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Rufus: Microsoft is blocking Windows ISO downloads
- lysergia 4y agoI just use this: https://tb.rg-adguard.net/public.php https://tb.rg-adguard.net/public.php
- TazeTSchnitzel 4y agoFor comparison: Apple have an unauthenticated server from which you can download any old macOS or iOS release. It's very popular.
- bragr 4y agoIn the Apple world, it is the hardware that is licensed, while for Windows, it is the software. It's a small, but important difference.
- ReadTheLicense 4y agoIt's also not true. MacOS is licensed very similarly to Windows, it's just that every Mac includes a license.
- belltaco 4y agoMost OEM PCs also include a Windows license. The difference is that Apple will not sell a standalone MacOS license to run on a non-Mac PC or on a VM.
- ReadTheLicense 4y agoSure, but the license itself is almost identical. You can run it in VM though - on a Mac, if you own MacOS already.
- phpisthebest 4y agoReally? How many non-mac computers sold without a Windows License? That was a big thing years ago with Linux users wanting to get refunds for the Windows License they were forced to buy, and it never really changed.
- electroly 4y agoMillions upon millions. Roughly every server that has ever been sold. We're not only talking about consumer Windows here. That said, I'm skeptical of OP's idea that this makes a difference for how Microsoft offers ISOs. I don't really think it does; Microsoft OSes all have activation and they freely offer ISOs. macOS's lack of activation is attributable to the fact that they license the OS with the hardware, but I don't think it's a relevant detail for Microsoft's ISO downloads. I'd tend to think some minor speedbumps in the download process are just because Microsoft would prefer people to use their fancy Media Creation Tool instead of downloading an ISO. The Media Creation Tool replaces both the ISO download and Rufus; it's much easier to use and I can see why Microsoft would direct users to it.
- phpisthebest 4y ago>>Millions upon millions. Roughly every server that has ever been sold. We're not only talking about consumer Windows here. We kinda are if we are talking about a comparison with MAC... Further if your position is windows needs to block this for piracy reasons due to server sales, anyone buying an enterprise server 99% chance they have a EA, MPSA, or some other licensing agreement already and are not using Rufus to create their Windows 11 USB Keys to install of windows Pointing to the Server market is just a weak as the defense using MAC... >Microsoft would prefer people to use their fancy Media Creation Tool instead of downloading an ISO. The Media Creation Tool replaces both the ISO download and Rufus; it's much easier to use and I can see why Microsoft would direct users to it. I dont think that is it at all, this a classic hallmark of legal trying to find something to do, or some one in marketing wanting people to see all of the ads for Office 365 and other services before downloading the ISO
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- scottydelta 4y agoYet Apple required me to sign in to my icloud account to download xcode file from their developer website.
- oefrha 4y agoThe iso/ipsw signatures expire after months/years though, so you could end up with an image you can’t install from.
- redeeman 4y agoyet another proof that microsoft has not changed. they try hard to put up a facade, but it is quite transparant to anyone really looking
- zozbot234 4y agoBut I thought Microsoft Loves Linux now? Maybe that's why they're making it hard to download Windows.
- phpisthebest 4y agoMicrosoft Embraced Linux, to Extend it, with an Eye on Extinguish Same is true for Git
- LadyCailin 4y agoHow? I don’t buy it. If MSFT commits GPL code to Linux or git, then does something objectionable, how is the community any worse off than before? Worst case, revert the change. For github I buy it, it is a service which people cannot directly self host.
- phpisthebest 4y agoWell in the case of git they use github and azure devops to "extend" the workflow of software development to where developers depend upon the non-opensource features added to the workflow where things like issues, wiki's, git specific pull request workflows etc etc etc This makes it hard to move out of the non-open ecosystem For Linux 90% of their commits is about locking people into Azure In both cases they are building a separate community around their flavors of the projects not the projects themselves. You use "Github" not git, you use "AzureLinux" not linux, etc etc etc I know young devs that have no idea that GitHub and Git are different things
- LadyCailin 4y agoSure, I agree that EEE can absolutely apply to services which are purchased and then controlled by MSFT, but if MSFT is building up a community around software, and that generates positive changes (or even just no/neutral changes) to the original, GPL'd software, then whatever community existed there before, and the users who aren't using the various services remain at best improved (if good contributions are pushed back in) or at worst completely unaffected. Just stop using Github and run your own git server, and you lose nothing that you didn't already have before Github existed.
