Microsoft plans to release Windows 10 version 1809 at the beginning of October 2018 to the public. While it is probably a good idea to wait at least a month before installation of the update on production machines, downloading and installing the update early is great for test environments, virtual machines, and on systems where backups may restore the previous status quo if things should go wrong.
German tech site Deskmodder found a way to download the Windows 10 version 1809 update right now. The method described uses Microsoft's own Media Creation Tool to download the update and either install it on the machine it is executed on or create installation media on USB Flash Drives or as ISO images.
The process itself is pretty straightforward; note that it requires running a command from an elevated command prompt but that is all there is to it.
Some useful links to start:
- The features and changes of Windows 10's October 2018 Update
- Windows 10 version 1809: removed and deprecated features
- Windows 10 and Server 2016 update changes
Preparations
You need to download two files to a PC and place them in the same folder.
- Download the Media Creation Tool for Windows 10 version 1803 from Microsoft. Note that you don't want to execute the tool right away as it only offers version 1803 and not 1809, the version that you are after.
- Download the new product.cab zip archive from the Deskmodder website. Note: You can also download it from this GitHub page.
- Create a new folder on the system, e.g. c:\1809.
- Place the downloaded MediaCreationTool1803.exe file in the folder.
- Extract the downloaded zip archive and place the file products.cab in the folder as well.
- Both files, MediaCreationTool1803.exe and products.cab should now be in the same folder.
Download Windows 10 version 1809
Once you are done with the preparations, it is time to start the download of Windows 10 version 1809.
Open an elevated command prompt to get started.
- Activate the Start button.
- Type cmd.exe.
- Hold down the Shift-key and the Ctrl-key on the keyboard.
- Select cmd.exe from the list of results with the mouse, keyboard or touch. This should launch an elevated command prompt after you accept the UAC prompt. Verify that this is the case by checking that the title of the command prompt window starts with Administrator:
- Change to the directory that you created previously, e.g. cd c:\1809.
- Run MediaCreationTool1803.exe /Selfhost
The command starts the Media Creation Tool and forces it to use the local product.cab file overriding the default.
From there, it is just a matter of following the prompts on screen. You have the option to upgrade the current PC or create installation media.
I prefer to select the "create installation media" option even if my intention is to update the local PC. Doing so gives me access to the installation media so that I can reuse it, use it to install Windows 10 anew on the device, or access some of the tools that it includes.
Selecting "upgrade this PC now" on the other hand offers none of that. The tool downloads the Windows 10 installation files and saves them either as an ISO image on the system or creates a bootable USB Flash Drive out of it.
Use the bootable USB Flash Drive to start the upgrade to Windows 10 version 1809, burn the ISO or create a virtual machine image using it.
Microsoft will release an updated Media Creation Tool eventually so that you may use it directly and don't have to rely on the workaround to create Windows 10 version 1809 installation media.
Source: https://www.ghacks.net/2018/09/26/how-to-download-windows-10-version-1809-right-now/
