How to download older ISO versions of Windows 10

Do you need to rollback to a previous version of Windows 10? Here are the steps to download the ISO file for any version of the OS.

Although you can download the ISO file to install Windows 10 from the Microsoft support website, you can only download the latest version, as the website does not include an option to select older versions.

However, if you upgraded your computer by mistake, you are experiencing compatibility problems with a new version, or you do not like the new release, you can download older versions of Windows 10 using the Rufus tool to rollback to a previous version.

Rufus is a free third-party tool designed to create a bootable USB flash drive to install Windows 10. However, unlike the Media Creation Tool, Rufus can also download the ISO file and prepare the bootable media using an older version of Windows 10.

In this guide, you will learn the steps to use Rufus to download the ISO file and create a media to install older versions of Windows 10, even if they are no longer supported.

Download older versions of Windows 10 using Rufus

To create a USB media with an older version of Windows 10, use these steps:

Under the “Download” section, click the link to download the latest version.

Double-click the executable to launch the tool.

Click the Settings button (third button from the left) a the bottom of the page.

Rufus settings button

Under the “Settings” section, use the “Check for updates” drop-down menu and select the Daily option.

Rufus enable updates

Click the Close button.

Click the Close button again to close the app.

Open Rufus again.

Under the “Device” section, use the drop-down menu, and select the USB drive to create the installation media.

Under the “Boot selection” section, use the drop-down menu and select the Disk or ISO image option.

Click the down arrow button on the right side, and select the Download option.

Rufus ISO download option

Click the Download button.

Select the Windows 10 option. (You can also select the Windows 8.1 option.)

Windows 10 or Windows 8.1 ISO selection

Click the Continue button.

Under the “Release” section, select the older version of Windows 10 to download:

• Version 20H2, October 2020 Update (Build number 19042).
• Version 2004, May 2020 Update (Build number 19041).
• Version 1909, November 2019 Update (Build number 18363).
• Version 1903, May 2019 Update (Build number 18362).
• Version 1809, October 2018 Update (Build number 17763).
• Version 1803, April 2018 Update (Build number 17134).
• Version 1709, Fall Creators Update (Build number 16299).
• Version 1703, Creators Update (Build number 15063).
• Version 1607, Anniversary Update (Build number 14393).
• Version 1511, November Update (Build number 10586).
• Version 1507, Initial Release (Build number 10240).

Select older Windows 10 ISO (1909, 1903, 1809, etc.)

Click the Continue button.

Select the edition, including Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Pro, or Windows 10 Education.

Click the Continue button.

Select the language of Windows 10.

Click the Continue button.

Select the operating system architecture (x64 or x86). (If it’s a newer device, you’ll need to select the x64 option.)

Click the Download button.

Rufus download an old Windows 10 ISO file

Select the location to save the Windows 10 ISO automatically.

Continue with the default settings after the download.

Click the Start button.

Create bootable USB of Windows 10 using Rufus

Click the OK button to confirm the deletion of the USB drive data.

Once you complete the steps, you can use the bootable USB flash drive to install an older version of Windows 10 using a clean or in-place upgrade installation.

Update March 10, 2020: This guide was originally published in October 2019 and revised in March 2021 with new changes.

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How to Download ISO Files of Older Versions of Windows 10

As soon as a new Windows 10 feature update drops for the public, Microsoft makes the previous version unavailable. This is obviously done to make sure users upgrade to the most latest version of the operating system that will also be supported the longest. However, there are times, more often than we like, when the current version just doesn’t cut it. Whether it’s because of any compatibility issue or stability problems, if you want to use an older version of Windows 10, the Windows maker doesn’t support this downgrade, at least not openly.

However, it is after all Windows and not the Apple ecosystem, which means there are almost always ways to make things happen. Thanks to a simple bat file, you can now choose to install any of the older versions of Windows 10 and download it directly from Microsoft’s servers.

If you do need to download older Windows 10 versions, here is how to easily do that

While everything is in a text file, which means you can see for yourself if there is any usual internet-spammy-thing going on, we still wouldn’t recommend you to run your device on an older version of Windows 10. This option is more for pro users, developers, and others who might need access to older Windows 10 feature updates.

