The Windows 10 Media Creation Tool now downloads the July 29 version - identified here as build 10240 - rather than the newer November upgrade because Microsoft has stopped users from upgrading via a disk image in. iso file format for each upgrade to give advanced users another way to keep their devices up to date. But it had also pledged that it would offer disk images in.
Previously, Microsoft had been clear that it would use Windows Update to refresh Windows 10 with the two-to-three-times-a-year upgrades, as well as the monthly security updates.
That means Windows 10 users will no longer be able to create bootable, installable media - typically a USB thumb drive, but alternately a DVD disc - to upgrade multiple machines to 1511 without having to download the massive file to each system, consuming bandwidth and taking time. Each is at least a 3GB download.Ĭustomers already running Windows 10's build 10240 must hang tight and wait for Microsoft to offer the November upgrade in Windows Update, then download that for each device.
Those upgrading from Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 must now go through two upgrades: First to July 29's build 10240, and then again to 1511, or build 10586. The company is rolling out the November Update over time - if you don't see it in Windows Update, you will see it soon," a Microsoft spokesperson told WinBeta.īy yanking the November upgrade, Microsoft has limited how users - whether those running Windows 10, or the earlier Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 editions eligible for a free upgrade - obtain the latest version of Windows 10. "Microsoft has not pulled the Windows 10 November Update. The company also told WinBeta that it was still serving 1511 to Windows 10 users through Windows Update, contrary to some customers, who said that they'd not seen it offered. Microsoft did not offer any additional reasons for pulling 1511 and reverting to the July original. Microsoft did not immediately reply to questions on Sunday, but other outlets were told Saturday by Microsoft that the company had "decided that future installs should be through Windows Update." WinBeta was one of the first to report on the disappearance of 1511 from the Media Creation Tool process. 13, a day after the November upgrade's release, had instead referenced build 10586, a label assigned to 1511. "I inquired via MVP Communications Channel and just learned that the Fall Update v.1511 has apparently been taken down and replaced with original Release Version," said Carmack, referring to the July 29 edition.Ĭomputerworld confirmed on Sunday that Media Creation Tool downloads point to the July 29 version, tagged as build 10240. Others, including Greg Carmack, a Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional), confirmed that Microsoft had withdrawn 1511 when using the Media Creation Tool. However, it suddenly disappeared this week, so I cannot download now." A week ago, I download November Update ISO from here. "I cannot find the Windows 10 November Update ISO on Microsoft's download website," said Berk Babadogan on one thread. Reports of the change first appeared yesterday on Microsoft's support discussion forum.
Microsoft has dubbed the upgrade - the first for Windows 10 - as 1511 to mark the month and year in the yymm format it's increasingly applied to software that will be regularly refreshed under a service-style model. 12, the day the company released the refresh. Gabriel Aul, engineering general manager for Microsoft's OS group, suggested the Media Creation Tool and the disk images in a tweet on Nov. Microsoft had, in fact, pointed users to the latter as a way to jump the queue.
Windows 10 users impatient with the slow, staggered process Microsoft uses to upgrade devices through Windows Update had turned to the disk images and the Media Creation Tool to avoid the wait.