Microsoft launches site for those with damaged/missing Win7 retail copies to download ISOs

[wickedplayer494]

[url]http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-now-allowing-downloads-of-retail-windows-7-copies/[/url]

[quote=ZDNet]A new Microsoft website has just made life a little easier for anyone who's ever purchased a retail copy of Windows 7.

If your original installation DVD has been damaged or lost, you can now download the installation media in ISO format from the [URL="http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-recovery"]Microsoft Software Recovery site[/URL]. (Previously, it was possible to download Windows 7 ISO media from Microsoft's online software distribution partner, Digital River, but those links stopped working last year.)

You'll need a valid retail product key to unlock the download. After entering that key and selecting one of 19 available languages, you click a button that verifies the key you entered. If you pass that verification step, you can download the media. The ISO file can be used to burn a DVD, create a bootable USB flash drive, or install Windows in a virtual machine.[/quote]

[ksenior]

Uhh, haven't they been doing this for ages? I did this only a few months ago. I didn't need my product key to download though.

[Big D Duchovny]

[QUOTE=ksenior;47223779]Uhh, haven't they been doing this for ages? I did this only a few months ago. I didn't need my product key to download though.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I've been able to download the isos from digital river since basically forever... seems like the links are down now, though.

[uber.]

It's a bit sad that keys from MSDN (AA) aren't working. But maybe they'll fix that. Anyway, great service.

[cNova]

Doesnt work with pre-installed Windows. Only retail copies
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/AgrmSnk.png[/IMG]

[harmlessly]

[QUOTE=cNova;47224107]Doesnt work with pre-installed Windows. Only retail copies
[/QUOTE]

so it won't work for the vast majority of non-enterprise consumers

[Robber]

[quote][ADOException: While preparing SELECT this_.Id as Id51_2_, this_.Number as Number51_2_, this_.Published as Published51_2_, this_.Latest as Latest51_2_, this_.Data as Data51_2_, this_.ContentItemRecord_id as ContentI6_51_2_, contentite1_.Id as Id50_0_, contentite1_.Data as Data50_0_, contentite1_.ContentType_id as ContentT3_50_0_, contenttyp4_.Id as Id52_1_, contenttyp4_.Name as Name52_1_ FROM Orchard_Framework_ContentItemVersionRecord this_ inner join Orchard_Framework_ContentItemRecord contentite1_ on this_.ContentItemRecord_id=contentite1_.Id left outer join Orchard_Framework_ContentTypeRecord contenttyp4_ on contentite1_.ContentType_id=contenttyp4_.Id WHERE contentite1_.Id = @p0 and this_.Published = @p1 an error occurred[/quote]
I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be seeing this. AFAIK showing full stack traces and even DB querries in errors on your public website is a big no-no.

[B]Edit:[/B]
Hahaha, holy shit, it's even showing the source code:

SetMeta(name: "keywords", content: "windows 7 iso, how to reinstall windows 7, how to restore windows 7, download windows 7 iso, restore windows 7, software recovery, software restore, operating system recovery, Microsoft software recovery, Windows 7 software recovery, Windows 7 operating system recovery, Microsoft operating system recovery, Microsoft recovery, Windows 7 ISO, Windows 7 ISO image, Windows 7, restore Windows 7, reinstall windows 7, re-download Windows 7, Windows 7 disc image");

var resourceSettings = WorkContext.Resolve<IResourceService>().GetSettings();
var baseUrl = resourceSettings.BaseUrl ?? string.Empty;
if (baseUrl.EndsWith("/"))

[Fourier]

[QUOTE=Robber;47224156]I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be seeing this. AFAIK showing full stack traces and even DB querries in errors on your public website is a big no-no.

[B]Edit:[/B]
Hahaha, holy shit, it's even showing the source code:

SetMeta(name: "keywords", content: "windows 7 iso, how to reinstall windows 7, how to restore windows 7, download windows 7 iso, restore windows 7, software recovery, software restore, operating system recovery, Microsoft software recovery, Windows 7 software recovery, Windows 7 operating system recovery, Microsoft operating system recovery, Microsoft recovery, Windows 7 ISO, Windows 7 ISO image, Windows 7, restore Windows 7, reinstall windows 7, re-download Windows 7, Windows 7 disc image");

var resourceSettings = WorkContext.Resolve<IResourceService>().GetSettings();
var baseUrl = resourceSettings.BaseUrl ?? string.Empty;
if (baseUrl.EndsWith("/"))

[/QUOTE]

This is C# holy shit

[Map in a box]

I guess there's still no way for someone with a product key thats been made unreadable?

[Levelog]

Yeah it doesn't work with Dreamspark/MSDN, upgrade, or OEM keys. A big step backward from the digital river hosting.

[Tmaxx]

Yeah this has been done for a while, and it even used to work with preinstalled windows. I know because I needed to unfuck my laptop.

[Itauske]

This would have been so much more useful a week ago

[Cush]

[QUOTE=Fourier;47225081]This is C# holy shit[/QUOTE]

C# is very commonly used for web development by big businesses.

[lavacano]

So effectively I still can't download from MS, and have to crawl around dark and obscure corners of the Internet if I lose the ISOs I have, as before.

Well then I better not lose these ISOs.

[subenji]

[QUOTE=Map in a box;47227427]I guess there's still no way for someone with a product key thats been made unreadable?[/QUOTE]

If your computer came with Windows pre-installed, the key is probably flashed into the BIOS itself. Has been since Windows 7 machines.
You may not even need to know what your key is; Windows OEM installation media checks for this key in BIOS and uses it automatically. However, if that doesn't work:

[url]http://www.nextofwindows.com/how-to-retrieve-windows-8-oem-product-key-from-bios/[/url]

Don't bother with the sketchy "Windows 8 product key viewer" or "get_win8key", both RWEverything and FirmwareTableView are trustworthy and use the same method to get the key. If your PC isn't bootable at the moment, [url=http://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/]Hiren's Boot CD[/url] can be used to boot a stripped down version of XP. There are some legal questions about Hiren's so if that's a concern you'll have to look for an alternative. I recommend using [url=https://rufus.akeo.ie/]Rufus[/url] to install it to a usb stick rather than a cd.

[Samg381]

I could have used this two days ago when I got hit with a power surge and lost my hard drive.