How to download Windows 10 Technical Preview ISO Build 10162 quickly and easily
[this article was originally written for Build 10041, and has now been updated for Build 10162]
Microsoft has been moving things along lately, while moving the URL around a bit too. Having that big honkin' ISO handy is really the way to go for:
- virtual machine installations (ESXi 6.0 supports this VM type just fine, it's even called Windows 10 in the drop down menu)
- create an installer on a bootable USB flash drive, for those clean installs.
Well, it's pretty cool that Microsoft apparently uses Akamai by default for such big (3.4GB) downloads, greatly accelerating the download for folks across the globe, without having to jump through some hoops. How do I know? Simple, on Windows 8.1, I opened Task Manager, clicked on Resource Monitor, then headed on over to the network tab. There it is, you can see those bits are flying down over the global Akamai CDN (Content Delivery Network), instead of from some distant Microsoft server, pictured below.
Download Windows 10 Insider Preview ISO
Windows 10 Technical Preview (x64) - Build 10162
This includes international versions, and you can actually skip signing up for the Windows Insider Program and go right to the download selections:
If it happens to be the English 64 bit version that you're hankering for, here's the direct link :
Windows10_InsiderPreview_x64_EN-US_10162.iso
Verify your download is using the fast Akamai CDN
Start with Task Manager, clicking on the 3 elements seen pictured at top-right. Next, Resource Monitor:
Now that you've got the file, just point your VM to it, and boot. Oh, wait, perhaps you're about to try this on a physical system, such as an old laptop. No problem, read:
Create Bootable Installation USB flash drive
See also at TinkerTry
And finally, the big moment in this video segment, where I show how very fast things can get when three downloads are kicked off, using Akamai's Download Manager, all the way up to 170Mbps. Nice!
JUL 04 2015 Update
If you have issues with getting Windows Update to give you the latest preview, turn Fast Ring to Slow Ring, then back to Fast Ring, then Check for Updates again.
JUL 23 2015 Update
As far as a full 10240 ISO directly from Microsoft to build fresh, nothing available yet, not even for MSDN customers. It is said you can cook up your own ISO from the (hidden system file):
C:\$Windows.~BT\Sources\Install.esd
but I haven't tested that (yet) for 10240.
If you're trying to get your earlier build to upgrade to 10240 using Windows Update, it seems to be more inclined to offer you this overnight. See related discussion here.
