27 thoughts on “Download Microsoft Windows

  1. Hi Philip,
    Great to see 5 Million views. Congrats.
    Here is my query:
    My Dell 3537 laptop hard drive failed and I replaced it with an SSD which you have suggested earlier 🙂
    How can i install windows 8 for my Dell Laptop / what are the steps to be followed for installation. Is there any specific Win8 OS version I need to download and install or I can just download any Win 8 OS, will it get activated ?. I'm from INDIA.

    Thanks,
    Arun PR

    1. See here:
      http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/download-microsoft-windows-and-office/download-microsoft-windows/download-windows-8-1-retail-and-oem-iso/
      As instructed you may need to play around a bit to get the correct Edition (see the notes on when your system can't boot). Try Windows 8.1 and Windows 8.1 Single Language.

      Then importantly ensure your UEFI BIOS is updated to the latest revision and upgrade to Windows 10:
      http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/a-clean-install-of-windows/a-clean-install-of-windows-10/upgrading-to-windows-10/

  2. I currently have a regular hard drive in a Dell M6700 mobile workstation.
    Windows 10 is already installed as an upgrade from Windows 7 (bought it this way off eBay)
    It is currently in Legacy BIOS mode
    I'd like to install Windows 10 on 2 SSD's in RAID 0, in UEFI BIOS mode

    I'm trying to figure out how to get this installed this way… seems a little tricky.

    Here's what I've thought of – would this work?

    1) I notice that Crucial has a firmware update as of 12/15/15, and since I bought these SSD's from B&H, they probably were shipped to the retailer with the previous firmware, so I think the first thing I need to do is update the firmware of the Crucial SSD's by installing them to the M6700 one at a time with a USB 3.0 cable, and flashing their firmware for both new SSD's. (better/less risk to do before Windows install?) Would this also get the Crucial drivers on to the machine?

    2) Then, shut down the M6700 and take its existing primary hard drive out of it's bay, and connect it via the USB 3 to SATA III cable, bootable to Windows 10 as an external hard drive. (would I need to boot into it this way and do anything? – I can't think of anything, seems like I'd go to the next step…)

    3) Install the 2 SSD's in the primary and secondary bays.

    4) As I power on after steps 2 and 3, get into the BIOS to change the boot order so it realizes Windows is now external drive via USB… and go in and set up 2 SSD's as a RAID 0 array, with one partition

    5) Finish the power up into Windows on the (now) external hard drive

    6) Run the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool, create an ISO? Or a bootable USB?
    (I did it in this order because I couldn't think of any other way to get the Crucial drivers on that bootable USB)

    7) Shut down Windows

    8) Remove the old/external hard drive, install the bootable USB

    9) Boot again, enter BIOS and change boot order to look first at the bootable USB

    10) Will it from this point forward step through all the steps needed to install Windows on the RAID 0 SSD's?

    – Will this get the product key of the existing install where it needs to be?
    – Is there a shorter and faster way to do this? I'm guessing there is.

  3. First of all prepare look through the UEFI BIOS and see if you can change the SATA operation to RAID 0 and Enable UEFI and SecureBoot (this model shouldn't definitely have these settings). Don't enable any of the settings until the Bootable USB is made. Also in your old installation flash the UEFI BIOS to the latest revision. See here for the BIOS settings and instructions on flashing:
    http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/updating-the-bios/
    Flashing the firmware of a SSD won't load drivers within Windows. It might help to flash the SSDs in advance but shouldn't be necessary. I've flashed Crucial Drives within Windows with no problems but they were in AHCI and not Raid0.

    What you need to do is prepare 1 your Windows 10 Bootable USB for the GPT partition scheme and UEFI BIOS. See here:
    http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/download-windows-10-oem-and-retail-iso/
    2 SATA preinstallation drivers on a separate USB flash drive:
    http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/a-clean-install-of-windows/downloading-preparing-and-loading-sata-drivers/
    http://downloads.dell.com/FOLDER02350726M/16/IRST_Driver_Intel_A13_WIN_0FGYV_f6flpy-x64-SETUP_ZPE.exe

    1. Hi Phil!
      A Great Blog, You made! Thanks for the OEM Windows 7 Images!
      Zoltán from Hungary

      1. Hi Phil! I like Windows 7 as most, an yet will not upgrade to Windows 10. Is there an OEM Dell Windows 7 SP1 x64 clean installation Image?
        WbR.:
        Zoltán

      2. That system is out before the Intel i3, i5, i7 series and the processors are likely not compatible (you are looking at the OptiPlex 790 for that).

        My guess is one of the best processors for that unit would be an Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 / 2.66 GHz…

      3. The Quad Core is better than the Duo Core…

        However to be honest in this day and age I wouldn't personally bother trying to upgrade components of that system. Instead I would look for a second hand OptiPlex 7010 (or newer).

      4. Hi Phil!
        I wanna ask You if You can upload the raw Dell OEM Window 7 Professional x64 Image for me?
        Thanks
        Zoltán

      5. Hi!
        Here is a Link, from that we can download/create a now "early up-to-date" Windows 7 installation Disk.
        Thanks a lot for Your Helps!
        Zoli

      6. Nice tu hear that! You must know, You're allways welcome!
        🙂

    1. Hi Phil!
      Would You share with me the untouched Dell Windows 7 Pro with SP1 64bits image?
      Please, if You can!))
      WbR
      Zoltan

      1. I have deleted my upload of it as I don't have that much storage space. The Skylake .iso with the April 2017 slipstream is superior.

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