Earlier this month, Microsoft announced that it is scaling down its operations in Russia, which adversely affected more than 400 of its employees who were laid off. This move was followed by an earlier announcement by the company back in March, where it said that it was suspending sales of its new products in the country, as a gesture protesting the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
And perhaps in relation to the invasion, Microsoft also seems to have halted the ability to download Windows 11 and Windows 10 ISOs in Russia, though the company has not officially confirmed or unconfirmed anything.
With that news not even more than a few days old at this point, new reports are coming in which suggest that Windows Insiders are unable to download new Insider Preview builds. And it is even possible that perhaps the entire Windows Update mechanism, whether you"re an Insider or not, may be blocked off in Russia.
I"ve seen one report that it is no longer possible to upgrade to the latest Insider build if the user is from Russia. I"m only aware of their inability to download ISOs from Microsoft"s website.
— Xeno (@XenoPanther) June 21, 2022
Can anyone confirm that it is no longer possible to update via WU?
Yep, no longer possible.
— Svyatoslav Demidov (@svyatoslavd_) June 22, 2022
In the response from WU there is a parameterRU , but if you use VPN (Germany, for example), then WU saysDE and update goes fine. (1/2)
However, it looks like the VPN trick still works in this case too like it did in the case of ISOs.