Best place to download Win 7 .iso?

ManBearPig

Diamond Member
Sep 5, 2000
9,173
6
81
Ive heard it's legal to download and make a copy of Windows and use the code on the bottom of your laptop to activate it (obviously provided its the same laptop and version of the OS).

With that knowledge, where exactly would be the safest place to dl it from? Software recommendations to burn the image onto a disc would be appreciated too!

Thanks all!

Btw, if this is not legal, please delete!
 

JackMDS

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 25, 1999
29,548
424
126
It is legal to download it from places that provide it legally.

Otherwise it is illegal.



:cool:
 

Berryracer

Platinum Member
Oct 4, 2006
2,779
1
81
Windows 7 SP1 Media Refresh Digital River Direct Links (5/12/2011 new releases with SP1 included)
Windows 7 Home Premium x86: English - Spanish - French
Windows 7 Home Premium x64: English - Spanish - French

Windows 7 Professional x86: English - Spanish - French - German - Italian - Korean - Swedish - Portuguese - Norwegian - Finnish - Dutch - Danish - Chinese
Windows 7 Professional x64: English - Spanish - French - German - Italian - Korean - Swedish - Portuguese - Norwegian - Finnish - Dutch - Danish - Chinese

Windows 7 Professional N x86: English - Spanish - French - German - Italian - Korean - Swedish - Portuguese - Norwegian - Finnish - Dutch - Danish - Chinese
Windows 7 Professional N x64: English - Spanish - French - German - Italian - Korean - Swedish - Portuguese - Norwegian - Finnish - Dutch - Danish - Chinese

Windows 7 Ultimate x86: English - Spanish - French
Windows 7 Ultimate x64: English - Spanish - French


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ISO Tools
The ei.cfg Removal Utility is a simple tool that will remove the ei.cfg from any Windows ISO disc image, thereby converting the image into a "universal disc" that will prompt the user to select an edition during setup. This tool works by toggling the deletion bit in the UDF file table, eliminating the need for unpacking and rebuilding the ISO, which means that this is extremely fast (the process of patching the ISO to remove ei.cfg takes only a fraction of a second), and the process is easily reversible (running the utility on a disc image patched by this utility will restore the disc image to its original state).

The Windows 7 ISO Image Edition Switcher is a set of small binary patches (and a tool to apply these patches) that will convert an official Windows 7 ISO disc image into an official Windows 7 ISO disc image of another edition. The resulting ISO images are bit-for-bit identical with those posted on MSDN or TechNet, and their SHA-1 hashes should match the official hashes posted by Microsoft.

You can download both tools here: http://code.kliu.org/misc/winisoutils/

ImgBurn is a lightweight CD / DVD / HD DVD / Blu-ray burning application that everyone should have in their toolkit!
It has several 'Modes', each one for performing a different task:
Read - Read a disc to an image file
Build - Create an image file from files on your computer or network - or you can write the files directly to a disc
Write - Write an image file to a disc
Verify - Check a disc is 100% readable. Optionally, you can also have ImgBurn compare it against a given image file to ensure the actual data is correct
Discovery - Put your drive / media to the test! Used in combination with DVDInfoPro, you can check the quality of the burns your drive is producing
ImgBurn supports a wide range of image file formats - including BIN, CCD, CDI, CUE, DI, DVD, GI, IMG, ISO, MDS, NRG and PDI.

You can download the tool here: http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download
 
Last edited by a moderator:

ManBearPig

Diamond Member
Sep 5, 2000
9,173
6
81
Jeez, thanks a lot for the info! More thorough than i could have ever hoped for haha. :D
 

zCypher

Diamond Member
Aug 18, 2002
6,115
171
116
Windows 7 SP1 Media Refresh Digital River Direct Links (5/12/2011 new releases with SP1 included)
Windows 7 Home Premium x86: English - Spanish - French
Windows 7 Home Premium x64: English - Spanish - French

Windows 7 Professional x86: English - Spanish - French - German - Italian - Korean - Swedish - Portuguese - Norwegian - Finnish - Dutch - Danish - Chinese
Windows 7 Professional x64: English - Spanish - French - German - Italian - Korean - Swedish - Portuguese - Norwegian - Finnish - Dutch - Danish - Chinese

Windows 7 Professional N x86: English - Spanish - French - German - Italian - Korean - Swedish - Portuguese - Norwegian - Finnish - Dutch - Danish - Chinese
Windows 7 Professional N x64: English - Spanish - French - German - Italian - Korean - Swedish - Portuguese - Norwegian - Finnish - Dutch - Danish - Chinese

Windows 7 Ultimate x86: English - Spanish - French
Windows 7 Ultimate x64: English - Spanish - French


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


ISO Tools
The ei.cfg Removal Utility is a simple tool that will remove the ei.cfg from any Windows ISO disc image, thereby converting the image into a "universal disc" that will prompt the user to select an edition during setup. This tool works by toggling the deletion bit in the UDF file table, eliminating the need for unpacking and rebuilding the ISO, which means that this is extremely fast (the process of patching the ISO to remove ei.cfg takes only a fraction of a second), and the process is easily reversible (running the utility on a disc image patched by this utility will restore the disc image to its original state).

