How to download the latest Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft

When a new version of Windows 10 is released, Microsoft also releases new operating system ISO disk images to perform clean installations or create a bootable recovery environment. This article offers two methods 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 its files using 7-Zip.

ISO images are handy because they allow you to create bootable media that can be used as a recovery environment for troubleshooting or to perform clean installations of the latest Windows 10. You can also use them to create Windows 10 virtual machines at home. 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 the MCT to download the latest ISO or trick Microsoft’s site to allow you to download ISO images directly.

Method 1: Use the media creation tool to create an ISO

Microsoft offers a tool called Media Creation Tool which allows you to download the latest Windows 10 ISO to a file or burn it to a USB drive.

To use the Media Creation Tool to get the latest ISO, please follow these steps:

1. Visit the Windows 10 download page using your web browser.
2. Under “Create Windows 10 installation media”, click the “Download the tool now‘and save the executable. At the time of this writing, the MCT executable is named MediaCreationTool20H2.exe.
3. Once downloaded, run the program and Windows will ask for permission to allow it to run. At this prompt, click Yes, and the MCT will load and prepare a few items before it can continue.

   

4. Once completed, you will be presented with a license agreement. To continue, click on the I accept button.
5. The tool will now say that it is “ Prepare some items ” and when done will display a prompt asking if you want to upgrade the computer or “ Create installation media (USB stick, DVD or ISO file) for another PC.

   

   At this prompt, select the Create installation media then press the Next button.

6. The Media Creation Tool will now download and verify the files needed to create a bootable ISO image or USB drive. This process may take a while, so be patient.

   

7. When complete, the MCT will ask you for the language, architecture, and Windows edition you want for your ISO image. By default, the MCT will use your local language and architecture, but you can uncheck Use the recommended options for this PC checkbox to select other options.

   When finished, click on the Next button.

   

8. You will now be asked if you want to create a bootable USB drive or a Windows 10 ISO image. When we create an ISO file, select it. ISO file option and press Next.

   

9. You will now be prompted to select a location to save your ISO file. Select a folder in which to save the ISO file, and then click the to save button.
10. The Media Creation Tool will now create the ISO file in the specified location. Please wait while the file is being created.

    

11. When the media creation tool has finished creating the ISO, you can close the program by clicking the 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 go to Microsoft’s “Download Windows 10” page, you only have the option to update to a new version using Windows Update or use the Microsoft Windows 10 Media Creation Tool.

However, it is possible to trick Microsoft’s Windows 10 download page into offering an ISO image instead by changing your browser’s user agent to a non-Windows operating system.

To download the latest Windows 10 ISO image, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Windows 10 download page in any Chromium-based browser, such as Chrome or the new Microsoft Edge.
2. Click on the Chrome menu, then More tools, then click on Development tools, as shown below.

   

3. Now press the Ctrl + Shift + M key combination to open the Device toolbar. This toolbar allows you to impersonate another device, such as a mobile 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 Sensitive and select iPad or iPad Pro so that you can better visualize the page.

   

4. When you select one of these devices for the first time, the screen size is set to 50%. Please change it to 100% as shown below, so that you can see the webpage better.

   

5. Now press the F5 on your keyboard to refresh the page, and the Microsoft site will now offer you the Windows 10 ISO instead of the Multimedia Creation Tool.

   Now click on the drop-down arrow under “Select Edition” and select “Windows 10 ‘ option under the name of the latest feature update. At the time of writing, the latest version is Windows 10 20H2, also known as Windows 10 October 2020 Update.

   Once selected, click on the To confirm button.

   

6. After a few seconds, the Microsoft site will now ask you to select the language of your ISO product.

   

   Select your language and press the To confirm button again.

7. Finally, you will be asked whether you want to download a 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows 10 ISO. Most people want to download the 64-bit version of Windows 10.

   

8. When you click the download button, you will be asked which folder you want to save the ISO file to, as shown below. After selecting the folder to save the ISO, click the to save button to download it.

   

   The current ISO image is 5.8 GB, so the download may take a while depending on your internet connection speed.

The ISO download link generated by Microsoft’s site will remain valid for 24 hours and will be shared with others during that time. After 24 hours the link will stop working and you will need to create a new one by following the steps above.

What should you do with ISO?

Now that you have a copy of the latest Windows 10 ISO image, you might be wondering what to do with it.

This ISO image can now be mounted on virtual machines to upgrade a Windows installation or install a new one. You can also extract the ISO file to find a particular 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 was to create bootable media, it would have been easier to have the media creation tool do this for you, as explained in the steps above.

Once you have created a Windows 10 USB drive or a bootable Windows 10 DVD, you can use it to perform a clean install of Windows 10. A clean install is when you completely reformat a PC and reinstall Windows 10, so that you have a clean install of the operating system without additional software or driver.

Another common use of Windows 10 bootable USB drives is that they can be used as a recovery environment to remove malware and fix Windows 10 crashes, bugs, and freezes.

Either way, you need a spare USB drive that can be used to create Windows 10 bootable USB media.

If you don’t have a spare USB drive, you can buy a 32GB Sandisk drive for around $ 8.99 or a 64GB 5-pack of USB drives for $ 24 from Amazon.

BleepingComputer strongly Recommend that every Windows user create a bootable Windows 10 USB media that can be used for troubleshooting.

We have used Windows 10 recovery environment several times in the past to troubleshoot Windows issues. The availability of bootable Windows USB media can save you a lot of frustration when your PC is not functioning properly.

Update 1/2/2021: Added information on using the MCT.