Got Windows ISOs?

erco

Just got off an online chat where a Microsoft rep took remote control of my little Windows 10 tablet to resolve an update problem. He went to this website: https://tb.rg-adguard.net/public.php and downloaded the ISO for the latest version 1803 to my tablet. 4.4 GB, it will take a while. Anyhow, I figured that Microsoft-endorsed website may help somebody here someday. There are 47 TB of various Microsoft ISOs there, Windows, Office, etc.

Especially Heater, since he's such a Windows fanboy now.

Edit: One version available is Windows 10 Home China. Reminded me of some old Guiness Record for Chinese being the slowest language to type since there are so many characters & keys. Must be a nightmare to code!

Peter Jakacki

Thanks for the tip, I just downloaded win10 for VirtualBox. The 4.6GB file took almost 10 mins to download!

erco

Peter Jakacki wrote: »

The 4.6GB file took almost 10 mins to download!

May take a bit longer using my 56K dialup modem and AOL:

"You've got Buffering!"

Peter Jakacki

It takes longer to unzip and import into VirtualBox than it takes to download!!!

erco

@Peter J: You're down under and below the equator, so no doubt you have both gravity and corriollis forces boosting your download speeds to impressive levels.

frank freedman

Are you sure these are unaltered versions? Should I not be able to find these things on M$ own site? If I didn't think possibly the real Ecro was busting Peter's chops, I would suspect someone got hacked! Even then, not sure I would try these downloads outside a fairly or rather very secure sandbox. .......... Just me being paranoid.......

Peter Jakacki

It took forever to install in VirtualBox and now the standard passwords don't work! PasswOrd! etc

edit - fixed it with Passw0rd! Those 'o's and those 'o's, ono.

Heater.

Something is weird about this?

Why would one be downloading Windows from Russia? https://www.whois.com/whois/rg-adguard.net

Why would an "MS" rep do that?

Was that a real MS rep?

How do you verify that download is legit and unmolested, not a trojaned pile of malware?

Cluso99

MS were unable to help me get updated from 1703 so they changed the settings to prevent the continual update download install revert cycle. He was too quick for me to write everything he did. BUT it still wants to download, just does not do it without permission.

BTW have you noticed the new pop ups from lower right asking if you would recommend W10 to a friend or business associate. Never enough time to answer "no". Just waiting for the popup to appear in one of our live videocasts we do
Cannot wait to see it happen on the TV news or weather program like the upgrade to W10 popup did a couple of years ago.

Tor

Heater. wrote: »

Something is weird about this?

Why would one be downloading Windows from Russia? https://www.whois.com/whois/rg-adguard.net

Why would an "MS" rep do that?

Was that a real MS rep?

How do you verify that download is legit and unmolested, not a trojaned pile of malware?

Worth repeating.
Hopefully that MS rep wasn't someone who called unsolicited..

Update: I tried a download on my 'cloud' server (40Gbps network), and the download link actually resolves to software-download.microsoft.com even though that site is Russian. Still strange though.

Heater.

Is that sha1 hash they show verifiable from anywhere on a real MS site?

SHA1: 08fbb24627fa768f869c09f44c5d6c1e53a57a6f

Tor

Edit: Removed - Windows site, but not from an MS rep.
Still looking.

erco

Wow, you guys are sharp. Yes, my chat with tech Shivakumar M V originated at support.microsoft.com and followup emails were received from CS3UR.GNRL.WW.00.EN.CVG.BGL.TS.1FL.ADK.SG.CH@css.one.microsoft.com so I'm convinced it's authentic info. Very curious that Whois says Russia. It took an hour to download the recommended 4GB file and it was the wrong one (64 bit, not 32) so it wouldn't install. Perhaps I should wait a while to see if Peter J's Virtualbox has a meltdown and explodes.

This 2-in-1 Nextbook tablet PC has an Intel Atom "Bay Trail" processor. I know that in 2017, MS stopped "Clover Trail" Atom processors from receiving the Creators update & beyond. It may be that the Bay Trail processors have now been abandoned, but I haven't seen that announced anywhere, nor did the MS tech say that was the problem. Under his remote control, I saw that he did go to my "Device Specs" page, which clearly listed the intel bay trail z3735g processor.

The Windows adventure continues...

GordonMcComb

For the last several years computer tech support has been moving eastward, including countries in the former USSR. By his name your support tech was probably based in India (you'd think, being formed by combining Shiva, a Hindu deity, and Kumar, in India a common family name or title for son).

I'm not sure it's wise to have authentic Microsoft downloads on a non-microsoft.com site, because it just increases the chance of successful phishing. Users need to be suspicious of links to sites that aren't to the company's official domain, or phishing will live on forever.

None of this means that the file is inauthentic, but maybe it's not the best way to have gotten it.

erco

GordonMcComb wrote: »

None of this means that the file is inauthentic, but maybe it's not the best way to have gotten it.

Agreed. All our family's other DOZEN computers got the update automatically. Just this Atom tablet lags. I feel like an IT guy trying to keep up deploying updates. Now I get why big corporations prefer to give everyone identical computers.

Speaking of identical computers, I snagged four Toshiba SSD Win10 laptops off Ebay for $50 each to use in some classes this summer. They were non-ops with boot or Windows issues, but since they are identical to another one I bought new, they have all come back to life easily after I pop in my original computer's recovery USB drive. Winner winner chicken dinner!

Tor

The actual download was happening from software-download.microsoft.com, it was only the link itself that was offsite. I did a test download to confirm this.
When that's said, it is indeed not good to have even the links off-site. Most people will not be able to check where the actual download comes from.

GordonMcComb

See Heater's thread on Unicode glyph hijacking:

http://forums.parallax.com/discussion/168683/unicode-just-keeps-giving-scammer-alert

Since 'microsoft' contains several letters that have equivalent Cyrillic equivalents it's already ripe for phishing. Microsoft is just fanning the flames if it is officially using redirects.

(I'm not convinced that is the case. I think it's more that some of the customer support techs working for Microsoft contractors are using non-official channels for files. The fact that the downloads may redirect to authentic Microsoft files doesn't mean that in 1.5 seconds from now they'll still be. That's the beauty of redirection.)

Heater.

Gordon,

Excellent thought putting these two strange things together.

I'm not convinced that anything is bad with rg-adguard.net, yet, but the fact that anyone representing MS is linking to downloads from anything other than an MS site is appalling.

Assuming that was an actual MS representative mentioned in the opening post of course.

It's not like MS needs third parties to serve their stuff. What with all the data centers they have around the place.

erco

The plot thickens! A different Atom tablet I have got the v1803 update today. This is the RCA Cambio that several of us here bought a year or so ago. Actually a nice little 2-in-1 with a detachable keyboard. The Cambio has the Z3735F processor and 2GB RAM, my won't-yet-update tablet has the Z3735G processor and 1 GB RAM. AFAIK, Microsoft rolls out updates in order of best compatibility and tweaks as they go. The G version is better than the F version. Maybe I just need to wait 'em out and let the mountain come to Me-hamm-ed.