Windows 8.1 is now available on Windows store, if you already own and running Windows 8, you’ll be able to download 8.1 from the Windows Store completely for free. Those who are using Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 will need to purchase Windows 8.1 from Microsoft Store or retail market.
Microsoft not yet provided the offline Windows 8.1 installer for Windows 8 users but a workaround will help you to download Windows 8.1. Here is the guide to download Windows 8.1 offline ISO files.
Steps to download Windows 8.1 offline installer ISO
1. Download Install Windows 8 and Install Windows 8.1 from Windows.
2. Run Install Windows 8 setup and enter the product upgrade key and when download has started cancel it.
3. Run Install Windows 8.1 afterwards. It will download the Windows 8.1 ISO image. If you get any error exit setup and run the setup again.
4. It should now be downloading the Windows 8.1 ISO. Afterwards you can save it as an ISO or create the USB media.
When you run Windows 8.1 installer it’ll not ask you to enter any product key. It’ll directly start downloading Windows 8.1 setup files.
If you already updated to Windows 8.1 from Windows store, the installation files are kept in a hidden folder, you can grab it from the following folder
To quickly access the above folder open RUN dox and type appdata and hit enter then go to \Local\Microsoft\WebSetup
Now you can copy Windows 8.1 from the above folder and burn it into a disk so you can install it on another computer with no internet connection.
Update: Some users reported that they found the files in the following folder, “C:\ESD\Windows”
System Requirements for Windows 8.1
- Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster with support for PAE, NX, and SSE2
- RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit)
- HDD: 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
- Graphics Card: DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver
If you face any trouble at any moment, please leave a comment below the problem you faced, I’ll try to help you 🙂
Hey, I found the the files in “C:\ESD\Windows” folder.
Thanks Steve updated the article with your tip.
Hi Vivek,
Your post mentions the simplest and easiest way to download Windows 8.1. I didn’t have any problem while downloading the same. Thanks for sharing the post.