Rufus blames Microsoft for allegedly blocking latest Windows 11 ISO downloads

Microsoft has seemingly blocked Windows 11 ISO downloads for certain users as it may be trying to get them to only use the official way.

Windows 11 logo with a bug

This week, Microsoft informed that it has blocked a way to authenticate and sign in users on Windows PCs. It affects all supported Windows 11 and 10 versions. The company explained in detail why this is an intentional change.

Meanwhile, users have also noticed another similar recent change that may or may not be intentional from Microsoft's side. It looks like the latest Windows Insider channel previews are failing downloads and it is affecting both the Windows 11 Canary channel build, 28020.1611, as well as the Server preview build, 29531.

The issue was brought to attention on the Microsoft official forum by user ChronoVore who says they are unable to download the latest ISO. The user notes that the error message ID suggests their IP addresses are getting blocked.

They confirm they are not running any VPN or anything of that sort as they write: "I’m on Google fiber and can't download the newest ISO. I get a msg that says some block of IPs is being blocked because they are not who they say they are. Likewise, I have no anonymizer running and my ip is my own on google fiber. ... error msg; message code 715-123130 and b64dd3c8-ed16-4d46-87ac-a871691f1c41."

Popular utility for downloading Windows media, Rufus, is also having the same issue and the developer of the utility, Pete Batard, thinks Microsoft has made some changes with these latest Insider Preview builds. The idea is that the tech giant wants people to avail Windows ISOs via the official MCT utility.

On a GitHub thread discussing the issue as Fido script is no longer working, Batard believes that the tech giant is intentionally detecting the script as he writes: " ... they are detecting the script (which quite frankly is not that hard to do since it's Open Source), though it does require active intentional involvement from Microsoft to break the script downloads." If you are wondering, this has happened in the past too, which Rufus fixed later on.

Interestingly, the issue has also been submitted on the official Feedback Hub and the user suggests the bug exists across all Insider Preview channels.

Thanks for the tip, TReKiE!