The Windows 7 ISO Image Edition Switcher is a set of small binary patches (and a tool to apply these patches) that will convert an official Windows 7 ISO disc image into an official Windows 7 ISO disc image of another edition. The resulting ISO images are bit-for-bit identical with those posted on MSDN or TechNet, and their SHA-1 hashes should match the official hashes posted by Microsoft.

You can download both tools here: http://code.kliu.org/misc/winisoutils/

ImgBurn is a lightweight CD / DVD / HD DVD / Blu-ray burning application that everyone should have in their toolkit!
It has several 'Modes', each one for performing a different task:
Read - Read a disc to an image file
Build - Create an image file from files on your computer or network - or you can write the files directly to a disc
Write - Write an image file to a disc
Verify - Check a disc is 100% readable. Optionally, you can also have ImgBurn compare it against a given image file to ensure the actual data is correct
Discovery - Put your drive / media to the test! Used in combination with DVDInfoPro, you can check the quality of the burns your drive is producing
ImgBurn supports a wide range of image file formats - including BIN, CCD, CDI, CUE, DI, DVD, GI, IMG, ISO, MDS, NRG and PDI.

You can download the tool here: http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download

Came here to post a much less comprehensive version of this. lol
Good job :D
 

allenk09

Senior member
Jan 22, 2012
366
0
0
Thanks! I have a legal Win 7 serial of my own from MSDN through my school but the discs got all scratched and I couldn't find the Windows 7 ISO anywhere. Once you buy the physical discs from MSDN you can no longer download just the ISO? Stupid.
 

ManBearPig

Diamond Member
Sep 5, 2000
9,173
6
81
Seriously, matrix leader, you saved me using a copy of Win 7 ultimate i had. Thanks again!! Thanks to everyone else also!
 

Wyndru

Diamond Member
Apr 9, 2009
7,318
4
76
Does anyone know if these will work with laptop OEM product keys (i.e. HP or Dell)? From what I've been reading using an OEM key on the bottom of your laptop will fail and keep nagging you after 30 days for activation, but I've never tried it.
 
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lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
59,630
10,145
126
Does anyone know if these will work with laptop OEM product keys (i.e. HP or Dell)? From what I've been reading using an OEM key on the bottom of your laptop will fail and keep nagging you after 30 days for activation, but I've never tried it.

You might have to call in. I think the phone# is harder to find than it used to be, but you should e able to track it down.
 

JKoltner

Junior Member
Feb 14, 2012
9
0
0
At least in Windows XP, I thought that the activation program itself would give you the phone number? -- That had a bazillion of them, based on which country you were calling me.

My (one) experience with the phone-based activation people was pretty good -- they just ask you a couple of obvious/reasonable questions ("Did you delete the OS from the hard drive you removed from this laptop?"), etc. and will then proceed to give you an activation code.

(I.e., I think you'll be fine with your, "I have the legitimate OEM product key here, but lost the OEM install CD" explanation.)
 

Wyndru

Diamond Member
Apr 9, 2009
7,318
4
76
So I just activated with an OEM key today, it did require that I call in. It was an automated system that just asked me to put in a string of numbers, and the system just read a bunch of numbers back to me to put into the laptop. I'm assuming that these numbers I provided contained some kind of hardware hash or something, otherwise I have no idea how this prevents piracy since it doesn't require you to explain the reasoning at all.
 

Gs dewd

Senior member
Dec 22, 2011
255
0
76
All 6 or 7 times I had to call in for my win xp machine, it was automated.
 

RavenSEAL

Diamond Member
Jan 4, 2010
8,661
3
0
Those ISOs have saved me a billion times, I have my own little W7 USB when people call about their computer going down the chute.

Of course, I use whatever legal keys they provide.
 

Meghan54

Lifer
Oct 18, 2009
11,684
5,227
136
Seriously, matrix leader, you saved me using a copy of Win 7 ultimate i had. Thanks again!! Thanks to everyone else also!




Of course, you could have simply converted your Ultimate disc into a universal install disc (meaning you can load any version of Win 7 from one disc instead of separate versions dedicated to separate discs) by removing the ei.cfg file.


You can do this when you convert your disc into an .iso.


Instruction on how to accomplish this task can be read here:


http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/85813-windows-7-universal-installation-disc-create.html




Then, when you boot with the disc you've burned, and choose install Win 7, you'll be presented with the entire list of all Win 7 OS's, like Premium, Ultimate, Professional, etc., instead of just the one OS version it originally was restricted to.*
 

oynaz

Platinum Member
May 14, 2003
2,449
3
81
Matriz Leader's post belong in the hall of fame.

Can I install the English Home Premium version, and then install whatever language pack I need to localize it?