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How to Direct Download Windows 11 ISO from Microsoft

Want to try out Windows 11? Here is a simple way to download Windows 11 ISO from Microsoft without being an insider.

On June 24th, 2021, Microsoft announced the next version of Windows. i.e., Windows 11. Since then, Microsoft released a couple of Windows 11 builds for Insiders to test and play with the new user interface and features. Depending on the insider skew, you will be able to try out the UI and features at different stages of development. Being an insider build, you have to signup for the Windows Insider program to download and install Windows 11 on your machine. Even for insiders, Microsoft doesn’t provide ISOs as of now.

On October 5th, 2021, Microsoft officially released Windows 11 for the public. With that, you can now officially download the Windows 11 ISO as and when needed. If you are wondering, there are many reasons why you might want a Windows 11 ISO. For example, to install Windows 11 on a virtual machine, to get the latest Windows 11 insider build ISO without signing up for Insider program, for offline installation, to dig through setup files, to create a Windows 11 bootable drive manually, etc.

No matter the reason, this guide will show you how to download Windows 11 ISO from Microsoft. You don’t have to be an Insider. Anyone can download the ISO with the steps given below.

Related: Download Windows 11 wallpapers

Methods to Download Windows 11 ISO

There are three ways to download Windows 11 ISO. Follow the method you like to download Windows 11 ISO.

Important note: Before downloading the ISO, make sure your system meets Windows 11 system requirements.

1. Download Windows 11 ISO with Media Creation Tool

Microsoft provides a dedicated software called Media Creation Tool, which allows you to download Windows 11 ISO or create a bootable Windows 11 USB drive directly. Here is how to use it.

Head over to the Windows 11 software download page. Next, find the “Create Windows 11 Installation Media” section and click the “Download Now” button. As soon as you do that, the Media Creation Tool will be downloaded immediately.

download media creation tool

After downloading, find the downloaded exe file in the Downloads folder and execute it. On the screen, read the agreement and “Accept” it.

accept terms

The tool will automatically detect the compatible system language and edition; click the “Next” button to continue. If it did not detect accurately, uncheck the “Use the recommended options for this PC” option and manually choose the language and edition.

select language and edition

Here, select the “ISO File” option and click “Next.” Now, choose a folder to save the file and click the “Save” button.

select Windows 11 iso save location

The Media Creation Tool will download the latest Windows 11 ISO and save it to the selected folder as soon as you do that. Depending on your internet connection speed, the file will take some time to download fully. The ISO will be a bit over 5 GB.

Windows 11 iso downloading with media creation tool

2. Download Windows 11 from Microsoft website directly

If you don’t want to use the Media Creation Tool, you can download the Windows 11 ISO directly from Microsoft website. The good thing is, unlike with Windows 10, where you have to go through hoops to download the ISO, Microsoft is providing a direct link with just a few clicks. Here is how.

Go to the official Microsoft software download page. After that, find the “Download Windows 11 Disk Image (ISO)” section, select “Windows 11” from the dropdown menu and click the “Download” button.

select Windows 11 from dropdown menu

Now, scroll down and select a language from the dropdown menu. Click the “Confirm” button.

select Windows 11 iso language

As soon as you do that, the web page will display the Windows 11 ISO download link. Click on it to begin the download. The ISO file will be a bit over 5 GB.

Windows 11 iso direct download link

Keep in mind that as the web page says, the download link is only valid for 24 hours. This means you should complete the download within 24 hrs and you cannot share the link because it expires automatically.

3. Use the UUPdump service to download Windows 11

To download Windows 11 ISO, we are going to use a free tool called UUPdump. If you don’t know, UUPdump is an open-source dump tool that downloads individual Windows files directly from the Windows Update servers and repackages them into an ISO. One of the best things about UUPdump is that you can download almost any insider build or cumulative update as an ISO. Many developers and system admins use UUPdump to create custom Windows ISO files.

1. First, go to the UUPdump website. Type “Windows 11” in the search bar and press Enter. Next, click on the “Windows 11 Insider Preview” link under the “Build” section. Please make sure the build you are trying to download is x64, and it is the latest one. For example, I’m downloading “Windows 11 Insider Preview v10.0.22000.65 x64.”

select Windows 11 iso to download

2. Select a language of your choice from the “Language” dropdown menu and click the “Next” button.

select Windows 11 iso language

3. Now, select the Windows 11 editions to include in the ISO under the “Editions” section. In my case, I like Windows 11 Pro. So, I selected that option only. If you want Windows 11 Home edition, too, then choose that option. After that, click the “Next” button.

select Windows 11 editions

4. Select the “Download and convert to ISO” option under the “Download method” section. Next, uncheck all the checkboxes under the “Conversion options.” After that, click the “Create download package” button.

Note: Select the “Include updates” checkbox under the “Conversion options” section if you want the ISO to include all the Windows updates. However, the overall download size will increase, and it takes a long time to create the ISO file. If you are testing out the new build, I recommend excluding this option to make things faster. After all, you can download the updates using Windows 11 automatic updates.

select download and convert to iso option

5. The above action will download the package installer zip file. After downloading, locate it in your Download folder, right-click on the ZIP file, and select the “Extract all” button.

extract downloaded zip file

6. Let the default location be and click the “Extract” button. This action will extract the contents of the ZIP to a new folder in the same directory.

select location to extract the zip file

7. Next, open the extracted folder. You will find it in the same directory as the ZIP file unless you choose another folder while extracting.

open extracted folder

8. This folder contains scripts to download the Windows files from Windows Update servers. Right-click on the “uup_download_windows.cmd” file and select the “Run as administrator” option.

run cmd script to download Windows 11 iso

9. The above action will run the script. It will now start to download all the Windows update files according to the options you chose in the earlier steps. You will see the status of what’s happening in the command window.

script running to download Windows 11 iso

10. After downloading the files, the script will use the DISM tools to repackage the update files and create an ISO file. Once done, it will show the “Done” message. At this point, you can close the command window by pressing the “0” key or by clicking the “X” button appearing in the top-right corner of the window.

Note: If you choose to download Windows Updates in step 4, the DISM tool will take some time to complete the extracting and repacking the updates. Sometimes, the progress bar may appear stuck. It is normal. Just leave it be and wait till it is completed.

download done

11. The downloaded Windows 11 ISO file will be in the same directory as the script we executed in step 8.

Windows 11 iso in file explorer

Once you have the ISO file, you can install Windows 11 on VMware or VirtualBox. You can also mount it in File Explorer or create a bootable USB drive to install it directly on your computer.

That is all. It is that simple to download the latest Windows 11 ISO from Microsoft.

I hope that helps.

If you are stuck or need some help, comment below, and I will try to help as much as possible.

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