Need to download Windows 7 Recovery Disk Image?
Updated June 28th 2012
On October 4th 2011 Google received a copyright complaint from Microsoft and responded by removing 998 websites from their search results (including this page). You can read it here.
I’ve now updated this page and removed the links to the free Windows 7 Recovery disc images which I provided and instead I’m going to give you information (free speech and all that) on ways you can get these images either free or by paying.
Everything you see below with strikethrough applied is no longer valid.
Beyond that you’ll see a few options to help you get what you need. Hope this helps.
These freely downloadable ISO files may be used to create your own bootable disc which will allow you access to the Windows 7 or Vista System Recovery Options menu including the Command Prompt (aka Recovery Console) without the need for an actual original Windows 7 or Vista installation disc.
Previously I discussed three ways to get into the System Recovery Options menu in Windows 7 and Vista. These downloads are required for option three and requires you to then create your own bootable disc.
This is necessary due to the fact that a lot of PC manufacturers now ship PCs without an original disc and instead store the software on the hard disk in a hidden partition.
Below, you can download the required ISO files for Windows 7 32-bit and 64-bit and Windows Vista 32-bit and 64-bit in multiple zip files.
Tip: If you need instructions on how to create a bootable disc from an ISO image file then follow the article how to Create A Bootable Disc From an ISO Image
This download is provided free and without any guarantee that it will solve your problems. You may however use it as you wish and distribute it freely to your friends and colleagues if it’s of some use.
How to Get Windows 7 ISO Recovery Disc Images
Option 1: Download Free From Torrent Sites
Since Microsoft forced Google to take down all websites which you could download the images for free the only way now is by using torrent sites.
This may or may not be illegal – you have been warned. As a hint, it’s typically illegal in most countries to download a windows 7 recovery disc image.
People argue that they own Windows 7, they got it with their PC so why the hell can’t they download the image!
A word of warning – these sites regularly carry malware and other malicious software. Be careful!
I can suggest a few starting places:
- Torrentz
- Pirate Bay (we’ve all heard of this one)
- ISOHunt
Option 2: Ask Your Friend
Yes, it’s damn illegal to rip an ISO image from a copy of yer mate’s Windows 7 DVD but it’s very possible and it’s you’re liable, not me! Remember copying tapes in the eighties? Feel guilty?
Option 3: Buy A Pre-made DVD Cheaply (roughly $10)
I’ve provided direct links to get the Windows 7 and Vista Repair Discs DVD about as cheaply as possible.
- Get Windows 7 Repair Disc 32-bit
- Get Windows 7 Repair Disc 64-bit
- Get Windows Vista Recovery Disc 32-bit
- Get Windows Vista Recovery Disc 64-bit
Option 4: Create Your Own Recovery Media From Your Hard Disk
Most PC makers will give you a way to make your own bootable recovery CD or DVD right from your own hard disk.
If you can’t boot, perhaps you’ve two identical PC’s or a friends PC and can use the other one to make the CD.
I’ve listed links to main manufacturers instructions below:
Option 5: Buy The Legally Downloadable Version ($20 – $40 depending on version)
A company called Neosmart cracked a deal with Microsoft to provide the discs fully licensed to sell for 10 bucks.
Do you have any other suggestions on getting these for free?
Let me know below.
PAUL JAMES CHATMAN says
Can this be used to check an XP HDD if the XP Recovery Disc isn’t working?
Rosco says
Hi Paul,
For XP I’d suggest following this article: https://www.proposedsolution.com/solutions/boot-windows-recovery-console/
When you get to the recovery console use the chkdsk command to check for hdd problems.
Rosco
Use with XP? Yes or No says
There are never any XP Recovery ISOs. I just wanna use the Vista or Win7 ISO to get to a Command Prompt & chkdsk…will this work or not work?
The XP article you link to has a download with .exe’s & .bat’s to run…I just want an XP ISO like these Win7/Vista ISOs. I don’t wanna infect the computer I make the Recovery Disc on with viruses from random .exe’s & .bat’s.
Why is an XP Recovery ISO soo hard?
Rosco says
There are no isos for XP.
If you read and follow the instructions in the article linked to in my previous comment you see that you first need to download the recovery disk images from Microsoft and the download several other files which are necessary in order to create A bootable cd from these files. There are NO viruses in the files linked to from this website.
Please try to follow each step in the article https://www.proposedsolution.com/downloads/download-windows-recovery-console/ without skipping any and the final result will be a cd you can use to access recovery console and then run chkdsk.
james says
cant get minds to work can sum1 gve me a hand plz
janice says
how can I download from online a windows 7 recovery disc?
Anonymous says
go to freewindows7repair\ recovery programs.com and you will get 10 pages of them all, but a lot are not free and there is alot that are, my brother told me about it a week ago and i went on ot just for the fun of it to make sure it was there,i have lung cancer and i been trying to get my labtop to reboot, these repair shops take you for what ever they can and do nothing for you or your computer,i just wish some one can help me out,good luck
flown says
links r dead
Rosco says
Hi Flown…thanks for the heads up….
