Most computers with Windows they come without an installation disc that you can use to reinstall your operating system system. While you have options to create recovery discs, they are not the same thing.
The same applies when you buy an upgrade from Microsoft. Again, you will not have an installation disc unless you buy it directly.
The guide below will get you straight connections for the programs or installation disk images that you can legally download to your system. Of course you need a valid Windows product key to use them.
Note: All downloads below are from official sources only. It is not recommended to download Windows from unofficial sources. You can use the tools described below to copy installation files to a USB drive, or even use a disc burner such as ImgBurn to burn your operating system installation to a DVD.
Windows Vista
Windows Vista does not exist as an ISO image, but as three files, an exe file and two Wim.
Microsoft Windows Vista with SP1 32-bit:
Microsoft Windows Vista with SP2 64-bit:
Window 7
Windows 7 files are provided as ISO images that you can burn to disk or copy to a USB drive. Provided by Digital River, the company that officially hosts Microsoft downloads. If you buy a copy of Windows 7 from Microsoft Store, you will download it from Digital River.
- Window 7 Home Premium with SP1 32-bit: X17-58996.iso
- Window 7 Home Premium with SP1 64-bit: X17-58997.iso
- Window 7 Professional with SP1 32-bit: X17-59183.iso
- Window 7 Professional with SP1 64-bit X17-59186.iso
- Window 7 Ultimate with SP1 32-bit X-17-59463.iso
- Window 7 Ultimate with SP1 64-bit X-17-59465.iso
Window 8.1
The best option to create a Window 8.1 installation tool is to download the Microsoft Setup media setup tool. This is a small program that runs on your system and helps you create the necessary files to install Windows 8.1 on a computer.
All you need to do is select the desired language, Window 8.1 version, and your computer's architecture. You can choose to copy the files to a USB flash drive or create an ISO file.
Window 10
Window 10 is currently only available as a technical preview. You can download the files directly from Microsoft like ISO you can burn to DVD or copy to USB devices.
System requirements
The minimum system requirements do not differ greatly as you can see below.