How to Download Windows 7 Home premium install disc

If you have the Microsoft Windows 7 Product Key from the sticker on the PC, you can use any Win 7 disk that's exactly the same version, eg Home Premium, Pro, or Ultimate, as was originally installed by Dell.

So if you know somebody who can lend you the disk, it's legal as long as it matches the version and you activate it with your own Product Key.

Service Pack doesn't matter, but look for one that includes SP1 to save yourself from a lot of extra work. You will still have to download >100 updates from the MS update site even after you install Win 7+SP1.

If you can't borrow one, look on eBay, etc...

And yes, it's bad that MS forced Digital River to take the iso files down. Some unofficial sites may still be offering Win 7 .iso files, but be careful! Disreputable sites may have .iso files that are loaded with malware and spyware.

Its all Microsoft's doing. They made the non-functional software recovery tool... and forced the Dell OEM Media Reduction policies. See my testing for more details:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3jUe9Q_Wg8

You may be able to convert the Dell Windows 7 OEM Reinstallation DVD into a .iso (depending on how badly its scratched). See here:

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/a-clean-install-of-windows/converting-your-dell-windows-reinstallation-dvd-into-a-reinstallation-usb/

Once you have made the .iso use something like VMware Player to test the .iso to see if it works:

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/installation-of-windows-and-linux-on-a-virtual-machine-using-vmware-player/

A working .iso will install in a VM (but fail to activate).

You can try to call Dell for a new Windows 7 Reinstallation DVD but it seems Microsoft is imposing quotas on OEMs such as Dell making them extremely reluctant to send out Reinstallation DVDs especially for out of warranty systems.

As mentioned the updates for Windows 7 even with SP1 and the Media Refresh are >200. So I recommend use of the WSUS Offline Update:

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/wsus-offline-update/

Ya thats the problem,  I don't trust any of those 3rd party sites for my O/S.  

I can't Microsoft is doing this.   Whats i find deplorable,  is that they did the same thing back in October,  when they released bad updates that were breaking lots of peoples machine.   So many people complained that their support was not ended at the time,  that they brought the digital river links back up.   But I guess planned to take them down again after their mainstream support ended at the end of January of this year. 

Unbelieveable,  and whats even crazier,  is that now they release a patch this past tuesday,  that supercedes the one from October of 2014,  and is breaking peoples machines again.  I'm starting to think MS is doing this on purpose, which is probably their way of trying to get some people to upgrade,  and extremely unscrupulous.   Of course it can't be proven,  but this is all way too much of a coincidence.   

Ty for the link to try and turn the cd into an iso,  so I can put it on a usb.    I"m hoping that cd only has problems installing windows,   but that the scratches on it won't prevent me from copying it to the pc as an ISO.  I have my fingers crossed. 

Truth be told,  only reason I use windows is for gaming,  if it wasn't for that I'd install linux in a heartbeat,  Which my dell machine runs great on.    Linux Mint is my top choice  nowadays,  a very optimized, extremely stable and secure user friendly windows replacement.

can't Microsoft is doing this.   Whats i find deplorable,  is that they did the same thing back in October,  when they released bad updates that were breaking lots of peoples machine.   So many people complained that their support was not ended at the time,  that they brought the digital river links back up.   But I guess planned to take them down again after their mainstream support ended at the end of January of this year.  Unbelieveable,  and whats even crazier,  is that now they release a patch this past tuesday,  that supercedes the one from October of 2014,  and is breaking peoples machines again.  I'm starting to think MS is doing this on purpose, which is probably their way of trying to get some people to upgrade,  and extremely unscrupulous.   Of course it can't be proven,  but this is all way too much of a coincidence.

Yes but even if this was true its timing really doesn't make sense. They are going to be giving Windows 7 and 8.1 users a free upgrade to Windows 10 when its first released (Late Summer). So for someone to purchase a full Windows 8.1 license for only a few months use is quite pointless....

I'm surprised theres not a larger outcry about this. The Microsoft Software Recovery Tool in my testing doesn't even work properly with the retail licenses which is what its meant to support.

For someone with a set of Windows installation guides that are over 3,500,000 views I can say that the hardest thing to do is to get installation media for the OEM license. It took 2 years for Microsoft to make a functional downloader for Windows 8.1 (and even this one has some flaws). They broke the Windows 7 downloads a few months later.

Windows 10 is meant to be a free upgrade to Windows 7/8.1 and from what I am hearing its going to be forced through Windows Update. This will cause issues on at least a small fraction (possibly a large fraction) of installations. This will also likely break recovery partitions and thus will leave many customers without a functional Windows installation. If Microsoft don't issue a product key and .iso via the customers Microsoft Account. The customer will be forced to purchase a "free" upgrade. Should the installation also fail later or the hard drive fail, the situation will likely be the same.