How to download a Windows 7 ISO image file in 2024.
Microsoft has removed all download links for Windows 7 from its servers. So the question now is, how can you download a Windows 7 ISO file?
In this guide I’ll show you how to get a clean, untouched Windows 7 ISO file from Dell that still works in 2024.
The image will be the Windows 7 Pro version, but you can easily change it into a multi edition ISO that contains Windows 7 Home Basic, Home Premium & Ultimate.
You’ll need a 16 GB USB flash drive, an Internet connection and a Windows 7 serial key for activation.
How To Download Windows 7 ISO File From Dell.
Although Microsoft has removed all its download links for Windows 7, Dell still has them available, even now in 2024.
Officially, they’re there to support Dell products, laptops and desktops, that were sold with Windows 7 installed. However, these versions of Windows 7 can be installed on any PC, regardless of manufacturer.
You’ll need to use the Dell OS Recovery Tool to get the image file. The Recovery Tool is an automated tool that’ll download the required ISO file (Windows 7) to your computer, extract it, copy the files to a USB drive and finally delete the ISO image from your PC.
What we need to do is to grab a copy of the ISO image before it gets deleted.
I’ll show you how to do it below.
Install The Dell OS Recovery Tool.
To download a Windows 7 ISO you’ll need to download and install the Dell OS Recovery Tool.
Plug in your USB flash drive and then head to Dell support https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-uk/drivers/osiso/recoverytool/W732
- On the Dell support page, click the Download button.
- Then run the installer.
- After installation is complete, close your browser window and launch the Recovery tool from your desktop.
Getting Ready To Download Win 7 ISO Image.
- When the OS Recovery Tool opens, select “Another Computer” and enter a Dell Service Tag number. Then click the Search icon. Do Not click the Next button yet.
- Press the Windows key and the letter R on your keyboard to open the Run box. Copy and Paste C:\ProgramData\Dell\OS Recovery Tool\ into the Run box and then click the OK button.
- That’ll open an Explorer window. You’ll see a Downloads folder. There’s nothing in it yet, but you’ll need it in a few moments.
- Leaving the Explorer window open, go back to the OS Recovery Tool and click the Next button.
No Service Tag Number?
If you don’t have a Dell Service Tag number to enter, you can use one of these.
Windows 7 32 bit – DHVP2Q1 or 5Y9JKV1
Windows 7 64 bit – DWK6PS1 or 5G5SNS1
Select A USB Drive To Download Windows 7.
The OS Recovery Tool will select a USB flash drive to download Windows 7 onto. Make sure that it is the correct one that you want to use and change it if necessary.
Check the box for “I understand that the selected drive will be reformatted and existing data will be deleted”. Then click the Download button.
The download will start. Don’t walk away. You need to keep on eye on the download progress.
Copy The Windows 7 ISO Image.
- After the download is complete, the Recovery Tool will begin verifying the image.
- When that happens, go to the Explorer window you opened earlier (C:\ProgramData\Dell\OS Recovery Tool) and open the Downloads folder. Click the Continue button to grant yourself permission to open the folder.
- Inside the Downloads folder you’ll see the Windows 7 ISO image file. You need to copy and paste that file to another folder on your PC.
- For example, I’ll just copy and paste it to my desktop.
The OS Recovery Tool will continue working in the background.
There’s nothing that you can do other than let it finish.
After it has finished, it’ll delete the Windows 7 ISO file from the Downloads folder.
That’s why you need to be quick to grab a copy.
ISO File & Bootable USB Flash Drive.
Once the OS Recovery Tool has finished, you’ll have a Bootable USB flash drive which you can use to install Windows 7 onto a bare metal computer.
And you’ll also have a Windows 7 ISO file (the one you copied and pasted earlier) that you can use to create a Win 7 virtual computer using VMWare Workstation Pro or VirtualBox.
Windows 7 Pro ISO Image.
The ISO Image file of Windows 7 is for the Pro version. If that’s the version you wanted or needed, you’re done now. But the ISO file contains all versions of Windows 7 including Home Basic, Home Premium & Ultimate.
What happens is that Dell include a file in the image that makes Windows 7 Pro install anytime the image file is run.
To make the ISO image a multi edition image, all you need to do is to remove that Dell file and then rebuild the ISO image. Which we’ll look at next.
When the OS Recovery Tool has finished doing its thing, you can close it.
How To Create A Multi Edition Windows 7 Flash Drive.
- Open File Explorer and then double click the USB flash drive that you used earlier for the Dell OS Recovery Tool. It’ll be named DellRestore.
- Then open the Sources folder.
- Delete the file named “ei.cfg“.
That’s it. If you boot from the flash drive now, you’ll need to select which version of Windows 7 you want to install.
How To Create A Multi Edition Windows 7 ISO File.
To change the Windows 7 ISO file that you copied and pasted earlier from a Windows 7 Pro image to a multi edition image, you need to delete the ei.cfg file from the Sources folder.
To do that, you’ll need to open the ISO file in a program that can edit ISOs. If you’ve already got something that can edit ISO files, you could use that. If not, then download and install a program called AnyBurn.
You can download AnyBurn from the link below. It’s free and will get this job done.
https://www.anyburn.com/download.php
Once you’ve got AnyBurn installed, open it and then click Edit Image File.
Edit The Windows 7 ISO File.
Click the Browse button and then navigate to wherever you saved the Windows 7 ISO file that you copied and pasted earlier.
Select the file and then click the Open button.
Open the Sources folder and scroll down the list of files until you find the “ei.cfg” file.
Select ei.cfg and then click the Remove button. AnyBurn will ask if you’re sure, just click Yes.
When the ei.cfg file has been removed, click the Next button.
On the next page, click the Create Now button. AnyBurn will ask if you want to overwrite the original image file, click the Yes button.
AnyBurn will then re-create the Windows 7 ISO file, but this time it’ll be a multi edition file.
When it’s completed, just click the Exit button.
You now have a multi edition Windows 7 ISO image file that you can use to create virtual machines.
Summary.
Obviously, if you have an original Windows 7 DVD, you could easily create your own ISO from that. And that would be my first choice.
But assuming that you don’t have a DVD to hand, then using this download from Dell is probably the safest way to get a Windows 7 ISO file now that Microsoft have removed all links.
