For those who have W7 keys but not the iso's - LEGAL Ms versions

Hi there

While W10 can still be installed as an update you might want to use W7 as a base system to update from.

For those who have old Technet / Msdn / Retail W7 keys but not the iso's you can get them LEGALLY from here (note you Must have your own keys). These are the old Digital River versions and SHA1 etc is 100% the same as the original files on Technet etc.

You need to download and save as a torrent file (don't die with horror - clean legal torrents are OK) and then start up a torrent client. These aren't those dubious files from illegal sites.

Microsoft DigitalRiver Mirror

I found actually I needed to re-install W7 as a VM to check whether some programs on W10 were working correctly so it's not always bonkers keeping old OS'es around.

Cheers
jimbo

cereberus said:

Or use link from this forum which downloads direct from MS.

See post #3 from Kyhi's excellent set of links

Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable Rescue Disk - - Windows 10 Forums



link here (credit to @Kyhi) - Bootstrap Example

Hi there

I'm always suspicious of any "special downloaders" - even if in this case the provenance is OK. I'd always prefer a direct Link to the actual download image or a valid Torrent file which also downloads the proper file --Legal torrents can be fast and save a lot of load on the servers hosting the content.

Cheers
jimbo

jimbo45 said:

I'm always suspicious of any "special downloaders" - even if in this case the provenance is OK. I'd always prefer a direct Link to the actual download image....

Which is exactly what the HeiDoc tool generates - a direct link to Microsoft's download servers.

...or a valid Torrent file which also downloads the proper file --Legal torrents can be fast and save a lot of load on the servers hosting the content.

Personally I'd be more suspicious of downloading from a third-party source.

Hi there

I'll agree that "dubious 3rd party sources" should be avoided -- but why do you need a program to connect to the direct download link -- why can't people simply use the browser to download directly.

Legal torrents from OK verified sources are just fine -- a lot of recognized Linux distros are pushed out this way - I hardly think that companies like Red Hat or SUSE would support this method of distribution if not OK.

Plenty of decent Mirror sites also operate this way for example Warwick University (Shakespeare Country) in the UK has a huge mirror site offering loads of open source software. I think another one is University of Kent at Canterbury - and loads of similar sites in other countries.

Cheers
jimbo

jimbo45 said:

...why do you need a program to connect to the direct download link -- why can't people simply use the browser to download directly.

Because Microsoft have pulled TechBench but the ISOs you would have found there are still on the servers. HeiDoc generates the same links you would have found on the now defunct TechBench.

It is tricky getting Windows 8 though for some reason.

7 and 10 you can easily download from MS. 8 you have to look elsewhere.