Rufus devs blame Microsoft for blocking latest Windows 11 ISOs, resulting in IP bans — Windows Insiders can't download latest Insider ISOs and are met with IP bans

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This is either a massive bug, or Microsoft is going to great lengths to stop everyone from accessing its Windows Insider Preview ISOs.

Windows 11
(Image credit: Shutterstock)

A recent change to Microsoft's Windows 11 downloads is reportedly stopping some users and third-party sources from downloading Windows 11 ISOs from its servers. Originally reported by Neowin, multiple Windows Insider users report they are unable to download Microsoft's latest Insider ISOs. The team behind Rufus also chimed in, saying it is having the same issue and Rufus is unable to install the latest Windows 11 Insider Preview ISOs.

These download issues don't appear to be bugs or glitches. All of the Windows Insiders who have complained about this issue say they can't download the latest Insider ISOs because Microsoft is blocking their IP addresses. It's also happening with users on multiple ISPs and through VPNs, confirming that this isn't an ISP problem.

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Aaron Klotz
Aaron Klotz
Contributing Writer

Aaron Klotz is a contributing writer for Tom’s Hardware, covering news related to computer hardware such as CPUs, and graphics cards.

34 Comments Comment from the forums
  • ezst036
    Isn't this a recurring thing, every few years Rufus gets blocked by MS? 🤔

    Maybe Microsoft is planning on embedding AI into its Media Creation Tool.
    Reply
  • ejolson
    Given the historical record dating back to 1990's that sparked the saying "we're not done until Novell won't run" I can see how people get suspicious so quickly.

    While I easily understand people who just use a computer with the operating system that came preinstalled, what I can't understand is why anyone going to the trouble of installing an operating system themselves would try to install Microsoft Windows.

    Microsoft Office is now an Internet app and the AAA gaming market is not large enough to support develop of Windows on its own.
    Reply
  • LordVile
    I mean maybe don’t install an OS on unsupported hardware then?
    Reply
  • rluker5
    ejolson said:
    Given the historical record dating back to 1990's that sparked the saying "we're not done until Novell won't run" I can see how people get suspicious so quickly.

    While I easily understand people who just use a computer with the operating system that came preinstalled, what I can't understand is why anyone going to the trouble of installing an operating system themselves would try to install Microsoft Windows.

    Microsoft Office is now an Internet app and the AAA gaming market is not large enough to support develop of Windows on its own.
    For me and most Windows is easier and works better. I tried Linux last month and it was a big waste of time. It did seem better than the last time I tried, but basically nothing was as good and some features and hardware support were missing.
    Reply
  • rluker5
    LordVile said:
    I mean maybe don’t install an OS on unsupported hardware then?
    Sshhh!
    Reply
  • Ogotai
    LordVile said:
    I mean maybe don’t install an OS on unsupported hardware then?
    its only unsupported cause microsoft made it that way with the TPM requirement.
    a friend at work showed me a post a few months ago, that a brand new xeon based system with 128 gigs of ram, couldnt run win 11.. and yes, the xeon cpu as a curent gen, maybe last gen cpu... but for some reason, didn have a tpm on it...

    comps that, hardware wise, will run win 11 just fine are now obsolete cause of the TPM...
    Reply
  • bmtphoenix
    ejolson said:
    what I can't understand is why anyone going to the trouble of installing an operating system themselves would try to install Microsoft Windows.
    Really? You really think that, what, Linux(?) is so perfect and easy to use that what people have used for decades is no longer relevant to anyone installing their own OS? How incredibly small minded.

    I, like you (I assume), was around before Windows was the de-facto OS for PCs. I stuck with DOS 6.22 and Direct Access throughout Windows 3.1 and the first year or so of Windows 95. I didn't particularly like 95, either. 98SE was when I first started perceiving Windows as something I might to use. Then XP came out and everything just got better. I really didn't have a big problem with Vista except for its random weirdness. 7 was good from the beginning, despite so many people claiming XP was still better. 8 and 8.1 were interesting, but I just stayed with 7 because I didn't see a point in putting a tablet OS on my PC. I stayed on 7 through a lot of 10 as it was just broken up until the Creator's Update, and even then it wasn't great. It did get really good eventually. Didn't think much about 11 until the EOL announcement for 10. Then I looked at it and realized it is, essentially, 10 with some things changed because Microsoft. I haven't had any problems with it.

    Throughout that time, I'd spend a few weeks using Linux but I'm a gamer so it was always limiting and obnoxious from my POV.

