Media Creation Tool lets you create a Windows 10 installation USB drive or download its .ISO file that you can burn on to a DVD to install the operating system on a different computer.
However, before Media Creation Tool can be used, you must either download the tool on your PC, or run it directly from the website.
Note: Even though obtaining Windows 10 using Media Creation Tool is free, you must purchase a valid license key in order to activate Windows after the installation.
Here’s how you can get Media Creation Tool and use it to obtain Windows 10:
- ■Launch Microsoft Edge
Click the Microsoft Edge icon from the taskbar. This launches Microsoft Edge web browser and loads either the default or your custom homepage. Although Microsoft Edge is used for this example, you can use any other web browser of your choice.
■Get to the Download Windows 10 page
Type https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 in the web browser’s address bar, and press Enter. This takes you to the Download Windows 10 page. From here you can either upgrade your current OS to the latest version of Windows 10, or download Media Creation Tool.
■Run Media Creation Tool
Scroll down to the Create Windows 10 installation media section, click Download tool now, click Run from the box that pops up at the bottom, and click Yes in the User Account Control confirmation box. This downloads and automatically initializes Media Creation Tool. Alternatively, you can also click Save in the box, and choose a location in your local hard drive to download the tool for later use.
■Choose how to use Media Creation Tool
Click Accept on the Applicable notices and license terms window, and either leave the Upgrade this PC now radio button selected or select Create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD, or ISO file) for another PC, and click Next. Where the former option lets you upgrade the current version of your Windows to the latest version of Windows 10 (1803 at the time of this writing), selecting the latter one allows you to create a Windows 10 installation USB drive or download the .ISO file of the operating system.
■Choose Windows 10 edition
Uncheck the Use recommended options for this PC box, pick your preferred edition of Windows 10 using the enabled drop-down lists, and click Next. This ensures that you get the correct version of Windows 10 according to the hardware you want to install it on. Alternatively you can leave the Use recommended options for this PC box checked if you’re OK with the currently selected version of the operating system.
■Choose a media
Either leave the USB flash drive radio button selected or select ISO file (selected for this example), and click Next. This prompts for your input depending on the option you selected, and begins downloading Windows 10. Where leaving the former option selected requires you to connect a blank USB drive to your PC, selecting the latter option prompts you to pick a location on your local hard drive to save the .ISO file to.
■Complete the process
Click Finish after the download or USB creation completes. This cleans up the temporary files that the Media Creation Tool may have deployed, and closes the wizard once done. If you’ve created a USB flash drive, you can disconnect it from the PC and connect it to a different computer to begin installing Windows 10. Likewise, if you’ve downloaded the .ISO file, you can burn it on a DVD, and then use the media to install Windows 10 on a computer.
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