Windows 10: 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

:)

 

Can I upgrade to Windows 10 on 29th July?

Microsoft may possibly make an ISO available by legal torrent so those that cant wait can jump right in and do an in place upgrade.

If not then we will have to hope that some one from the general public who gets the first wave creates an ISO from their ESD and makes it available so that others can upgrade the same day. While technically this would not be an official version, it will
more than likely still be legal and activate.

 

For those who have restarts problem

and this backup is for asha 311

 

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

 

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

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

 

If you run the Heidock tool, you don't have to download using it - it's a bit clunky, with the ISO opening already mounted from some obscure no-name temp folder on the user's appdata path such as:

C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\IE\T5QLPI0M\Win10_English_x64.iso

You can just click one or more of the "Copy Link..." buttons on the right, and paste it into your browser to make sure the ISO is downloaded from an official site and directly to your downloads folder.

It's not a torrent, so you aren't dependent on seeders for your older, less popular software, being online, or feeling obliged to seed back, and is generally as fast as the MS server allows, depending on traffic.

 

*Ditto To the second comment about third party sources, especially bit torrent.

 

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

 

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.

 

I'll just jump on the bandwagon.. as I fully support my mates @Bree and @alphanumeric

@jimbo45 - You make a valid point - albeit torrents have a bad rap - magnets use hash to download the correct file from PnP... MS has yet to latch onto that...(I dunno if the updates from networks even works... I suppose the intention there outweighed the excecution) but for the the moment Heidoc/Techbench is fine.

 

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.

 

You can get the ISO's directly from MSFT with the downloader here - Microsoft Windows and Office ISO Download Tool

 

There still is an official MCT for Windows 7, Software Download Only problem is it asks for a key for verification, and only accepts Retail keys. It even rejects my TechNet and MSDN keys. I have yet to ever get it to work. The HeiDoc links could very well be these ISO's? Or the links it would give you if you could get it to work. I've asked why it wants a key when the other two MCT's don't, on the private Microsoft Yammer group and it just fell on deaf ears. The only response I got was that, "that's the way its supposed to work". *really

 

Hi there

these download a .img type file --OK using vmware to load these as a virtual ISO works --not sure either if renaming them to .iso would fix anything -- strange that these though are in .img format rather than .iso or should one sane as xxx.iso when saving rather than use the default name.

Cheers
jimbo