Information
To run a
Windows Insider version of Windows 10, your PC does not have to be opted in for
Insider builds. It's enough to have one machine opted in, use it to get Insider build upgrade and then use an ISO image made from upgrade files to upgrade other machines. This naturally only applies if the ISO is the same edition and bit version as the other machines; if you run W10 PRO x64 on your physical machines, upgrade and ISO needs to be done on a W10 PRO x64 machine.
There has been quite a lot of reports from our members and other Windows Insiders alike about upgrade failing to download. This tutorial will show a method to always get new Insider build upgrade, even when your physical computers fail in downloading it.
Tutorial is made for and instructions apply to
Hyper-V virtualisation, but instructions can be applied to
Oracle VirtualBox and
VMware Workstation, too. Unfortunately free
VMware Workstation Player does not include a
checkpoint /
snapshot feature, thus these instructions cannot be used as is with it.
I am trying to make these instructions clear enough for beginners, therefore there might be some steps explained you already know. Instructions can be summarized on quite a short list; if you know what you are doing, this list is enough instructions for you:
- Clean install latest official release of Windows 10 on VM (when writing this it would be version 1703 build 15063.0, see download instructions). Alternatively, clean install latest officially released Windows Insider build
- Update VM fully
- Opt in for Insider Fast Ring (tutorial)
- Create a checkpoint / snapshot (tutorial)
- Download Insider build upgrade
- Make ISO (tutorial)
- Shutdown VM
- When next Insider build is released, apply checkpoint / snapshot, repeat steps 5, 6 and 7
For the rest of you, see the detailed instructions below. It might look complicated but is in fact extremely easy.
Contents
Use links below to go to any part of tutorial, browser back button to return to this list.
Notice that you can click / tap screenshots to enlarge them.
Part One
Install Windows on a VM
1.1) Set up Hyper-V, create a virtual machine (
tutorial)
1.2) When VM has been created, open its settings before starting Windows installation. Set checkpoint mode to
Standard, uncheck
Use automatic checkpoints:
1.3) Install Windows 10 normally as you would on any other machine, physical or virtual. You can use a
local (offline),
Microsoft or
Azure AD (workplace) account, as you prefer. Skip the product key, for our purpose the VM does not have to be activated:
1.4) When installed, update Windows fully until Windows Update tells you it's up to date:
1.5) Install TenForums
UUPtoISO tool (
tutorial). Do not run tool yet
1.6) Opt in for
Insider Fast Ring (
tutorial)
1.7) When the ring selection prompt is shown, let it stay open. Before clicking
Confirm create a checkpoint:
1.8) Name the checkpoint as you wish:
1.9) Wait until the checkpoint has been created (indicator can be seen in VM window's status bar at bottom):
1.10) When checkpoint is done, confirm your Insider Ring selection:
Windows will restart to apply the settings.
Part Two
Download Insider build upgrade
2.1) After a restart, Windows Update will find the build upgrade immediately, downloading the latest available Insider build according to your ring selection:
Note
Microsoft has had some severe issues lately with Insider build upgrade delivery. Even in this example now, Windows being clean installed, all settings and registry default, unmodified, I got a notification about download failing. If this happens simply click
Retry, do not edit registry or try any fixes you have heard of or read about!
Based on my experience, if downloading upgrade fails once it will probably fail second time somewhere between 50% and 90% of downloading upgrade. If so, click
Retry again; the download picks up now from where it left and will finish soon.
I have used this method exclusively to get upgrade ISO images, ten or so of times with each new build (PRO and Education editions in Finnish, Swedish, German, UK and US English, Enterprise in Finnish and US English. This issue never occurs more than above mentioned two times, and again it's every time fixed by clicking
Retry.
Part Three
Create ISO image
3.1) When upgrade has been downloaded and initialized,
do not click Restart now! Instead, launch
UUPtoISO tool and create ISO image (
tutorial):
3.2) While ISO will be created (it takes a while), create a new folder anywhere on your host computer, naming it as you prefer. Right click the folder, select
Properties, select
Sharing tab and select
Advanced Sharing:
3.3) Select
Share this folder, give the share a simple name, click
Permissions:
3.4) Give
Full Control to
Everyone:
3.5) Click
OK to close
Permissions, click
OK to close
Advanced Sharing, click
Close to close
Properties
3.6) When ISO is done, press any key to exit
UUPtoISO script to
Command Prompt. You will be automatically taken to your UUPtoISO folder. Enter the following command to access the host folder you created and shared in above steps 3.2 through 3.5:
net use W: \\YourHostComputerName\YourShareName
For instance, if your host PC name is
MyMonsterRig and the shared folder has a share name
ISO-Images, the command would be:
net use W: \\MyMonsterRig\ISO-Images
Note
If the shared folder path contains spaces, it must be given within quotes:
net use W: "\\MyMonsterRig\My ISO Images"
3.7) The VM will now see the host shared folder as
W: drive. Copy the newly created ISO file to host (W: drive) with following command:
copy *.iso W:\
Using this method to copy from VM to host is really fast, this won't take long
3.8) When ISO is copied to host, shut down Windows on VM selecting
Shut down instead of
Update and shut down:
3.9) You can now upgrade your host from ISO, copy it to other machines or burn to a DVD / USB flash drive to upgrade any machine running same edition and bit architecture.
Part Four
Next build upgrade: Apply checkpoint
4.1) When next Insider build will be released, select the Insider VM in Hyper-V Manager's
Virtual Machines pane, right click the checkpoint you made in step 1.7 in
Checkpoints pane and select
Apply:
4.2) Click
Apply:
4.3) Wait until checkpoint is applied and virtual machine's status shows
Saved:
4.4) Start VM. As we are using
Standard checkpoints instead of default
Production checkpoints, you will be taken to exact situation when the checkpoint was created in step 1.7:
4.5) Do as told in
Part Two and
Part Three to get the next Insider build ISO, upgrade will again be immediately found.
That's it geeks!
Kari