1. Head over to this GitHub Gist link.
2. Click on the Download ZIP button on the top-right corner.
3. Open that zip folder and then run the MediaCreationTool.bat file as an administrator.
4. You will see the following screens with all the versions of Windows 10:
5. Click on the version that you want to download. Version 20H2, 2004, and 1909 are recommended. We have selected version 2004, which is downloading Build 19041.508 — a fairly new September, 2020 cumulative update. [Do confirm what build you are getting for your selected version and if you will be able to get newer cumulative updates for security and other fixes.]
6. From here on, the update process will start as normal.
7. Microsoft will ask for some permissions and legal agreements and then you will be asked whether to upgrade the same device or download the ISO file for another device.

More details on these two options is available in our earlier guides.

On paper, it sounds odd to get an older version of the operating system that might have run its course. However, this year has been especially slow in terms of Microsoft delivering fresher feature updates to all devices. For example, one of our devices is still running last year’s version 1909 and is yet to even be offered Windows 10 May 2020 Update let alone the latest version 20H2.

While getting the most recent update isn’t always recommended so soon after the official release, you should also check the known issues affecting the older versions to ensure your device won’t run into any problems after the upgrade/downgrade to a specific version of Windows 10.

How to download and install an earlier version of Windows 10

Microsoft maintains support for several versions of its Windows 10 operating system for Home users and even more versions for Enterprise customers.

While it is often a good idea to upgrade or install the latest version that Microsoft released, e.g. Windows 10 version 1903 at the time of writing, there may be times where you may want to install an earlier version.

One situation where this may be desirable is if major issues in the latest version make you want to sit it out or upgrade to it at a later point in time.

The downside to installing an earlier version of Windows 10 is that it is not supported for as long as the current version of the operating system. Home editions of Windows 10 are supported for 18 months in total whereas Enterprise September releases for 30 months.

The guide provides guidance on downloading and installing earlier versions of Windows 10 or using the download to upgrade to an older version of Windows 10.

Part 1: the download

Many users use Windows Update or the Microsoft Update Assistant tool to upgrade; the options are not available in this situation as the latest version of Windows is offered when these services are used.

One of the easiest options available is to use the free tool Rufus to download the ISO image. Download the portable version of Rufus and run it after the download finishes. Note that you need to allow the program to check for updates as you won’t get the download option otherwise.

You should see an arrow next to Select in the interface. Click on the arrow and select Download to enable the download options.

Click on the boot selection menu afterwards and select Disc or Iso image (please select) from the items that are presented to you. A click on the download button downloads a small script and displays the download ISO image dialog to you.

Select Windows 10 as the version, click continue, and under Release the version of Windows that you want to download. You will notice that all previous versions of Windows are offered in the menu even those that are no longer supported. Select continue after you have made the selection and select the Edition in the next step and the desired language as well as the architecture (32-bit or 64-bit) in the two final steps.

You may select to download using a browser to run the download in the system’s default browser. The Windows 10 ISO image should get downloaded to the local system once you have made the final selection.

Installing the upgrade

You may use Rufus to copy the Windows 10 ISO image to an USB device for installation or burn the ISO to DVD.

It is just a matter of booting the DVD or USB device to start the installation or upgrade process.

Closing Words

Home users may use the method described above to upgrade to earlier supported versions of Windows 10 or install an earlier version of the operating system from scratch. Currently, that would mean upgrade from Windows 10 version 1803 to 1809, and in the future to 1903 when 1909 gets installed or to 1909 when 20H1 gets installed.

Now You: Which version of Windows 10 do you run and what is your experience with that version?

About Martin Brinkmann

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Comments

Happy camper here as well 🙂

How can you get LTSC version?

After I installed an older release of Windows 10, from media that I created more than a year ago, I enabled the Internet connection. Windows Update automatically downloaded & installed the current release of Windows 10.
Obviously, the total elapsed-time for download-and-upgrade exceeded that of an install of the current release.

If you are going to download and install an earlier version, why would you open an internet connection without disabling Windows Update?

It is important to control Windows Updates. Less important once you land on a version that lists feature updates as optional and does not install them automatically anymore.

