Can you purchase RETAIL editions of Win7 online for download?

[VirtualLarry]

Trying to help out a buddy here. He ordered Win7 HP full retail off of amazon.com. through a third-party, and it has become known that he is only going to recieve a key and a couple of burned ISOs. Guy selling it claims he purchased it from MS's online store, as a download, and it was never used.

Is this legit?

 

[Viper GTS]

http://store.microsoft.com/microsoft/Windows-7-Home-Premium/product/7ADA0BF6

Now when someone says you are buying retail I would expect a sealed retail package, real pressed DVDs, etc.

I would demand a return + full refund and probably bitch to Amazon on top of it.

Viper GTS

 

[RebateMonger]

While downloaded software from Microsoft can be very convenient, it certainly makes it tougher when trying to buy/sell it from third parties. Downloaded software is defintely of less value than boxed software. You are going to want to verify that the hash values of the disks match those of genuine Microsoft product. And a burned disk is not as durable or reliable as a pressed disk.

It's also going to be much tougher to sell to somebody else. One of the advantages of Retail software is you can resell it later on.

 

[GrumpyMan]

Agreed, I wouldn't go for it either.

 

[ashishmishra]

Also unless the seller shows some receipts/documents there is no real way to find out the real source of the product keys, it very well could be MSDN/Technet keys.

 

[bruceb]

File a complaint with Amazon ASAP .. You ordered a Full Retail Version and that is not what the Seller is providing as a vendor thru Amazon .. One thing Amazon does not like or want to be affiliated with is software that is not Genuine. They could get in a lot of trouble.