- unknownaccount 4y agoThis will just push people to get their ISOs from other, less reputable, sources. Truth is only a minority verifies the hashs of their ISO. What Rufus should do is compile a list of known hashes for every untouched Windows release and then warn the user if they attempt to flash a tainted ISO.
- BiteCode_dev 4y agoSo do more work for free to protect users because MS put them at risk for money.
- doubled112 4y agoWill it push them to other, less reputable sources? If a user was able to discover and find Rufus, they should be capable of discovering and finding the legitimate download on the Microsoft website too. The article and my quick test say it is still possible.
- unknownaccount 4y agoAs far as I can remember, the ISO downloads on the official Microsoft site are hidden behind a login screen. Because of that, for the last several years my source of ISOs has been random websites I found by googling or by torrent sites. I’m sure I’m not the only one.
- doubled112 4y agoYou can check for yourself. https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/software-download/windows11 https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/software-download/windows11 There is a section titled Download Windows 11 Disk Image (ISO) > This download is a multi-edition ISO which uses your product key to unlock the correct edition It is annoying that it is a generated link only valid for 24 hours, but no login is required. Quick edit: Maybe they tested requiring logins at one time? Could this change based on user agent or something else? Would they do something that ridiculous? Firefox on Debian on my end.
- gustavorg 4y agoMaybe it's just me, but that page got hung up by ads competing with each other trying to load first. I had to leave.
- iforgotpassword 4y agoReminds me once again how essential ublock origin has become to browsing the web. Most of the time you don't even think about it and take it for granted, but it's the most essential extension to any browser.
- bogantech 4y agoCan anyone find the GitHub issue referenced in the article? I've taken a quick look but can't find it
- technonerd 4y agohttps://github.com/pbatard/Fido/issues/41 https://github.com/pbatard/Fido/issues/41 and https://github.com/pbatard/Fido/pull/42 https://github.com/pbatard/Fido/pull/42
- bragr 4y agoTo be fair, Rufus is circumventing Microsoft's download methods. It would be nice if they were more open but it's not like these aren't available from official sources: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10I... https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows11 https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows11
- V__ 4y agoI agree. As long as Microsoft provides an easy way to download ISOs, it's their prerogative to deny third-party tools access.
- captainmuon 4y agoThey are not entirely available. I think you cannot download all editions, only the latest releases, and if you use Windows it will tell you to use the media creation tool. Which is a weird thing that takes a long time and assembles an ISO from who knows what (it seems to take parts from your PC and to download other parts). It's really hard to get a vanilla ISO.
- zhfliz 4y agoif you spoof your user agent to not show windows it'll let you download an ISO directly from MS instead of just MCT
- yrro 4y agoI assumed the media creation tool was breaking apart the ISO image & splitting any files too large to fit onto a FAT32 filesystem: https://robots.org.uk/CreatingWindows10InstallerUSBFromLinux https://robots.org.uk/CreatingWindows10InstallerUSBFromLinux
- encryptluks2 4y agoIt isn't the latest release from my experience. Microsoft releases new ISO's on MSDN every month. The one that is publicly available is usually the first major build, which can be months to even years behind.
- xurukefi 4y agoIn case you want to download genuine Windows ISOs you can use https://tb.rg-adguard.net https://tb.rg-adguard.net. It's a simple website that uses some sort of MS API to generate download links (directly from Microsoft servers). AFAIK MS does not publish checksums of their ISOs anymore, which means you have to rely on trusted sources to compare hashes, but at least it is a download directly from MS servers instread of some random torrent.
- COMMENT___ 4y agoThis site looks like some sketchy Russian website with patched (pirated) Windows ISOs. While it may use MS API to generate download links, it still looks like some warez storage. I would never install any Windows versions downloaded from it.