I’ve fixed the links now….best of luck
Rosco
partha says
not been able to download it …gets up to about 40 MB and gets interrupted. tried about 6 times till now!
Rosco says
No problems here Partha..which one you trying?
partha says
WIN 7… same today too!
jamie says
Have you tried using safari
Justin G. Blodgett says
Dude, you are a god send! I am currently deployed to Afghanistan and I was unable to find ANY Vista disks to repair my personnal computer. You have my thanks! I was going nuts here not having my movies to watch.
KC says
Please help!~ I spent an hour or two downloading that ISO file and went and got an unzipper program too! And when I got to extract it NOTHING Comes Out!
Do I need a different Unzipper Extractor Program or What?
The one I got is called IZArc
Rosco says
KC…
See the post How To Create A Bootable CD From ISO at this URL: https://www.proposedsolution.com/howto/howto-macosx/create-bootable-cd-iso-image-file-windows-mac/
R.
KC says
I already read that and that does NOT answer or provide the solution to the problems I encountered.
DO I have the correct File even yet, when I cannot seem to be able to UNZIP IT?
What is a good Unzipper program that actually works?
I am stuck having to use my dad’s computer which is Windows XP right now in order to get the Windows 7 Repair USB Flash Drive created and get my computer back to booting again!
Please let me know if you have any solutions, thanks!~
Rosco says
KC…
Let me be clearer –
You do NOT UNZIP ISO files. They are not ZIP files. It is possible to extract the contents of an ISO file using some special programs that are specifically designed to extract the contents of an ISO file – however, most UNZIP tools will not do the job because ISO files are NOT ZIP files.
Why do you want to UNZIP the file??
If you’re trying to create a bootable Windows 7 USB Stick then you make one directly from the ISO WITHOUT UNZIPPING it.
In fact you’d actually be going back a step in the process by dismantling the ISO.
To create a bootable USB stick from the ISO image I suggest googling those very words and you will find a multitude of sites with instructions and even free software to do it.
R.
KC says
Oh ok, that clarifies things for me greatly, thanks!~
I don’t understand why exactly, except I am fairly sure something along the line there told me that I needed extract that file using an Unzipper program.
So now that I have it downloaded all I should need to do is copy the entire ISO image file over to a blank and empty USB stick?
I think, I’ll try to do what you said and look it up again also, however so far I have had very little luck and ability for some reason to get the necessary information.
Except for here has been the best I’ve found so-far
Rosco says
Hi Kc. No u don’t simply copy the iso to the USB. That won’t work.
Try using unetbootin from here. https://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/. It’s normally for linux distributions but does allow u to select ur own ISO at the bottom.
Give it a try and let me know how u get on.
KC says
Well thanks, I got the unetbootin programe to run and it appeared to work. I told it to copy from my usb based iso the first time and had some kind of error. Did it again and it said it completed, so I took the usb to my laptop and ran it again this time it tried to run a unetbootin program prompt but remained stuck in it over and over again, after saying attempting to boot and counting down from 10 to 1 over and over.
I have no idea what it wrong or what I need to do in order to get my laptop to boot into window 7 again anymore.
brody says
how do i install this program in windows xp?
Rosco says
Hi Brody, This is not a program. It is a disc image that you can use to create a bootable CD or DVD to access Windows recovery options. It will not work with XP.
JC says
Why are there 3 for Win 7 (2) repair and (1) recovery and only (1) for Vista…other than the fact of 32 vs 64 bit?
Rosco says
Fixed it now JC, just a typo, the file was correct.
Dalton says
Hi if I download the file straight to a usb disk would it still work? My computer doesn’t have a disk drive.
marc says
hello there for the windows 7 repair disc by repair do you mean the same as recovery disc??? many thanks
Rosco says
Hi marc. Yes the same thing. It is Microsoft who have given them different names.
R.
Mery says
Hi, can I format and reinstall a new windows vista on my computer with these ISO images???
Rosco says
No you cannot. Only recovery options.
Bob says
Windows Vista x64 Recovery Disc works fine to boot up but when I pick repair and it gets to where I pick the OS. it doesn’t see my hard drive and there is no OS. listed. So I click load driver but the only place I can look to is the restore cd itself and I don’t find any drivers on it.
What I have tried so far is:
I booted back into Vista and found the driver for my hard drive and copied it to a thumb drive and rebooted to the recovery disk. Looked to the thumb drive, But the driver doesn’t show up. It looks as if it is looking for the driver setup program for my hard drive. So I’m not sure where to find the setup.exe for my hard drive.
Question: Is there not some way to download or copy all the drivers for Vista and put them on the recoery disk so it can use them.
I would like to use this recovery disk on more than one PC.
Thanks in advance for any help
Mitch Davis says
After resizing my hard disk to make room for Linux, my Windows 7 install failed to boot. I had made recovery DVDs, but they were on another continent. I downloaded and burned the repair CD from this site, and it worked first time and without fuss.
