Microsoft has started uploading Windows 11 25H2 to its servers, which means the public rollout of the update is likely a week or two away, but it could also happen sooner. It’s really up to Microsoft at this point, but references we spotted confirm that Build 26200.6584 is final and being seeded to OEMs as RTM (release to manufacturers).
If your PC already runs Windows 11 24H2 with the latest cumulative update, you don’t need a full ISO, as it will not really make any difference. In your case (assuming already on 24H2), you just need to install the small Enablement Package (KB5054156) for your architecture (x64 or ARM64).
This package is tiny (about 166–170 KB) because it simply unlocks 25H2 features already present in 24H2. It will be rolled out to all PCs in a week or two when Windows 11 25H2 hits general availability.
If you’re still on 23H2 (or you prefer an in-place upgrade/clean install), you can use the official Windows 11 25H2 consumer ISOs instead. Right now, in our tests, Windows Latest observed that the x64 ISO is roughly 7.2 GiB (≈ 7377 MiB) and the ARM64 ISO is about 7.0 GiB (≈ 6961 MiB).
Microsoft has also published full checksums (SHA-256, SHA-1, etc ) for both the enablement packages and ISOs, so you can confirm integrity. After downloading, you can verify locally with Command Prompt:
certutil -hashfile <filename> SHA256
The following SHAs are for the Enablement Package Update:
SHA384: 4e65535f2a667702b6a7cad036679e3c4715aea4c2f252f4200c1d099613018db2750c80f2fdeec04af85bf9796489bd SHA512: 91c5c513966131c12b5abc372c4311f4dcbc64606ac0011e10c38add69e721cace5c5935666fa498a08878302d1a0237fc21d4693b70c4ee2449f3f260dc25f2 SHA3-256: 59932f8f2dc2100cdd2198f914fc9568a23ff2d1a0771373ad3820585ec642a4
For the ISO files, we’re seeing the following SHAs on Microsoft’s servers:
SHA384: e7b6a3049f787bdbdadf21c5f39a708e33a99b719764b1803716277d423201a603e1afd08efd40fa6dc650bdb7b6df0f SHA512: 43f866358d228050c31fdb260cbd3fba3aadca0ade89561538d434451a6d27b3a1534b4650d84b3ad9167bde4a96d279dee49b20a5fdd1fa5205bb72e34b236b SHA3-256: 7242b2efea88a56d3cb8108adac9b804ce29f618c58636c97b7e35a29b0a0cfe
Please make sure that the ISOs downloaded from anywhere match the above SHA, but I totally recommend waiting a week or two. Microsoft might still make a revision, so it’s worth waiting. If you still want to grab these ISOs, which are live on Microsoft’s website (not Windows Insider Program), you can use the following link:
https://software-static.download.prss.microsoft.com/dbazure/888969d5-f34g-4e03-ac9d-1f9786c66749/26200.6584.250915-1905.25h2_ge_release_svc_refresh_CLIENT_CONSUMER_x64FRE_en-us.iso
Don’t rush. Windows 11 25H2 isn’t a big release
This release doesn’t come with anything new that you can’t get on Windows 11 24H2. If you read on the internet or watch YouTube videos, you’ll see that people claim Windows 11 25H2’s biggest change is its new Start menu, which looks great. Then, there are some performance improvements. But is that really true?
Yes, Windows 11 25H2 ships with a new Start menu out of the box. This Start menu lets you ditch the Recommended feed (finally) and introduces a single-page layout where you just need to scroll to find your apps. But the plot twist is that the same Start menu will begin rolling out to Windows 11 24H2.
When I asked Microsoft, it told me that the new Start menu could begin showing up on Windows 11 24H2 before Windows 11 25H2. And it’s not just the Start menu. Every other change that you learn is “exclusive” to Windows 11 25H2 is actually not. Everything is coming to Windows 11 24H2.
I also noticed that when you upgrade to Windows 11 25H2 from version 24H2, you might not see the new Start menu immediately. It’s a “staged rollout,” I’m told by Microsoft.
But I noticed a rather odd behaviour. For example, I installed Windows 11 25H2, and it activated the new Start menu, but it also removed the Phone Link panel. So if you like having the Phone Link panel attached to the Start menu, remember that it can disappear after the update and reappear later at some point.
Welcome to Microsoft’s world of A/B testing, where even production builds act weird.
I’ve been personally using Windows 11 25H2 for four weeks on my primary desktop, and it is as good as version 24H2, but as is the case with all Windows updates, it might “feel faster” after you install the update before eventually returning to how it was.