- xurukefi 4y agoNot sure if I'm missing the irony here.
- COMMENT___ 4y agoNo irony here. Just first impression. Rambler TOP 100? MyNickName.com? WTF is that? I would never trust an admin who puts such shit on his website.
- mananaysiempre 4y agoRambler was a Russian-language search engine (as well as portal and directory) back when Yandex hadn’t yet steamrollered everybody else and Google, being incapable of understanding nouns can have more than a couple of forms, was a non-starter. They were irrelevant by 2010 and gave up on mantaining their own index even earlier, I think. Rambler TOP 100, then, is a website popularity rating from back when voluntarily placing such things on your pages using was cool and you showed them off using these buttons. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it on an English-language page (that wasn’t an obvious translation) before. Apparently it still survives in some form, though I’ve no idea who is in charge of it now. That is to say, I have no idea why anyone would include that on their pages in this day and age, yet it is hardly nefarious. (Not that you’re supposed to know that, but if you publicly claim it is people will naturally expect you to have done some research beforehand.)
- preya2k 4y agoSeems the problem has already been fixed by changing some HTTP headers: https://github.com/pbatard/Fido/pull/42 https://github.com/pbatard/Fido/pull/42
- JohnHaugeland 4y agoYeah, this is just people overreacting to a minor defect as if it's some kind of wide-reaching ethical choice
- kaoD 4y agoLook inside the commit's comment. It's hard to believe that the request is accidentally rejected if your referrer is not Microsoft's download page.
- bogantech 4y agoHotlink prevention is not a new practice
- bananadonkey 4y agoIndeed. I immediately assumed this was the root cause, but seeing the "fix" makes me wonder how ethical this change is.
- JohnHaugeland 4y ago"I would like to wonder about the ethics of Microsoft not giving me something for free that I've come to expect." Oh.
- kerazi 4y agoIf you want to skip the creation tool from Microsoft's official download website, just change your browsers User agent to Android and it will prompt you to download the ISO directly.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- GekkePrutser 4y agoIt's funny because during the windows 11 insider period, Microsoft had official documentation that told the user to use Rufus (though the screenshots matched the really old version 2)
- phpisthebest 4y agoMicrosoft has long had a problem with the Tech side not knowing what the Marketing / Legal side was doing It is not uncommon for this kind of mix messaging
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- balentio 4y agoJust talk to Rufus to time travel in a phone booth to the Year 1990 and warn everyone to not use Windows or trust a man called Bill Gates. Have an excellent adventure while doing so. Problem solved.
- Sunspark 4y ago1990 is a litle late, Windows 3.0 was already out. From Wikipedia: "Windows 3.0 is the first version of Windows to perform well both critically and commercially. Critics and users considered its GUI to be a challenger to those of Apple Macintosh and Unix. Other praised features were the improved multitasking, customizability, and especially the utilitarian management of computer memory that troubled the users of Windows 3.0's predecessors. Microsoft was criticized by third-party developers for the bundling of its separate software with the operating environment, which they viewed as an anticompetitive practice. Windows 3.0 sold 10 million copies before it was succeeded by Windows 3.1 in 1992." 10 million copies is pretty good for a DOS world.
- balentio 4y agoYou underestimate the "Guy from the future 'It's a trap'!" plot Deus Ex Machina.
- picsao 4y ago
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- Gordonjcp 4y agoSo if you can't download an ISO of it, how do you install it?
- Nexxxeh 4y agoInfuriating. Especially as I've had to use specific old ISOs to work around MS bugs. Dragging a specific legacy system up to current required an early version of 10 (version around 1707 I think? Maybe 19xx?). It would just silently fail to upgrade with a meaningless error on the current one.
- mnahkies 4y agoI recently discovered this tool https://www.ventoy.net/en/index.html https://www.ventoy.net/en/index.html and really like it. Essentially you just copy your iso files to the usb, and then on boot it gives you a menu to choose between them.
- _piif 4y agoDiscovered it through the WAN show too I suppose? :)