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Comment by Silhouette | Hacker News Reader

> It wasn't that long ago that you got actual windows install media when you bought a computer.

Oh, I'm afraid that was actually quite a long time ago.

However, the last time I checked, Microsoft did impose a condition that mostly affected laptop manufacturers, such that they were required to provide any genuine Windows customer with real Windows media on request, rather than just some not-quite-real-Windows recovery media. Is this no longer the case?

If that is still a requirement for installing OEM Windows on laptops for sale, maybe a campaign where a significant fraction of Samsung laptop customers suddenly started demanding real media would attract the attention of whatever fool thought this was a good idea. This is not mutually exclusive with an expensive class action lawsuit, of course. }:-)

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Back in... 2006?, when purchasing a Dell I put down $10 to receive a plain Jane XP Pro installation disk, in addition to the crapware-infested restore disk that came with it by default.

More recently, helping a friend with a Dell purchase, I could no longer find that option in the online order flow. Maybe if you call them and ask...

(I'm not a regular Dell purchaser.)

I've reinstalled Windows on Dell computers for friends that didn't have the discs. I just called Dell, and they mailed me a plain Windows install disc for free. Awesome! I'm not sure if they still do that.

With HP, I wasn't even able to pay for an install disc of any sort, and since the recovery portion of the HD was gone I had to buy a copy of Windows. I'll never buy an HP computer for this reason.

I'll add that that disk was actually stolen in a burglary. When I subsequently needed to reinstall, a friend burned a copy of his XP Pro disk and mailed it. In combination with the code on the license sticker on the machine, this worked fine.

(I'm hesitant to download an image from an unknown source.)

I don't know about Windows 7 -- I seem to recall reading that installation disks for it work somewhat differently, but I don't recall the details.

If you look you can get the windows 7 isos from microsofts' servers (or in this case their distribution network through digital river).

These have worked for my OEM licenses, XP though I remember you needed to use the disk with the correct service pack to install with your software key. (A sp1 key wouldn't work with a sp2 disk and vica versa.)

Links? I'd definitely be interested in this seeing as how I just bought a Lenovo and want to wipe it.

google: windows 7 iso (first result) (mydigitallife)

The links that say msft-dnl.digitalrivercontent are the same as when you buy online (at least when I bought my win 7 professional license for my desktop the iso linked is the same as the one I downloaded).

Those are probably the only ones I would trust, make sure you are indeed going to digitalrivercontent website, download appropriate language and version/arch (prof, home prem 64 or 32)

Does this still apply?

http://www.windowsvalley.com/unlock-all-editions-from-window...

To get all editions-

4. Just delete the file and finally create the bootable ISO and burn your unlocked disc.

Yes, that should work.

I believe the links on that page (also cited by a few other pages I encountered) are pre-SP1. Does anyone know of comparable links for ISO's that have SP1 incorporated (which is what I assume is now shipping with new PC's).

In my case, I'm in the position of occasionally needing to support others who have e.g. Win 7 (most recently, actually, someone with Vista). Sometimes, it's simplest to simply back up their data and re-install. But I may need to supply an installation disk; even if they have one, part of the solution may be installing from a disk minus all the crapware.

I don't do this work regularly, so I'm not part of a community that's constantly, physically swapping disks and utilities and whatnot.

Just installed Windows 7 on my desktop using the key from my laptop I wasn't using and this ISO.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-w...

Ah, excellent - next time my parents by a laptop, I'll have them ask for the disk. My dad's laptop crashed awhile back, and he had nothing to reinstall on it. :/

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