Microsoft seems to have blocked Windows downloads in Russia

Windows 10 and Windows 11 seem to have been made fully unavailable in Russia, with makes an attempt to download the ISO or set up utilities being met with nothing however error messages. Confirmation has been popping up throughout Twitter, although it is nonetheless unclear whether or not it is an intentional block by Microsoft, or only a server error.

Bleeping Computer even double checked utilizing a VPN linked to a Russian server, although not one of the VPNs we use have an choice for Russia straight away. When they tried downloading the Windows 10 Update Assistant, Windows 10 Media Creation Tool, and the Windows 11 Installation Assistant, they had been met with a clean web page and a “404 – File or Directory not found” error message. 

Reports additionally show that trying to download the complete Windows 10 or 11 ISO recordsdata would simply show a message stating “There was a problem with your request.”

It’s price noting that the connection between Microsoft and Russia at the moment is at odds. Not solely has the corporate been disrupting Russian cyberattacks on Ukraine by seizing Russian domains, Microsoft additionally determined again in March to droop gross sales of services in Russia.

Microsoft president and vice chair Brad Smith’s weblog put up stated then that the corporate was “coordinating closely and working in lockstep with the governments of the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom, and we are stopping many aspects of our business in Russia in compliance with governmental sanctions decisions.”

So whereas there is not any official assertion from Microsoft as as to whether this was an intentional barrier set by the corporate, this might properly be one other step in its plan to disrupt Russia due to its assaults on Ukraine. 

Without entry to Windows 10 and 11, they’re going to have to return to older variations… And everyone knows was a catastrophe Windows 8 was.