Rufus, the popular utility used to prepare Windows bootable ISOs, among others, faces a major problem.
Apparently Microsoft blocked the app's ability to download ISOs with the help of the Fido script. The Fido script uses PowerShell and essentially automates access to the official Microsoft download links.
GitHub user voltagex reported the problem when he was unable to download Windows 10 21H2 Build 19044.1288 with an error that said “Could not retrieve architecture from server”.
The same issue was later confirmed by Fido developer Pete Batard, who found that Microsoft had changed settings on its servers to block such download requests through Fido. Batard even seems pretty sure it's a "deliberate change":
“Well, upon further investigation, it certainly appears that Microsoft made their site intentionally more hostile to script queries. The only query that works for GetProductDownloadLinksBySku is the one sent internally from the Microsoft website, as trying to copy/paste that query into a different browser window now returns an error, which was not the case before.
Before one could send independent HTTP queries like https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/api/controls/contentinclude/html?pageId=76ddb7de-ec0a-49c3-a699-a2dda9cc8497&host=www.microsoft.com&segments=software-download,windows11&query=&action=GetProductDownloadLinksBySku&sessionId=b0f1baab-5d74-4f53-b5a1-35810339c3c3&skuId=13489&language=English International&sdVersion=2 to receive its contents. Now Microsoft seems to be modifying the link so that it gives an error.”
The changelog for Fido version 1.30 now states:
Disable on Windows 8 → Windows 11 ISO downloads
It seems that Microsoft has deliberately made their download servers hostile to our sxript and trying to fix it is likely to take a long time.
Batard is asking for help on this matter and from other developers.
