Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64bit ISO

You can get a legitimate Windows 7 Home Premium ISO file by using the download tool here:  https://www.heidoc.net/joomla/technology-science/microsoft/67-microsoft-windows-and-office-iso-download-tool

Use the product key from the COA label on your computer (if you have a laptop, it may be inside the battery compartment).

Thanks for the reply LemP, it is appreciated.

I have tried to download the ISO from the site you suggested by clicking the Windows 7 button and it has just given me a blank screen with OK in the bottom left hand corner for the last 15 minutes.

I am trying to do this on my Windows Vista Ultimate laptop because I obviously don't have a hard drive in my Windows 7 laptop.

What am I doing wrong please?

Also, why will this work when I previously got the message...

The product key you've entered appears to be for software which was pre-installed by the device manufacturer.

When trying to download it from...

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows7

I appreciate your time and help.

To answer your second question, you get that message because Microsoft will not provide ANY support to users of OEM software, which includes "software pre-installed by the device manufacturer."  Under the terms of Microsoft's license, the device manufacturers are responsible for support, which is why they can buy Windows at a price low enough to include with the computer and still make a profit.

Unfortunately, the Heidoc "Windows ISO Downloader" program appears to require "Windows 7 or newer."

You can see if redownloading the exe file will help, but I suspect that at this point your only option is to find a Windows 7 or newer computer with an Internet connection that you can use to download the ISO file. 

Perhaps a friend or a public library or Internet cafe.  If you use a publicly-available computer, make sure that the proprietor permits downloads AND that the computer has a USB port so you can attach a USB flash drive (public computers rarely have DVD burner drives).  You'll need a USB flash drive that has at least 4 GB free. 

Note that you will be just copying the ISO file to the USB flash drive.  You'll still have to make a bootable DVD or USB flash drive in order to install Windows.  If you intend to make a bootable USB flash drive to install Windows (using RUFUS), you'll have to copy the ISO file to your laptop first, because Rufus will repartition and reformat the USB flash drive as the first step in making it bootable.

The heidoc downloaded used to offer many things but lately not very many and sometimes only French and Korean but they are "working on it".

Many things are not available anymore so I would check it before just suggesting to use heidoc - it is not like it used to be.

Fortunately what you need is still there.

I ran across that empty screen with OK in the bottom corner on a system and found that the problem was in my Internet Settings where the system did not have TLS 1.2 enabled.

I don't know how it works in Vista but for Windows 7 it needs to look like this (or the downloader will hang on OK):

I reported it and they put that observation/adjustment in their FAQ and I felt really smart for a while.

There are other tips in their FAQs that might help.

Thanks for that ElderN,

On my fully up to date Vista it is only showing Use TLS 1.0, so that is probably why LemP pointed out that the OS needs to be Windows 7 or higher.

Thanks again.

I don't know the difference between those two.  I'd use the first one and you shouldn't have any trouble authenticating it with the product key from the sticker on your computer (as long as that sticker says Windows 7 Home Premium).

Note that it's not uncommon for people who frequently do clean installs of Windows to recommend that you NOT enter the product key during the initial installation.  Rather, complete the installation, make sure that everything is working as you like it, and then do the authentication.  You have 30 days to do this.  Compare Steps 14 and 22 here: https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html

The first user account that gets created when you install Windows 7 is an "administrator" account.  As part of the Windows installation process, you should create a second "administrator" account that you will not use on a regular basis.  Assign a password and write that down someplace where you'll remember to look for it.  Log in once to this "spare" account to initialize it, then log out and forget about it until you need it (you'll know when you need it).  Optionally, you also can create a "Standard user" account to use as your everyday account (but many people opt to use an administrator account for every day, regardless of the security recommendations against that).

Although Windows 7 may supply some device drivers, before you do the installation, you should get the drivers from your computer manufacturer's web site.  You'll need to supply your serial number or Dell Service Tag or something similar (depending on the make); at the very least, you'll have to supply the specific model of computer.  Here's a general guide:  https://www.labnol.org/software/device-drivers-installation-order/14310/

Before you try to update Windows, read and follow the steps here: 

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3200747/windows-update-is-taking-an-unusually-long-time-to-scan-and-install-updates

And don't forget to install an antivirus program.