    I have built many computers and installed many versions of Windows. I know how to troubleshoot Windows and use it like a pro. I have no reason to try anything else right now.

    I don't have many privacy concerns because there has always been software to shut off whatever you don't want. O&O shut up is amazing.
    Reply
  • mitch074
    bmtphoenix said:
    Really? You really think that, what, Linux(?) is so perfect and easy to use that what people have used for decades is no longer relevant to anyone installing their own OS? How incredibly small minded.

    I, like you (I assume), was around before Windows was the de-facto OS for PCs. I stuck with DOS 6.22 and Direct Access throughout Windows 3.1 and the first year or so of Windows 95. I didn't particularly like 95, either. 98SE was when I first started perceiving Windows as something I might to use. Then XP came out and everything just got better. I really didn't have a big problem with Vista except for its random weirdness. 7 was good from the beginning, despite so many people claiming XP was still better. 8 and 8.1 were interesting, but I just stayed with 7 because I didn't see a point in putting a tablet OS on my PC. I stayed on 7 through a lot of 10 as it was just broken up until the Creator's Update, and even then it wasn't great. It did get really good eventually. Didn't think much about 11 until the EOL announcement for 10. Then I looked at it and realized it is, essentially, 10 with some things changed because Microsoft. I haven't had any problems with it.

    Throughout that time, I'd spend a few weeks using Linux but I'm a gamer so it was always limiting and obnoxious from my POV.

    I have built many computers and installed many versions of Windows. I know how to l troubleshoot Windows and use it like a pro. I have no reason to try anything else right now.

    I don't have many privacy concerns because there has always been software to shut off whatever you don't want. O&O shut up is amazing.
    Pretty much same as you, except for one thing : having to fight the system every month or so to disable "features" I don't want has gotten bothersome. I switched to Linux at a time it wasn't easy to; now, the only games I can't play on Linux are games I wouldn't dare install on my system : those that use kernel-side DRM.
    I can debug, optimize and lighten up any version of Windows with the best of them (yes, I did try Tiny11 on a Haswell CPU, just because I could), but I don't feel like fighting the OS at every turn any more : on Linux, I can get games, productivity software, VMs, any kind of stuff really, running in a matter of minutes; on Windows, the default installer is obnoxious with all its privacy questions at the beginning, the requirements to register for a MS account, all the scripts required to delete telemetry (0&0 shutup is great, but far from complete), disabling and uninstalling OneDrive for good, a way to remove all the Copilot instances... And then I have to download my own software from all over the place and update all the drivers : an office suite, Steam, several tools (7-zip, WinDirStat etc.) and let's not forget all the reboots to apply these modifications, install all these software and updates...
    On Linux, I set up a driver repository, download Steam, and the rest is a sudo apt install away (I can install many with a single command). I might need to reboot once, if at all.
    Once, just for kicks, I built and installed a Linux gaming PC : downloading the game took longer than building and installing the whole system...
    Reply
  • kenjitamura
    rluker5 said:
    For me and most Windows is easier and works better. I tried Linux last month and it was a big waste of time. It did seem better than the last time I tried, but basically nothing was as good and some features and hardware support were missing.
    Hardware's a mixed bag but I basically only ever advocate for people to try linux on machines that come pre-installed with it from vendors. System76, Kubuntu Focus, Lenovo, and Dell come to mind. If you're willing to tinker you can get most commercial hardware in a good enough state but no one wants to go through that and to be honest it's counter productive for people advocating linux desktop to promote it in a way with disadvantages other platforms don't have. Vendor hardware they at least have loaded up a linux OS in advance at some point and included configuration tweaks or startup scripts to work around the most noticeable issues.

    No one says "Hey, you want to try the Mac ecosystem why not just make yourself a Hackintosh?"
    Reply
  • JamesJones44
    kenjitamura said:
    No one says "Hey, you want to try the Mac ecosystem why not just make yourself a Hackintosh?"
    I used a Hackintosh for a long time and it was great to be honest. Ran well was easy to understand and plenty of info out there for tweaking whatever you wanted from either GUI or command line, didn't come with all of the bloat you get with Windows and dare I say when you got it working, it just worked.

    The issue is, each time Apple releases a major or non-bug fix update new problems pop up with the Hackintosh that have to be looked into. Most are minor, but some are major, so you have to be prepared to potentially deal with that ever 2 or 3 months. Not all updates break it, but a good amount of them do (or did, haven't ran one in about 4 years).
    Reply