You can only get a pre-imaged drive under warranty - Microsoft does not allow the shipment of pre-imaged drives otherwise. If you're in the US, you can purchase a set of recovery media for your system as long as it's WIndows 7 or 8 -- call your local Dell customer service number. 

Thank you for reply.

I do understand this to be the case and it is grossly unfair. There is no realistic or logical reason for this other than to extort money. Trying to speak to someone ends up going round in circles. I am willing to buy the Hard drive from Dell which is double the cost of other retailers so they are making money. Why can't they offer customers the support they deserve and which Dell owes them?

JH

You can remove "Dell" and insert "Toshiba", "Lenovo", "HP"  -- or any other system vendor's name.  The policies regarding Windows install media are set by Microsoft - not by the OEMs.  The OEMs are bound by Microsoft's policies.

Read above.  Dell WILL supply a copy of the recovery media.  There's no charge for it in warranty - out of warranty, there is a charge for it.  This applies in the US, UK and Canada.

The drivers are all available for download from support.dell.com and are likely newer than anything you'd get on the recovery media or a separate disc.

Thanks for reply.

I'm no expert so I'm trying to understand any advice as best as I can.

In light of what you state; If Dell cannot supply the Windows operating system, what about the drivers etc?

I assume these are not part of Windows but please point me in the right direction if I'm mistaken.

Thanks.

JH.

Okay.

I'm accessing the forum via a desk top so how do I download drivers to transfer to the new hard drive for the broken laptop or is this not possible.

Also how much does Dell charge for a copy of the recovery media?

Thank you.

JH.

It should be about $25 for the media.  Simply download the drivers you need, put them on a flash drive and copy them onto the system where they're needed.