1709 N Pro + simplewall. Couldn’t be happier.

1790 N Pro went EOL on April 2019, Cor. no more updates 4 u then.

1709 enterprise & education, on the other hand, get new security updates until April 2020

Pfftt. Security updates? Haven’t updated 7 or 10 in years. When a worthwhile update finally comes out I’ll update. It looks like Win 10 isn’t completed yet.

Disable updates and roll back the unwanted upgrade:

Maybe change the roll back days:

One potential problem with that strategy is Microsoft is now force-updating 1803 to 1903.

that does not happen when using tools like WuMgr, WUMT (aka windows update minitool) or even WUB (aka windows update blocker) to disable auto updates

never use win10 without using any one of those tools like Wumgr/WUMT/WUB

Could I get a sanity check on aisle 10? I ran into a deadend that sort of makes sense, but it didn’t get mentioned in this (otherwise great) post. Apparently, falling back from 1903 to 1809 (or to any earlier version of Windows) will wipe the entire contents of the drive.

I was beginning to reinstall 1809 (which I obtained using Rufus) on top of 1903, and got to the setup screen that says “Choose what to Keep”. But the options for “Keep Personal Files and Apps” and “Keep Personal Files” where both disabled, leaving “Delete Everything” as the only choice. An information message at the bottom of the panel says “Your files, apps, and settings can’t be kept because … you’re trying to install an older version of Windows.”

Is this right? It sounds like a lot of posters were able to downgrade from 1903 successfully. Did you have to sacrifice everything to get there? Or did I (hopefully) miss a step along the way?

I bought a second hand laptop with Windows 10 on it because I was told a certain software application couldn’t provide full functionality under Windows 7, and anyway I was in the market for a backup device.

Skimming through this article and having noted others here, I’m aghast at the amount of mucking about MS seems to expect its users to have to engage in when not actually trying to use their machines for productive work.

In my case the laptop identifies the o/s as ” Windows 10, Version 10.0.18362 Build 18362″ [Pro] which I don’t readily see mentioned, but assuming I were to update to the current whatever that is, presumably doing so means all the tweaks and programs installed will be zapped and the machine will be as if it had just arrived after purchase. If true that’s nuts. Also what about serial number and activation or whatever else happens now? I believe the serial is etched on the cpu or some such so does that mean activation is no longer needed?

I thought all the stuff about Long Term Release etc was a feature of the Linux / BSD realm but evidently I was wrong. In fact I’d originally been intending to go to Open BSD for internet use on a dual boot system but it appears Open BSD doesn’t provide a dual boot / grub instal iso. Too busy so another on the shelf.

Hello, Does anyone have any ideas regarding issues surrounding the file sizes of .iso files?

I have downloaded the file I need but for some reason, despite being only

4.7Gb in size, when I try to copy it or download directly to a USB stick (I have tried 32Gb and 128Gb sticks), it says error [0x00000070] the file size is too large!

Any work arounds? Or am I missing something obvious?

Make sure the usb drive is formatted NTFS as FAT32 has a 4GB single file size limit

New computer (self built). I downloaded & installed the latest version of Win10 Pro from the MS website (“April 2020, build 2004”) for a clean install. It’s an absolute mess. Software that worked fine on earlier versions of 10 now won’t even install.

Lock screen login now defaults to using a PIN (using a normal password again is an ordeal.)

Reusing my old drives, Windows now tells me I “don’t have permission” to access my own folders. I must use special 3rd Party software to unlock them just to regain access. Multiply that annoyance times 1000 (once for every folder.)

I don’t know what the monkey’s over at M$ are doing, but they REALLY screwed up with this new release. So now I’m looking to go back to an earlier version.

If you made a clean install is expected that you can’t access the folders in the user profile of the old hard drive, this is how ACLs works.
You don’t need any 3rd Party software to unlock them, you only need to right click on the root folder and change the permissions.

You have to use the PIN to unlock the device because during the installation you activated Window Hello (you was prompted to configure a PIN), which generally is a good thing.
You can read more about Windows Hello and find out why it is a much robust security option than a password.

I’m not aware of any software that doesn’t install on Win10-2004 but works on early versions, I’m curios to know what are the software you referring, maybe there is something else that block the installation