F

Floods7

New Member
Joined
May 12, 2009
Messages
44
Hi guys,

Im about to try the windows 8 RC but I want to have something to fall back on if I dont like it,

I bought windows 7 over the internet and got a download link. From there I downloaded an iso and installed windows 7 . The problem is that I lost the disk and dont have the iso file anymore. Luckly I have the CD Key.

How can I make a bootable window 7 dvd in case I want to go back to windows 7?

Thanks
 

Trouble

Trouble

Noob Whisperer
Joined
Nov 30, 2009
Messages
13,722
I believe these links to the Windows 7 ISOs still work and will provide downloads from DigitalRiver Link Removed - Not Found
You'll want to make sure you get the proper version and architecture (32 or 64bit) as per your COA.
Regards
Randy
 

Trouble

Trouble

Noob Whisperer
Joined
Nov 30, 2009
Messages
13,722
And here is a second link that reports to include ISOs integrated with Service Pack 1. Not sure if the previous link does. I believe it is the Original Pre-Service Pack 1 ISOs.
Link Removed
And dual booting as Kemical has suggested is a pretty good idea if you have the space (additional partition or Drive)
 

whs

whs

Extraordinary Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2009
Messages
1,537
Why don't you make an image of your current Win7. That you can restore in 20 minutes and you find the exact Win7 as it was at the time when you made the image. I suggest you use free Macrium. It is the easiest to use, very fast and very reliable.
Imaging with free Macrium - Windows 7 Forums
 

Drew

Drew

Banned
Joined
Mar 25, 2006
Messages
3,574
Back-up is always THE thing to do. That said, your concern is groundless for the following reason:


No Beta OS should be installed except, as follows:

1. On a spare machine
2. Virtually
3. As a dual-boot.

Never as an Upgrade or replacement to an existing, current, non-beta OS. Never on a production machine.
Nor, BTW, can one move from 1 Beta of an OS to the next or from Beta to RTM, etc... from Build to Build or stage to stage, except by clean installs.

Programs & software must be installed, after a fresh OS install.

Cheers,
Drew
 

J

Joe S

Excellent Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2009
Messages
3,793
You don't want to dump your Windows 7. In the past there was no upgrade path from beta releases to the finish product. So when the beta ends you will have to reinstall W7 or buy and reinstall W8. If you have W7 Ultimate or Enterprise you can make a bootable virtual hard disk Henk's blog: Guide to install Windows 8 on a VHD (Virtual Hard Disk) . That's what I did no messing with partitioning.
Joe
 

F

Floods7

New Member
Joined
May 12, 2009
Messages
44
whs said:
Why don't you make an image of your current Win7. That you can restore in 20 minutes and you find the exact Win7 as it was at the time when you made the image. I suggest you use free Macrium. It is the easiest to use, very fast and very reliable.
Imaging with free Macrium - Windows 7 Forums
Click to expand...


Ok, so this works even if I completely reformat the hard drive?

If I have no operating system on the HD, I can just run the image as a boot disk and everything will install?
 

whs

whs

Extraordinary Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2009
Messages
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You can restore an image to the original partition or to a new partition (e.g. on a replacement HDD or SSD). The partition must be predefined as primary, active (if you restore the OS, can be logical for a data partition) and must be at least as large as the partition from where the image was taken. But that is easy to accomplish with any Command Prompt or the bootable CD of Partition Wizard.

Note that you need to burn the recovery disc from Macrium. This disc is loaded from the CD reader and starts the recovery process. You have a Linux option and a WinPE option. I suggest you burn the WinPE option because it has a lot more function. Be aware though that during the burning of the WinPE CD, Macrium downloads the Microsoft WAIK which is 1.7GB large. So that takes a little while. But that is only a one time job. Once you have the WAIK, you can burn additional WinPE copies in a couple of minutes.
 

F

Floods7

New Member
Joined
May 12, 2009
Messages
44
whs said:
You can restore an image to the original partition or to a new partition (e.g. on a replacement HDD or SSD). The partition must be predefined as primary, active (if you restore the OS, can be logical for a data partition) and must be at least as large as the partition from where the image was taken. But that is easy to accomplish with any Command Prompt or the bootable CD of Partition Wizard.

Note that you need to burn the recovery disc from Macrium. This disc is loaded from the CD reader and starts the recovery process. You have a Linux option and a WinPE option. I suggest you burn the WinPE option because it has a lot more function. Be aware though that during the burning of the WinPE CD, Macrium downloads the Microsoft WAIK which is 1.7GB large. So that takes a little while. But that is only a one time job. Once you have the WAIK, you can burn additional WinPE copies in a couple of minutes.
Click to expand...

Does that mean in order to use the restore cd that I made, the hard drive needs to have some sort of OS? The disk is not a bootable disk?
 

whs

whs

Extraordinary Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2009
Messages
1,537
The restore disc you burn from Macrium is bootable. It has a mini Windows 7 (WinPE disc) or a Linux (linux disc) to run the recovery program.
 

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