4 ms·
I'm honestly baffled by Microsoft's inconsistent way of both supporting and hindering people from installing Windows rather than just having to buy a machine wi
by saghm 4y ago
I'm honestly baffled by Microsoft's inconsistent way of both supporting and hindering people from installing Windows rather than just having to buy a machine with it pre-installed and then just update from that forever. They really seem to have some sort of internal disagreement over this; I can google to find a Windows ISO that they provide, but they won't give me the checksum (because I guess they want me to have to risk downloading a malicious version instead?). Then to install it, I might have to jump through some hoops in boot settings like Secure Boot and the like due to their pressure on the manufacturers, and I might not even be able to (like when I tried to buy an ARM laptop a few years ago only to find out that it essentially did not support booting of a flash drive at all), but once I get it installed, I can use it indefinitely without a license, and the only thing they disable is customizing my desktop background and window theme? Of course there's a permanent watermark in the corner to remind me (and anyone else who I share my screen with) that my Windows is unlicensed, but they'll make it dull enough that if I have anything other than a solid dark color behind it (i.e. not a game), it's basically invisible. It almost seems like they couldn't come to any agreement about how to transition from CD-based installs now that most laptops don't have CD drives, so their various teams just kind of do their own thing with no consistent policy coming from those in charge.
- vel0city 4y agoIt hasn't been inconsistent since at least 8. They want you to use their media creation tool to get the installer instead of downloading an ISO from who knows where. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11 https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11
- encryptluks2 4y agoThe thing is that they release updated ISOs and hashes on MSDN or whatever their paid service is monthly with the latest hotfixes slipstreamed. Using the official media creation tool sounds great until you realize you are often getting a 2 year old version without all the updates.
- saghm 4y agoSure, but that only runs on Windows, and since presumably the machine that runs it could just update without needing to boot off installation media, which means that it only works for people who already have a Windows installation and want to install Windows on a second machine that doesn't have it preinstalled. This wouldn't include anyone considering switching from another operating system to Windows, who seem like the people they should be trying hardest to help. I guess you could run it off of a VM or maybe wine, but if anything that makes the set of steps I listed above even more convoluted. I don't think the idea that Microsoft's consistent, top-down strategy for supporting media installations in the post-CD age is to have people run use VMs or wine to create the media is more plausible than them just not having any consistent strategy at all.
- vel0city 4y agoIf you clicked the link you'd see there's also a download for the ISO directly on that page. Same as its been since at least 8. But their preferred way is using the Media Creation Tool.
- saghm 4y agoOkay, so it's exactly like I said in my first comment you responded to, just with an additional solution for a small subset of people. It still doesn't seem very well thought out to me. I did click the link, but given that I had already mentioned they provided the isos (just without the checksums), I didn't actively search for them there.
- akira2501 4y ago> I'm honestly baffled by Microsoft's inconsistent way of both supporting and hindering people from installing Windows They are a monopoly exercising monopoly power and comfortably out of touch with actual user experiences with the product. This is just the result of three decades of that.