I find it a PITA that when you buy a new computer, or the OS online, you don’t get an OS dvd. In an effort to increase profits, MS became a well, PITA.

Well, gHacks did a big service for me today.

It gave links to the OS isos directly from MS. This isn’t “Whoopy! Free Windows!”, since you need your valid product key to use them.

The links below are from official sources only. Don’t ever download Windows from anywhere but an official MS site. You can use the tools linked below to burn or copy the installation files to disc or USB, or use a third-party disc burning program like ImgBurn or the operating system's burning option if supported to burn it directly to DVD.

“Windows Vista

Windows Vista is not provided as an ISO image but as three files, one exe file and two wim files.

You can run those on a system to upgrade to Windows Vista, or use third-party software like A Bootable USB from Ask VG to create an ISO image that you can burn to disc.

Microsoft Windows Vista with SP1 32-bit:

• x14 Exe
• boot.wim
• install.wim

Microsoft Windows Vista with SP2 64-bit:

• x14 Exe
• boot.wim
• install.wim

Windows 7

The Windows 7 files are provided as ISO images right away which you can burn to disc or copy to a USB drive. They are provided by Digital River, the company that hosts downloads for Microsoft officially. If you purchase a copy of Windows 7 from Microsoft Store, it is also downloaded from Digital River.

Microsoft's Windows USB/DVD Download Tool can be used to copy the installation files to USB if you want to install using a USB device. The name feels strange as you don't download Windows using the tool but use a local ISO image instead to burn it to DVD or copy to USB.

• Windows 7 Home Premium with SP1 32-bit: X17-58996.iso
• Windows 7 Home Premium with SP1 64-bit: X17-58997.iso
• Windows 7 Professional with SP1 32-bit: X17-59183.iso
• Windows 7 Professional with SP1 64-bit X17-59186.iso
• Windows 7 Ultimate with SP1 32-bit X-17-59463.iso
• Windows 7 Ultimate with SP1 64-bit X-17-59465.iso

Windows 8.1

The best option to create installation media for Windows 8.1 is to download Microsoft's create media tool. It is a small program that you run on your system to create the necessary files to install Windows 8.1 on a PC.

All you need to do is select the desired language, edition of Windows 8.1 and architecture and you are good to go. You can select directly if you want to copy the files to a USB flash drive or create a ISO file instead.

Windows 10

Windows 10 is only available as a technical preview at the time of writing. It can be downloaded from Microsoft directly as an ISO file that you can burn to DVD or copy to USB devices.” – gHacks

Source:

http://www.ghacks.net/2014/12/18/windows-downloads-for-all-operating-systems/?_m=3n%2e0038%2e1461%2ehj0ao01hy5%2e1ifg