diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index 19d622d..12686d9 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ -Fido: A PowerShell download script for Windows ISOs and UEFI Shell -================================================================== +Fido: A PowerShell download script for Microsoft Windows and UEFI Shell ISOs +============================================================================ [![Licence](https://img.shields.io/badge/license-GPLv3-blue.svg?style=flat-square)](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.en.html) [![Github stats](https://img.shields.io/github/downloads/pbatard/Fido/total.svg?style=flat-square)](https://github.com/pbatard/Fido/releases) @@ -9,12 +9,12 @@ Description Fido is a PowerShell script that is primarily designed to be used in [Rufus](https://github.com/pbatard/rufus), but that can also be used in standalone fashion, and whose purpose is to automate access to the official Microsoft Windows retail -ISO download links as well as provide convenient access to bootable UEFI Shell images. +ISO download links as well as provide convenient access to [bootable UEFI Shell images](https://github.com/pbatard/UEFI-Shell). This script exists because, while Microsoft does make retail ISO download links freely and publicly available (at least -for Windows 8 and Windows 10), it only does so after actively forcing users to jump through a lot of unwarranted hoops, -that create an exceedingly counterproductive, if not downright unfriendly, consumer experience and that greatly detract -from what people really want (direct access to ISO downloads). +for Windows 8 through Windows 11), up until recent releases, most of these links were only available after forcing users +to jump through a lot of unwarranted hoops that created an exceedingly counterproductive, if not downright unfriendly, +consumer experience, that greatly detracted from what people really want (direct access to ISO downloads). As to the reason one might want to download Windows __retail__ ISOs, as opposed to the ISOs that are generated by Microsoft's own Media Creation Tool (MCT), this is because using official retail ISOs is currently the only way to @@ -42,16 +42,16 @@ License How it works ------------ -The script basically performs the same operation as one might perform when visiting either of the following URLs (that -is, provided that you have also changed your `User-Agent` browser string, since, when they detect that you are using a -version of Windows that is the same as the one you are trying to download, the Microsoft web servers at these addresses -redirect you __away__ from the pages that allow you to download retail ISOs): +The script basically performs the same operation as one might perform when visiting the following URL (that is, in the +case of Windows 10, provided that you have also changed your `User-Agent` browser string, since, the Microsoft web +servers detect that you are using a version of Windows that is the same as the one you are trying to download, they +may redirect you __away__ from the page that allows you to obtain a direct ISO download link): https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download -After checking access to these URLs, to confirm that they are accessible, the script first queries the web API from the +After checking basic access to the Microsoft software downloads website the script first queries the web API from the Microsoft servers, to request the language selection available for the version of Windows selected, and then requests -the actual download links for all the architectures available for that language + version. +the actual download links, for all the architectures available for that language + version. Requirements ------------