How can I reinstall Windows 7 if I lost my installation DVD?
UPDATE: Sadly someone at Microsoft has discovered this back door in to their ISO library and plugged it, The links to the ISOs no longer function. I am leaving this question up for historical purposes.
Digital river is the distribution company Microsoft uses for it's digital downloads. This site has aggregated a list of the files they use for when distributing downloads (here for SP1). I have used it before and but not recently, however the links should still be good. Your license key will work as long as you download the same edition (Home Premium/Professional/Ultimate) as your key corresponds to. The architecture (64-bit vs. 32-bit) and language do not matter with activation.
Windows 7 RTM
- 32-bit Windows 7 Home Premium
- 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium
- 32-bit Windows 7 Professional
- 64-bit Windows 7 Professional
Windows 7 SP1
- 32-bit Windows 7 Home Premium
- 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium
- 32-bit Windows 7 Professional
- 64-bit Windows 7 Professional
- 32-bit Windows 7 Ultimate
- 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate
To help verify that your downloads of the Digital River ISOs are good, below are the SHA-1 hashes for the ISOs, copied from Microsoft TechNet. Each link is a permalink to the corresponding TechNet page from which I got the hash. I've personally downloaded all the ISOs and verified the hashes.
Windows 7 RTM
- 32-bit Windows 7 Home Premium => CC9D8220B2179E784D85BF1EA98D2EE2190D534F
- 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium => 336779EA6B65F63E11A609B4D021439C47AB315B
- 32-bit Windows 7 Professional => 697FA06554502FB21D30275273B25747299C020D
- 64-bit Windows 7 Professional => 50127304441A793EE51B3F501289F6599A559E9F
Windows 7 SP1
- 32-bit Windows 7 Home Premium => 6071B4553FCF0EA53D589A846B5AE76743DD68FC
- 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium => 6C9058389C1E2E5122B7C933275F963EDF1C07B9
- 32-bit Windows 7 Professional => D89937DF3A9BC2EC1A1486195FD308CD3DADE928
- 64-bit Windows 7 Professional => 0BCFC54019EA175B1EE51F6D2B207A3D14DD2B58
As described in this Microsoft KB article, if it is a retail copy, you have the following recourse:
To request replacement hardware or software, contact the Microsoft Supplemental Parts team at the appropriate contact number that is provided in the "Contact Information" section. You must be in possession of the product (if it is damaged or defective) and be able to provide proof of purchase. The customer service representative will advise you of any replacement costs or shipping and handling fees that may be charged. If a product is no longer under warranty, the replacement item may no longer be available.
If it is an OEM copy, then they advise you to contact your OEM for the replacement disc instead.