Windows 10: ISO file question

So, I got curious and had 20 minutes to kill. I just downloaded the dual 32/64 bit Pro ISO using Media Creation Tool. It is the exact same number of bytes as the ISO I downloaded sometime between July 30-August 1. That tells me no update.

 

My experience is different. I compared the contents of three Win10 Pro x64 ISOs I downloaded over different dates, and in all three, the install.wim file was a different size and a different date. That tells me that MS is updating their ISO files.

 

Where did your ISOs come from? I've now checked two sources. Media Creation Tool, dual 32/64bit ISO of Windows 10 Pro. Same size ISO, same size install.wim between about August 1 and yesterday. Microsoft Tech Bench down of ISO of 64bit combined Home/Pro - same size ISO, same size install.wim between about August 1 and a few minutes ago.

 

I believe I under that the DRIVER files are not also addedd when making an ISO file. So what is the best way to go find your current drivers that will be needed with it ?

When I made a DVD with Macrium, I noted that the program was smart enough to go get them and ask if they needed to be updated before the DVD was made. Thanks for comments and helping me to understand how all this is supposed to function.
I do appreciate your help.. thanks Cliff M

 

The easiest way is just to download the drivers and store them separately on the USB stick or a separate DVD. Once you make a USB stick from a Windows 10 ISO file you can still write to it. Just make a separate folder for Drivers. After Windows 10 installs then you would load whatever additional drivers you need to. Windows 10 will almost always have enough basic drivers to get you started with video and at least one or the other of wired Ethernet or WiFi networking.

You can incorporate driver files into the Windows 10 install.wim image within the ISO so they install with Windows 10, but that's a pretty complicated process that I don't know how to do (and probably never will).

 

On the Win10 previews, MS would typically release an ISO when the build was released to the Slow Ring users. For production stuff, MSDN is a pretty good indicator because new ISOs will almost always be made available through that distribution mechanism (msdn.microsoft.com). On the other hand, the Windows 10 Download tool (Media Creation Tool) appears to be getting updated with new ISO images each time they come out, so that might be another good place to start looking around.
HTH,
--Ed--

 

All my ISOs came from using the Media Creation Tool.

I've noticed, too, that the Media Creation Tool has changed. I recently tried to download a new 32-bit ISO from my 64-bit Win8.1 machine, and it would not let me. Before, I could download whatever bit-size I wanted.

 

That's been my experience, too. I checked the install.wim file in three different ISO downloads, the file sizes and dates were all different.

Now, if only there was a way to download updated version of the Win10 Compatibility Checker tool.

 

I'll check the 32-bit part later but right now I'm downloading the 64-bit version on my Win7 64-bit computer but I did have to make the choice to save for installation on a different PC. For what I do it sometimes is helpful to have such files at hand instead of having to downloading each time I need them.

 

Yesterday I created a new recovery DVD using the Media Creation Tool. I had done the same thing a month ago. Both DVDs are exactly the same size: 3,351,773,183. This suggests to me that nothing has been updated.

 

To be sure, look inside the Sources folder for an install.wim or install.esd. If they are different sizes and/or dates, then the ISOs have been updated. I've downloaded the Win10 x64 Pro ISO three times (on different dates), and in all three cases, the install.wim file is a different size and date.

 

I'll check that, Mark. Thanks. Even though the exact size suggests no change to me, I realize it's still possible that it's changed. It just seems incredibly coincidental that the overall size would be exactly the same size with changes.