Steeboo
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Windows 8/8.1 ISO's

When will MS be offering Windows 8/8.1 ISO images - as were being offered by Digital River until recently for Windows 7 ?

If MS were to offer downloads - it would kill off all of the virus laden images, on offer elsewhere and they would only work for more than 90 days - if a genuine licence key is used, anyway - so come on MS - help your CUSTOMERS by offering a download .....


Yuri Pustjens
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Yuri Pustjens replied on
Hello Steeboo

There is an official way to download the Windows 8 and 8.1 ISO's if you have a genuine retail key by useing the Upgrade Assistent. (More Info: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/upgrade-product-key-only)

You can use the key for example to download an ISO or install it right away.
Windows 8 downloader: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkID=317630
Windows 8.1 Downloader: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=271128

However you need a 25 digit product key, and a retail one, OEM Keys will not work, as these normally have a recovery drive with Windows installed, those users can use the USB Recovery Drive method to make an recovery drive of the ISO. See this article on how to make it http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wiki/windows8_1-system/advanced-repair-tools-create-a-usb-recovery-drive/1a3ad051-1796-4238-89d8-8705e9128e24

So in the end, if you have genuine Windows key you can always download the ISO on another system and use it to install Windows. 

Hope this information helps you
Yuri
2014 MVP Windows Expert-Consumer | See my profile for ways of contacting me.
Andre Da Costa
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 To do this go to the following link HERE


” href=”http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows-8/upgrade-product-key-only”>

Click the link Install Windows 8

When the download is complete, launch the Windows8-UpgradeAssistant file.

The start of Windows 8 Setup.

After completing the transaction, wait while Windows setup downloads.

The time setup takes to complete will depend on the speed of your Internet Connection. You can always Pause the download and resume it at a later time.

How to resume the download:

Simply double click the Download Windows icon on your desktop.

If something happens and you are unable to resume, simply go to the Install Windows site and start downloading again.

Click Install Windows to start the download again.

After Windows Upgrade Assistant completes the download, it will verify the integrity of the download. Checking for corruption or missing files.

Wait while Windows 8 prepares to start the installation.

Here we arrive at a very important part of the Windows 8 setup experience. You can choose to Install Now or create a backup disc (which I recommend you do) or postpone the installation by selecting ‘Install later from your desktop’.

If you choose the last option, even when you restart your system, you can simply double click the Install Windows icon located on your desktop to resume the installation.

If you remember from Part 1, if the download was interrupted or paused, the icon on your desktop was labeled Download Windows. This indicated the Download was not completed.

Install by creating media

This I think is one of the most important steps, a lot of persons do not have fast Internet Connections, or they are using metered Internet Connections which prohibits them from downloading large files using their ISP over a period of time. Windows 8 is a 2 GB download which is still significantly large for some Internet Connections.

Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant presents a couple options for backup media.

USB flash drive

If you have a thumb drive with 3 GBs of available space, you can use that to create a bootable copy. Thumb drives are very cheap these days, so pick up a couple and create one as your first backup option. This is especially recommended for persons using Ultrabooks which do not include optical drives (DVD) or Netbooks. There are some desktop systems that do not include one.

ISO file

An ISO file is a digital or virtual replica of a physical disc. In order to use an ISO you must burn it to a optical disc. In the case of Windows 8, a blank DVD. If you are using Windows 7, you can create the .ISO and burn it using the built in Disc Image utility. If you are running Windows XP or Windows Vista, you can using a third party burning tool such as ImgBurn or Roxio/Nero.

Learn more about burning .ISO files in Windows 7

Instructions for burning .ISOs using ImgBurn:

ImgBurn – In addtion to supporting the creation of CD’s from .ISO files,
it supports a wide range of other image file formats, and it’s free.
(BIN, CUE, DI, DVD, GI, IMG, MDS, NRG, PDI and ISO)
http://www.imgburn.com/
http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/G/Burning+ISO+Images+with+ImgBurn

Note: Always use the slowest burn speed (4x or 2x) if offered a choice.

Creating a .ISO file

For the purposes of this exercise, we are gonna use the .ISO option, 1 because its more flexible and 2 I don’t have an available thumb drive.

Select ISO file, then click Save

Select your location and click Save.

Wait while the .ISO image is created.

When complete, you can view the location or open your DVD burning software to burn right away. Your Product key should also be revealed. Write it down and store it somewhere safe.

techingiteasy.wordpress.com
Windows Expert - Consumer
Steeboo
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Steeboo replied on

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Thanks - but that has to be done on the device that you intend to install the OS on

"Your current version of Windows must be running when you begin installing Windows 8.1 or Windows 8." - this to me, seems a little silly ?


What I am trying to do - is create an ISO on another PC

Which was a simple job using Digital River on Win 7


You give the reason being that "it will not work on OEM installations due to the recovery partition ....."

Digital River ISO's used to work on all installations - OEM included !!

What if I don't have a recovery partition or recovery media ?

Ravinath P
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Ravinath P replied on
Microsoft Forum Moderator

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Steeboo
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Steeboo replied on

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It appears that there is no way to create back up media for my laptop - due to either

1. The OEM nature of the installation

2. The fact that I live in the UK - that's right, http://windows.microsoft.com/en-CA/windows-8/create-reset-refresh-media didn't work for me  -  telling me that I live in the wrong country !!


I have already gone through the unbelievably long procedure of upgrading my laptop to Win 8.1 and regretted it from day one - it constantly refuses to boot up - and I am considering downgrading it to a proper OS (Win 7) or even UBUNTU !!


Why does Win 8.1 need such a massive download ?