Microsoft makes available the most recent and updated versions of Windows 10 and Windows 11 installation media: let’s see how to download them using the Media Creation Tool.
Il Media Creation Tool is a software tool that allows you to create Windows 10 and Windows 11 installation media: it is a utility published on the official Microsoft website which is constantly updated and which offers the possibility of generating both ISO files and USB sticks (or other types of removable drives) bootable.
As we have seen in another article, the Media Creation Tool allows you to perform an in-place upgrade of Windows or to upgrade the operating system installed on the machine to the version of Windows 10 most recent. We wrote Windows 10 because it’s the systems version of the Media Creation Tool Windows 11 does not offer this possibility and only allows you to set up a bootable installation media or to create an ISO file.
In the past we have explained how to download the Windows 11 ISO and download Windows 10 in ISO format: there are various ways to do it but the use of the Media Creation Tool, for many, remains one of the most practical. Especially since, as Microsoft confirms, this handy utility provides an opportunity to get a ISO file updated to the latest version of Windows 10 and 11. And we’re not just referring to the feature update more up-to-date but also in the presence of all the Microsoft updates distributed through Windows Update in recent times.
Do you want to take advantage of having an ISO file or installation media that allows the loading Windows 10 or Windows 11 in their most up-to-date guise? At the end of the installation, in fact, you will not have to download updates through Windows Update or in any case the volume of data to be collected will be absolutely reduced.
Windows 10 and Windows 11 ISO files updated to the latest version
From your web browser, open the Download Windows 10 or Download Windows 11 page, depending on the operating system you are interested in: by clicking respectively on Download the tool now or on Download now at Creating Windows 11 installation mediathe latest version of the Media Creation Tool is downloaded.
After launching the tool, opting for the creating the ISO file or bootable Windows 10 or 11 installation media, the Media Creation Tool presents a series of steps to get you there.
If you have chosen to generate an ISO file, Media Creation Tool asks you to specify the path in which to save theWindows image and the name to assign to it. Once complete, you can double-click the ISO file name to mount its contents in Windows and let the operating system assign a drive letter.
After writing down the drive letter assigned to the contents of the ISO file of the Windows image or the one assigned to the bootable USB drive created with the Media Creation Tool, type cmd in the operating system search box then select Run as administrator. Finally, issue the following command:
dism /get-wiminfo /wimfile:F:\sources\install.esd /index:1
In the place of F: type the drive letter that Windows has assigned to the contents of the ISO file or the removable drive that hosts the operating system installation files.
In the case of Windows 11 you will read 10.0.22621 next to Version number and 1702 to the right of Build Service Pack: with a simple search, you can ascertain that the image generated by the Media Creation Tool includes all the Windows 11 updates available to date, up to and including the May 2023 patch (cumulative update KB5026372). This means that the ISO or Windows 11 installation media thus obtained also contains the updates Moment 1 e Moment 2 plus all the latest quality updates.
Similarly, in the case of Windows 10, you will read 10.0.19041 next to Version and 2965 to the right of Build Service Pack. This means that the installation media generated with the Media Creation Tool is updated with the May 2023 patches (cumulative update KB5026361).
