From Newsgroup: alt.comp.os.windows-11

64-bit W11 installer ISOs' big file differences. 24H2's 5.41 GB vs.
25H2's 7.2 GB. What's up since there are no features? :/ English (US).

Thank you for reading and hopefully answering soon. :)
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From Newsgroup: alt.comp.os.windows-11

On 30/09/2025 22:23, Ant wrote:

What's up since there are no features? :/ English (US).

There are features that people don't realise exist because Microsoft has
been regularly installing these new features in their monthly 24H2
updates. These features were hidden, but you can now enable them by
installing a very small eKB file. The ISO is mainly intended for those
who want to perform a clean installation or repairs. It includes
everything needed to start using Windows 11 25H2.




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From Newsgroup: alt.comp.os.windows-11

On Tue, 9/30/2025 5:23 PM, Ant wrote:

64-bit W11 installer ISOs' big file differences. 24H2's 5.41 GB vs.
25H2's 7.2 GB. What's up since there are no features? :/ English (US).

Thank you for reading and hopefully answering soon. :)

Let's start with the basics.

1) Download the ISO, using Windows 10 as the computer boot OS and a range
of browsers will report via UserAgent, what OS you are using.
The MediaCreationTool.exe this method offers you (21,384,424 bytes) uses
some version of .NET .

The 25H2 ISO delivered by MediaCreationTool is

6,093,733,888 bytes 5.67GB

and contains seven OS folders. That still takes dual layer DVDs.

P:\Windows11-25H2-x64-Sep30-2025.iso\sources\install.esd\
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
[1].xml <=== text file indicating SKU in each folder

Name: Windows11-25H2-x64-Sep30-2025.iso
Size: 6,093,733,888 bytes (5811 MiB)
SHA256: EE448187F5F5B9DF310AD35671B0FBA1497798EE016CA9A893C92DB96C353329

2) Boot either your WinXP machine, or boot your Linux Mint and use the web browser.
The UserAgent delivered to the server, that value indicates to Microsoft
that your version of .net is not right. The result is a direct download of an ISO.
They generate a temporary file on their server, valid for 24 hours, and the rectangular
button on the web page, has the URL of the file copied into the temporary folder.

The 25H2 ISO delivered is

7,736,125,440 bytes ~7.20GB

and contains eleven OS folders. Maybe one of the numbered folders contains Education.

P:\Win11_25H2_English_x64.iso\sources\install.wim\
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
[1].xml <=== text file indicating SKU in each folder

Name: Win11_25H2_English_x64.iso
Size: 7,736,125,440 bytes (7377 MiB)
SHA256: D141F6030FED50F75E2B03E1EB2E53646C4B21E5386047CB860AF5223F102A32

Nothing unusual so far.

Paul
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