hi gregR, thanks for the post.
need some clarifications here guys.
on the site, i'm seing

1)
a. Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1 U (media refresh)
b. Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1 (old)

is the "sp1 U" the more up to date copy i should dl?

2)
Download Windows 7 DVD Image
-----------------------------

"To verify the integrity of your downloads,
you can check with MSDN. You'll find SHA1
and ISO/CRC check sums there. The site
requires login with a free Windows Live ID".

eerm! question is, when i get there what exactly do i do?

sandpd said:

hi gregR, thanks for the post.
need some clarifications here guys.
on the site, i'm seing

1)
a. Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1 U (media refresh)
b. Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1 (old)

is the "sp1 U" the more up to date copy i should dl?

2)
Download Windows 7 DVD Image
-----------------------------

"To verify the integrity of your downloads,
you can check with MSDN. You'll find SHA1
and ISO/CRC check sums there. The site
requires login with a free Windows Live ID".

eerm! question is, when i get there what exactly do i do?

Go to the MSDN site and go to Subscriber Downloads. Then in the Browse Products A-Z select W and then Windows 7. Now click Details for the ISO your interested in. The SHA1 will be listed there. As far as I know you can do all that without logging in. I only get prompted to log in when I try to download or request a key.

Hi there
For those still on TechNet -- Grab from there too while you can. Note even the non VL versions from TechNet can be activated 10 or so times.

Cheers
jimbo

I'm good until 7/8/2014, I've pretty well grabbed all the keys I think I'll ever use. I've also exported them to XML and saved them to my PC. I downloaded all the ISO's I needed long ago.

I'm concerned about the consumer who wants to get a decent install on their store-bought PC, or do a Repair Install. These OEM's except Dell don't provide clean copy DVD's of the OS, because sometimes their entire consumer PC profit margin comes from the preinstalled bloatware (including Office). But we know for sure that pre-installed Win7 is not even close to the quality of doing a Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

To provide these for legitimate consumer use has been a struggle here for years. The forums was sanctioned and suffered in Google results for providing some site's ISO links until Heidoc educational institution provided a safe-harbor mirror. Now these are in question. It shouldn't be so hard to provide their customers with the best possible working install of the OS, something eminently within MS's interests.

There is a possibility this is a temporary glitch and/or will be corrected as it was a month ago.

gregrocker said:

I'm concerned about the consumer who wants to get a decent install on their store-bought PC, or do a Repair Install. These OEM's except Dell don't provide clean copy DVD's of the OS, because sometimes their entire consumer PC profit margin comes from the preinstalled bloatware (including Office). But we know for sure that pre-installed Win7 is not even close to the quality of doing a Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

To provide these for legitimate consumer use has been a struggle here for years. The forums was sanctioned and suffered in Google results for providing some site's ISO links until Heidoc educational institution provided a safe-harbor mirror. Now these are in question. It shouldn't be so hard to provide their customers with the best possible working install of the OS, something eminently within MS's interests.

There is a possibility this is a temporary glitch and/or will be corrected as it was a month ago.

It has always been a struggle for the average Joe to get clean unmodified install media to redo their OEM PC when things go south. I have never understood why? To me it just seems to promote the use of pirated media, intentional or otherwise. I'd be reluctant to pay for recovery media that is just going to reimage all the bloat back on the system again. Well, I know for a fact I wouldn't do it on any of my systems. I'd find another way.