Windows 10 Professional
Version 22H2 Build 19045 · Microsoft Corporation · x64 bootable ISO · ranked #8 in the library
A clean multilingual 64-bit installation image of the professional edition, ready to write to a USB stick and install, with activation already applied to the image.
Read the installation section below before you start. The order of the steps matters on this release.
About this release
Overview
This is the professional edition installation media, unmodified apart from activation. It is the release that most hardware and most software is still validated against, and on older machines it stays noticeably lighter than the newer generation of the system. For a workstation that has to run a specific piece of production software without argument, it remains the safe choice.
The professional edition is what separates this from the home image. BitLocker drive encryption, group policy editing, remote desktop hosting, Hyper-V virtualisation, domain join and the enterprise deployment tooling are all present. Those are the features that make a machine manageable rather than merely usable, and none of them are available in the home edition regardless of what you pay.
The image contains every interface language, selectable at the first setup screen, so one download covers a whole office. It boots on both UEFI and legacy BIOS systems and includes the standard recovery environment for repair installs, image restores and command line recovery when a machine stops starting.
What it does
Feature breakdown
BitLocker drive encryption
Full volume encryption for internal and removable drives, with TPM backed key protection and recovery key export for machines that leave the building.
Group policy and local security policy
Configure the machine properly instead of hunting through settings pages. Everything from update behaviour to removable media rules is controllable.
Remote desktop host
Accept incoming remote desktop connections, not just make outgoing ones. The home edition can only connect out.
Hyper-V
Native hypervisor for running virtual machines without third party software, including quick create images and nested virtualisation on supported hardware.
Domain join and enterprise management
Join an Active Directory domain or an identity provider, with the associated policy and certificate handling.
Multilingual setup
Every interface language present in one image, chosen at the first screen of setup rather than downloaded afterwards.
Changed in this build
Version 22H2 Build 19045
- Servicing updates integrated into the image so a fresh install is close to current on first boot.
- Updated storage and network drivers slipstreamed for recent chipsets.
- Recovery environment refreshed alongside the main image.
- Setup no longer stalls on machines with unusual partition layouts from a previous install.
- Reduced image size after cleaning superseded component store entries.
Installation
Follow these in order
- Back up everything on the target machine first. A clean install erases the system drive.
- Write the ISO to a USB stick of 8 GB or larger with a tool that handles both UEFI and legacy boot.
- Boot from the stick, entering the firmware boot menu if it does not pick it up automatically.
- Choose your language and keyboard, then select custom install rather than upgrade.
- Delete the old system partitions if you want a genuinely clean install, then select the unallocated space.
- Complete the out of box setup, skipping the account sign-in step by choosing the offline option.
Release notes
From whoever packed it
- Verify the checksum before writing the image. A truncated download produces a setup failure halfway through.
- Keep the machine offline during first boot so the setup process does not force an online account.
- Driver installation for anything unusual should happen after the first successful boot, not during setup.
System requirements
Minimum and recommended
| Processor | 1 GHz or faster with two or more cores, 64-bit |
|---|---|
| Memory | 2 GB minimum, 8 GB or more for real work |
| Storage | 32 GB minimum, 128 GB SSD or larger recommended |
| Graphics | DirectX 9 or later with a WDDM 1.0 driver |
| Firmware | UEFI or legacy BIOS, both boot paths supported |
Questions about this release
Answered before you ask
- Will my files survive?
- Only if you do an upgrade install over an existing system. A custom install onto a formatted partition erases everything.
- Is the activation persistent?
- It survives normal updates and reboots. A major in-place upgrade to a different edition resets it.
- Can I install this on a virtual machine?
- Yes, it installs in Hyper-V, VMware and VirtualBox without any special handling.
Download
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