Next button.
- The media creation tool will download and check the files needed to create an ISO or a bootable USB drive. This process can take some time, so be patient.
- When finished, MCT will ask you what language, architecture and Windows edition you want for your ISO image. By default, MCT will use your local language and architecture, but you can deselect Use the recommended options for this PC checkbox to select other options.
When finished, click on Next button.
- You will now be asked if you want to create a bootable USB drive or a Windows 10 ISO. As we are creating an ISO file, select the ISO file option and press Next.
- You will now be asked to select a location to save the ISO file. Select a folder to save the ISO file and click on the Save button.
- The media creation tool will now create the ISO file at the specified location. Please be patient while the file is created.
- When the media creation tool finishes creating the ISO, you can close the program by clicking the button finish button.
You will now have the latest Windows 10 ISO image file saved in your folder, which can be used for virtual machines or to create bootable media at a later date.
Method 2: Download the latest Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft
When you access the Microsoft “Download Windows 10” page, you only have the option to upgrade to a new version using Windows Update or the Microsoft Windows 10 Media Creation Tool.
However, it is possible to trick the Windows 10 download page from Microsoft to offer an ISO image by changing the user agent of your browser to an operating system other than Windows.
To download the latest Windows 10 ISO image, follow these steps:
- Go to the Windows 10 download page on any Chromium-based browser, such as Chrome or the new Microsoft Edge.
- Click on the Chrome menu, then More tools, and then click Development tools, as shown below.
- Now press the Ctrl + Shift + M keyboard combination to open the device’s toolbar. This toolbar allows you to impersonate another device, such as a cell phone or tablet. When switching to another device, it also changes the browser user agent, which the website uses to identify a visitor’s operating system.
Click on the menu that shows Responsive and select iPad or iPad Pro so you can see the page better.
- When you select one of these devices for the first time, the screen size will be set to 50%. Please switch to 100%, as shown below, so that you can see the web page better.
- Now press the F5 on the keyboard to refresh the page, and the Microsoft website will now offer you Windows 10 ISO instead of the media creation tool.
Now click on the drop down arrow under ‘Select Edit’ and select ‘Windows 10 ‘ option under the name of the most recent feature update. At the time of this writing, the latest version was Windows 10 20H2, also known as Windows 10 October 2020 Update.
Once selected, click on the confirm button.
- After a few seconds, the Microsoft website will ask you to select the language for your ISO product.
Select your language and press the confirm button again.
- Finally, you will be asked if you want to download a 32 or 64 bit version of Windows 10 ISO. Most people want to download the 64-bit version of Windows 10.
- When you click the download button, you will be asked which folder you want to save the ISO file in, as shown below. After selecting the folder to save the ISO, click the button Save button to download.
The current ISO image is 5.8 GB, so it may take some time to download depending on the speed of your Internet connection.
The ISO download link generated by the Microsoft website will remain valid for 24 hours and will be shared with others during that time. After 24 hours, the link will no longer work and you will need to create a new one using the steps above.
What should you do with the ISO?
Now that you have a copy of the latest Windows 10 ISO image, you may be wondering what to do with it.
This ISO image can now be mounted on virtual machines to update a Windows installation or install a new one. You can also extract the ISO file to find a specific Windows system file.
Finally, you can use the ISO image and a free utility like Rufus or Universal USB Installer to create a bootable Windows 10 USB drive.
However, if the goal were to create bootable media, it would have been easier to have the Media Creation Tool do it for you, as explained in the steps above.
After creating a bootable Windows 10 USB drive or Windows 10 DVD, you can use it to perform a clean installation of Windows 10. A clean installation is when you completely reformat a PC and reinstall Windows 10, so you have a clean installation of the operating system without any additional software or drivers.
Another common use for Windows 10 bootable USB drives is that they can be used as a recovery environment to remove malware and resolve Windows 10 crashes, bugs and crashes.
For either purpose, you need a spare USB drive that can be used to create the bootable Windows 10 USB media.
If you don’t have a spare USB drive, you can buy a 32 GB Sandisk drive for about $ 8.99 or a 64 GB 5-drive package for $ 24 at Amazon.
BleepingComputer tightly recommends that each Windows user create a bootable Windows 10 USB media that can be used to troubleshoot problems.
We have used the Windows 10 Recovery Environment many times in the past to troubleshoot problems with Windows. Having Windows bootable USB media available can avoid a lot of frustration when your PC is not working properly.
Update 1/2/2021: Added information on how to use MCT as well.