If you’ve ever tried to download a Windows 10 ISO file from a Windows computer, you notice that it won’t let you do that. It either asks you to update your current version of Windows, or it requires you to download the company’s media creation tool in order to then download the ISO file.
There are times when you might need to access the ISO file on your computer, but due to Microsoft restricting it to download on Windows machines, getting it is difficult. However, there are certain methods that you can use to download the file to your computer.
Use a Mac or Linux computer to download Windows 10 ISO
If you have more than one computer with different operating systems, you have a really easy way to download the Windows 10 ISO file. Since Microsoft restricts downloads to Windows computers only, you can use your Linux or Mac computer to get the required file.
We noticed that the download works great on both 3rd party operating systems and you can download the file as follows.
- Launch a web browser on your computer. Mac users can use the Safari browser to accomplish this task. You can also use any other browser.
- Go to the Windows 10 ISO file website and you will notice that it no longer redirects you to any update or media creation tools pages.
- From the Select Edition dropdown on the screen, select Windows 10 and click the Confirm button below it.
- Select the language in which your new operating system should run and click “Confirm”.
- It will offer you two versions of the Windows 10 ISO to download to your computer. You can choose 64-bit or 32-bit version and click on it to download.
Please be aware that download links only remain valid for 24 hours. After that, you will need to repeat the above procedure one more time to create new download links.
Download Windows 10 ISO using Google Chrome
If you don’t have access to a Linux or Mac computer, you can still download the Windows 10 ISO to your computer. One of these ways is to change the user agent in Chrome so that it pretends not to be running on the Windows machine.
– /
This way, Microsoft will not recognize that you are using a Windows computer and will allow you to download restricted files. Here’s how to do this in Google Chrome.
- Launch Chrome on your PC.
- Click on the three dots in the upper right corner and select “More Tools” and click on Developer Tools.
- Click the three dots in the upper right corner of the developer tools window, select More Tools and select Networking.
- Go to the Network Conditions tab and you will find the Select Automatically option marked with a check mark next to User agent. Uncheck the box to disable this setting.
- Click the dropdown menu and select Chrome – Mac from the available user agents. You want to select something that is not Windows.
- Don’t close the Developer Tools section and go to the Windows 10 ISO download page.
- You should now see the default download option for the file. This time, it won’t redirect you to any pages.
Use Firefox to download the Windows 10 ISO file
If you are a Firefox user, you do not need to switch to Chrome to be able to download the ISO file for Windows 10. You can also change the user agent in your browser and allow the file to be downloaded to your computer.
Here’s how to do this in Mozilla Firefox.
- Launch Firefox on your computer.
- Run the Windows 10 ISO page and leave it open.
- Click the three horizontal lines in the upper right corner, select Web Developer and click Inspector. The browser check tool will open.
- When it opens, click the Responsive Design Mode icon, which looks like the phone and tablet behind it.
- You will see a new dropdown menu below the address bar. Click on it and select a non-Windows device like iPhone X / XS.
- Refresh the current webpage (Windows 10 ISO) in your browser.
- You will find that it now allows you to download the Windows 10 ISO file without any restrictions.
Use Microsoft’s built-in Edge browser to download Windows 10 ISO
Those of you die-hard Windows fans might not want to switch to a third-party browser to download the file. If that’s what’s stopping you from completing the task, you’ll be happy to know that there is a way to bypass Microsoft’s ISO download limit in Microsoft Edge
As with Chrome and Firefox, you can also change the Edge user agent and then download the file to your computer successfully.
- Open Edge on your PC, type about: flags in the address bar and press Enter.
- You will see various flags that you can enable in your browser. Check the first one that says “Show Source” and “Check Item” in the context menu.
- Launch the Windows 10 ISO download page.
- Right-click anywhere on the blank page and select Validate Element.
- Click the down arrow icon at the top and select Emulation to open the Emulation tab.
- Click the dropdown menu for the user agent bar and select Apple Safari (iPad).
- Unlike Chrome and Firefox, Edge automatically refreshes the currently open web pages. When the download page refreshes, you should find a button to download the ISO to your computer.
Microsoft forces you to download a media creation tool to download the ISO later, maybe not everyone likes it. We would love to hear your opinion on this and if you think this is a good move for the company. Let us know in the comments below!
–