Download legit copies in iso format?

U_Fig

I'm wondering is there any place to download a legit copy of either windows xp home edition, xp media centre 2005 edition or windows 7 enterprise or home premium..I have legit keys most OEM one MAK (from work have been given permission to use for my work laptop) for all the above however I never recieved recovery discs for the various laptops ect..and need to do a full reinstall.

Also what's the legality of downloading a pirated version of any of the above If using a legit key with it?

Overheal

That its not publicly available should give you your answer. What is available are System Recovery Discs. These won't install or reinstall windows but will give you the Recovery Environment to do system repairs and run the command prompt and such.

To reinstall on a laptop, they all come with Recovery Partitions, which contain the system image that will format and reinstall windows without the use of the disc. Follow your manufacturer instructions. Typically on Boot its a key like F9 that you press to enter the Factory Reset menus. Other than that you're SOL and will need to find a spare OEM disc from someone.

srsly78

Go to piratebay, download OEM copy, use legit key. Nothing illegal about it, just be careful you don't download a dodgy virus ridden copy

knuth

Digital river?

Hal Emmerich

here

Capt'n Midnight

srsly78 wrote: »

Go to piratebay, download OEM copy, use legit key. Nothing illegal about it, just be careful you don't download a dodgy virus ridden copy

Read the charter inc. the bit about warez :mad:

misrosoft don't allow their ISO's to be copied excetp for ONE backup copy of the install media by the licensee where allowed in the eula

srsly78

EULA does not affect your statutory rights. If you got audited your "warez" copy of windows (with legit key) will be perfectly fine.

Also, as you should know, not everything on piratebay/othertrackers is "warez"/illegal. Bittorrent is a perfectly legitimate way to distribute files.

Would you ban me if I linked to a linux ISO torrent? (ok maybe justified since this is windows forum :pac:)

Capt'n Midnight

srsly78 wrote: »

EULA does not affect your statutory rights. If you got audited your "warez" copy of windows (with legit key) will be perfectly fine.

Also, as you should know, not everything on piratebay/othertrackers is "warez"/illegal. Bittorrent is a perfectly legitimate way to distribute files.

Would you ban me if I linked to a linux ISO torrent? (ok maybe justified since this is windows forum :pac:)

The point is that as a first approximation you don't have statuatory rights for windows because you agree to a license to use their software subject to many terms and conditions. You have not bought any software from them so sale of goods and services acts and most other consumer legleslation don't apply.

IIRC the most you can ever claim back for the software not working is the cost of the software or $5. You are allowed to make one backup copy of supplied media (though I'm not sure that allowed for all versions of OEM )

If you get audited then you can get away with just about anything as long as you pay promptly for licenses. Bill Gates was on record as saying that he'd prefer people to pirate his software than that of the competitiors. Which makes sense if you are trying to gain market share and plan to hover up license fees later on.

Anyway back on topic

the OP can only use the media that matches the COA on the laptop in question OR a non-oem license transferrable license that isn't in use elsewhere. Windows 7 / Vista have downloadable versions .

Microsoft have been tring to kill off XP since Vista first came out, even though it's still (by some measures) on more computers than all other operating systems put together.

I'm not aware of any place you can download it legally because Ireland signed up to the Berne Convention which means the XP ISO is copyright, all rights reserved, until at least 2091, or at least 50 years after Mickey Mouse goes public domain.

Hal Emmerich

^^^^What's that about mickey mouse??

Capt'n Midnight

Hal Emmerich wrote: »

^^^^What's that about mickey mouse??

It's to do with Disney's lobbying to have copyright terms extended yet again

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act