- Windows 11 25H2’s installer is now available to download
- However, this disk image is still a preview version
- I’d, therefore, recommend waiting for the fully finished take on 25H2 to be delivered via Windows Update
Windows 11 25H2 is now available as a disk image file, so you can download and use that to install the latest flavor of Microsoft’s operating system – but you shouldn’t, at least not yet.
This is because the file (known as an ISO, or disk image) is still a preview version, as it’s only available via the Windows Insiders download site.
Windows Central noticed that the Windows 11 25H2 installer has now been released by Microsoft, but if you grab it, what you’re actually getting is the preview build 26200 of 25H2 from the Release Preview channel (the final stage of testing). Further note you need to be signed up as a Windows tester to access this file.
So, to be clear: this is not the finished copy of the 25H2 update. However, it’s true that this version is very nearly done and dusted at this point. Indeed, there may be hardly any changes between now and the official release.
Still, even given that, I wouldn’t recommend that the average user should bother trying to grab an installer that’s still in preview, however late it is in the testing game.
It’s a bit safer – and indeed easier – to just wait for the fully finished product to be delivered to your PC via Windows Update.
Analysis: there’s unlikely to be a rush for 25H2
There is a downside to waiting for the 25H2 update to be piped through to your system via Windows Update, mind, and that is because you could be waiting some time – maybe even a couple of months – after the finished version is officially rubber-stamped and put out there. That’s because all updates roll out gradually, especially to begin with.
There’s a reason Microsoft always kicks off with a slow start to the rollout of any major update, and this is done to test the waters and ensure that there are no bugs remaining that weren’t squashed during the preview process. Testing doesn’t always catch every glitch, as we’ve seen multiple times in the past. Microsoft also tends to roll out annual updates in a targeted way, so if your PC isn’t in the initial batch of those getting the upgrade, it might be for a good reason.
In short, I wouldn’t recommend trying to skip ahead of the queue, not unless you’re really keen to get an update – just sit tight and wait.
At any rate, it’s unlikely there’ll be many people clamoring at the proverbial update gates to grab Windows 11 25H2, seeing as it doesn’t do a whole lot anyway – it’s very much a minor upgrade. Mind you, that does also mean that there should be much less chance of any bugs (or at least potential showstoppers).
What the release of this ISO does tell us is that the finished take on Windows 11 25H2 is now very close. Indeed, it could potentially arrive later this month (though early October is probably more likely on balance). The deployment of the Release Preview ISO for 25H2 was actually delayed slightly by Microsoft – by a week – which hopefully isn’t indicative of any problems with the update (I doubt that’s the case).