When Microsoft released the Windows 8.1 update last year, the company did not release any ISO file for Windows 8.1, instead users could directly download the update using Windows store and upgrade from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1. So in case you want to do a clean install of Windows 8.1, you had to first install Windows 8 and then upgrade to 8.1 from there. This was a tedious task as every time you had to go through these steps if you do a clean install of Windows 8.1
Although there are workarounds available which we covered previously by using Windows 8 key, Microsoft has now released the official tool to download the Windows 8.1 ISO file. Downloading the ISO file can be handy in case you want to install Windows 8.1 on a new PC or fresh install. Microsoft’s Media creation tool helps you download the ISO of Windows 8.1
Once you have downloaded the exe file, just run the tool and select the language, edition and the architecture. The tool supports downloading the following versions.
- Windows 8.1
- Windows 8.1 Pro
- Windows 8.1 N
- Windows 8.1 Pro N
- Windows 8.1 Single Language
In the second step, you will be asked where to save the installation and here you need to select ISO file and select the location to save it.
In the final step, the tool will start downloading the Windows 8.1 installation file
Now that you have the ISO, you can start the installation by entering the Windows 8.1 serial number. If you want to install or reinstall Windows 8.1 and don’t have installation media, you can create one using this tool.
You can download the Media Creation tool from here.
[Via gHacks
