How to Download a Windows ISO Directly from Microsoft

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All you want is a Windows 10 ISO! How can it be that hard to get ahold of?


You're clearly not a macOS user who has needed to get an older version of macOS for whatever reason. As an aside, before Windows 10 "won me back", I specialized in Linux servers and macOS endpoints up until around several years ago. When it comes to the "cloud"-™® 🙏, I'm Azure all the way. My justifications and reasoning behind is probably outside of the scope of this mini-post; but... I do have my reasons. 

ANYWAY!

Where as sourcing a legacy macOS image is not only one of the biggest pain-in-the-asses to start with, god help you if you need to extract the DMG into an image you can actually use as an installable media. I once spent hours trying to revive a MacBook Pro from 2012 because... well... I think I'll write a blog post just about that one day. 

ANYWAY! x2

Head over to  the Windows ISO download site and you'll only have the option of downloading the Windows Media Creation Tool and not the ISO itself. If you want to grab just the ISO then, using any Chromium browser, right click on the page and select Inspect. 

In my case, I'm using Microsoft Edge (which has become my favorite browser since moving over to Chromium. Mainly due to profile sharing. Bing still sucks). 



Click on:
  1. the three dotted "hamburger"
  2. More tools
  3. Network conditions

Under user agent, select any non-Windows browser and OS. In my case, I selected Safari for mac. Refresh the page and boom you're now greeted with a dropdown menu to select which versions Windows are available for download. Press confirm to.. you know it.. confirm that you want to download your ISO. 


Select which localization you want from the next dropdown menu. 


Being the proud Danish nationalist that I am, I chose Danish. Ignore the fact that I'm not blonde, speak with a heavy accent, wasn't even born in the country and immigrated to Denmark 20 years ago.
 

ANYWAY! x3

Select 32-bit or 64-bit.


If you bought your PC in the last five years, you're probably safe downloading 64-bit. But that said, if you're reading this blog post, showing some interest actively trying to learn how to download and install Windows 10, then just in case run this check.
  1. Click the Start Button which can be found in the lower, left hand corner of your desktop
  2. Type About your PC
  3. Click Open


The money shot you're looking for is whatever is in the redbox below:


So if it says 64-bit operating system then you want to click the blue 64-bit download button. 

Altneratively, if the text in the redbox says 32-bit operating system then you will instead want to click on the blue 32-bit Download button. 

Here's another screenshot showing the same page as before except now we've started the download and I've added additional helpers. Just in case. 


And yes, the other downloads have been blurred out. Well spotted! 

Now that you have the ISO... now what? You can either make an installable USB using a tool like Rufus or you can read this guide on how to install windows in Hyper-V.