It’s 29th July 2015 and long waited Windows 10 has been finally launched globally. If you are a consumer, you can now download and upgrade your Windows 7/8.x system for free. If you are a Windows Insider, you might have already installed it a few days ago.
This post will cover how to download the Windows 10 installation media and create an ISO image using the “Windows 10 media creation tool”.
If you are already part of Windows Insider, you might have already upgraded to this latest build: 10240 few days ago. If you didn’t participate in this beta testers group and already have Reserved your free copy Windows 10, you might have already got the notification to download and install the latest OS from Microsoft, provided you have either Windows 7 or Windows 8.x system.
In case you are not part of any one of the above and missed to reserve your copy of Windows 10, Microsoft has provided an option to upgrade your system (Windows 7, Windows 8.x) using the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool. Using this tool, you can either upgrade your PC now or create an installation media (either USB directly or an ISO image) for offline installation to all your PCs.
Once you have downloaded the media creation tool from Microsoft (link is available above), run the tool to start up the process. It will first ask you whether you want to upgrade your system now or create an installation media for offline installation. In both the cases, you will need an active internet connection with a good bandwidth. Microsoft has already optimized the files require to increase the download speed.
If you select to download the entire files for offline installation, select “Create installation media for another PC” and click Next. In the next screen, you will be able to select the language, Windows 10 edition and the architecture (either 32-bit or 64-bit). Maker sure that, you selected the right information in this screen. Once done, click Next to continue.
The next screen will ask you whether you want to directly create a USB flash drive with the installation media or you want to create an ISO image file. If you opt for USB flash drive, make sure that you have connected a USB drive having at least 3-4 GB free space. This tool will format your USB drive. So backup the data before proceeding.
If you select ISO file and hit Next, it will ask you to select the location and filename where the tool will download and create the ISO package for you.
At the last step, it will start downloading the installation package from Microsoft server and create either a USB installation drive or a ISO image based on your selection in the wizard. Wait for the download to finish. It will take time to complete based on your internet bandwidth.
Once downloaded, proceed next to continue and follow the steps that the wizard suggest. Once you have the ISO image file of the Windows 10 installer, you might want to create a bootable USB device. You can follow the steps mentioned in this post “Create Windows 10 bootable USB drive using ZOTAC WinUSB Maker”, which I published few days ago. The ZOTAC WinUSB Maker tool is free and easy to use. Just follow the steps mentioned in that blog post and you are ready with the USB bootable device having Windows 10.
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Enjoy using the latest version of Windows operating system from Microsoft. Don’t wait. Upgrade your system today. If you have Windows 7 or Windows 8.x, you can upgrade to Win 10 within first year from now for free. If you wait, it might cost you money.
If you have come this far, it means that you liked what you are reading (#Windows 10 is available for download and free upgrade).