According to the Kommersant publication, in the Microsoft technical support service, one of the operators in response to the user explained why without a VPN from the Russian Federation it is impossible to download utilities, Office distributions and ISO images of Windows 10 and 11 from the official website of the company. Microsoft has not officially announced the ban and blocking of services in the Russian Federation.
An employee of the publication, Mark Protasevich, said that he was able to get a response from Microsoft's English-language support service on this situation, but they could not help him much there.
“I tried to download the new version of Windows 11, but the error kept coming up. I contacted official Microsoft English support. At first, the operator thought that the problem was in the version of the operating system that I have on my computer, then he transferred me to some other support operator. I explained that I was in Russia, I could not download any program. He wrote that according to a government order, it is impossible to download or install any files from the territory of Russia and Belarus,” the Kommersant employee explained.
Industry experts believe that the inability to download the new Windows or download software from the site is a technical error, as it is fixed with a VPN, and Microsoft products in the country are now working and updating, as before, without restrictions, there were no reviews for them licenses to ordinary users and companies not subject to sanctions.
Some representatives of Russian companies do not exclude the worst-case scenario, when Microsoft may go to extreme measures and block all Russian users. In this case, piracy of the company's software and hacked distributions may not help either.
What this problem is connected with is not clear. Microsoft has previously promised that it will continue to fulfill all existing contractual obligations with Russian customers while the suspension of new sales is in effect. The company has not announced that it will block access to its website and products
Since the beginning of June, users from the Russian Federation without a VPN cannot download utilities (MediaCreationTool, Windows 11 Installation Assistant), Office distributions, server products, and ISO images of Windows 10 and Windows 11 from the Microsoft website. The developer has not yet explained what this problem is related to.
On June 8, Microsoft announced that the company is reducing operations in Russia.
In early March, Microsoft suspended the sale of goods, software, services and the provision of any new services in Russia. Nevertheless, the company continued to support existing customers and retained offices in the country.
Tips and updates on this issue are discussed in this post on e.
Advice from User A: “Only getting the link is blocked. Through the VPN we get the link, and then we can download it directly.”
Script from user a to download Office 2019/2021/365 (you still need a VPN) bypassing the blocking by region.
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