Thank you, you really saved my bacon!
Jamie says
Hi there, i downloaded the windows vista 32 bit image, i unzip the ziped file tha comes in the download, i am left with the following files:
a folder named: boot > inside are: bcd, boot.sdi, bootfix.bin
a folder named: sources > inside are: boot.wim
and a file named: bootmgr.
I thought this was gfoing to be simple, where i just download an .ISO image, then use imageburn to burn the image than pop it into my vista laptop that i forgot the password to.
Please help me, im not that good when its not an .ISO to just simply burn.
Cheers.
Jamie.
Rosco says
Hi Jamie…
The file you downloaded was vrd32.iso (if you downloaded the VIsta 32 bit image). You should not have ‘unzipped’ this.
You need to keep the vrd32.iso file zipped and create a bootable CD/DVD from it using the software of your choice. I’ve written an article on how to this here: https://www.proposedsolution.com/howto/howto-macosx/create-bootable-cd-iso-image-file-windows-mac/
Rosco
Jamie says
Oh i see, i thought i had to unzip the ziped file in order to get the .ISO, im now buring it using Imgburn, thanks for that.
I will let you know how i get on after its burnt.
Cheers.
Jamie says
ok it seems that my cd/dvd drive dont work on the laptop, is there any way to use a usb to boot from? remember im using windows vista home premium if it counts?
thanks for the help so far mate.
Rosco says
Yes Jamie…see this article https://www.proposedsolution.com/howto/create-bootable-windows-usb-thumb-drive-iso/
Rosco
Jamie says
Hi mate, unfortently i didnt get it to work, so i gave up on the bootable usb when i found out an option to run some sort of other menu on start up, i cant remember the name now. I saw on one of the menu’s after i pressed F2, so i pressed F10 and managed to run the repair tool. The problem i had was, when i typed in the correct password, it would come up with some kind of warning saying it was unable to log in, even though the password was right. So now i can use my laptop again. Now i gota go and sort my dvd drive out lol.
Thanks for your time and efforts to help me out etc… i will be sure to keep this site bookmarked for futre use.
Thanks again mate.
Jamie.
jennie says
after download it, what should i do next? I have problem in my window 7 it said bootmgr is compressed. is it able to fix? help me pls!
Rosco says
Option 3 in https://www.proposedsolution.com/solutions/windows-7-or-vista-recovery-console/
R.
David laBorde says
Thanks so much for making the iso Win 7 repair file it was a life saver.
David says
I downloaded the windows 7 32 bit and it said it was incompatible with my version of windows. Does this mean I should try the 64 bit? Not sure which I have.
Also, I get the blue error screen and error that says “BAD_SYSTEM_CONFIG_INFO” and windows will never start. Auto repair does not work. I don’t want to lose all of the things on my hard drive obviously, but windows will not start. I am downloading the 64 bit recovery iso but don’t think it will work either. Any ideas?
brian says
ur geniousss!!!! i bought a new laptop 3days ago and i got a boostmgr problem.. u saved my life and thank you for ur work!! omg!! thank you!! so much
mangoxor says
hey rosco i have downloaded win 7 repair disk image and burn iso image with burn4free.this things i have done using xp sp 3.i havea dual boot system. now i try to repair win 7 but it only advance repair option.I can not locate repair image. i thought it was in the cd that i downloaded and burned. what am i doing wrong?
newIT says
Works like a charm! Thank you! Highly reccomend
newIT says
*recommend
maria says
i am facing problem in my system,even system is noisy.i am using windows 7.plz help me in recovery
bhisma says
i hve downloaded win 7 repair disk 32 bit jst now , but still scanning process not finished now, is that really potential unwanted software….pls hoping to get further advice, and thank you very much for provide us ur great service.
bhisma says
oh shit its really become problem
Sean says
Hey Rosco,
I was using the trial version of windows 7 along time ago and just never updated it but have been using it since. Today i did a system restart and when the computer booted up it asked for me to put the windows 7 CD as the comp no longer knows how to boot. Thing is i don’t have a clue where the CD is and i don’t fancy paying over one hundred quid for windows 7 as im going back to xp is there anywhere i can download the boot recovery disk?
Sean
Anonymous says
will a vista iso cd help with this problem.. go a gateway fx6000 with vista 64 bit.person tried to install windows 7 and somwthing happened. now it in aloop. tried the f8 thingtochoose vista but it is not there
kelly says
r- can i buy a disk from you for a windows vista 32. I dont have time. I dropped my laptop and have a boot disk not found error. I know I may need to replace my harddisk, but I would like to repair the one I have. Will I need a disk even if I buy a new Toshiba Hdd2d62 mk1237gsx 120? Do you have one of these for sale?
Tonja says
My laptop was infected with a rootkit malware virus
“Infected MBR (Master Boot Record) detected”
A Nortons’ tech got rid of the virus and in doing so, it messed with the Windows 7 Startup…. When Windows tries to start, it redirects to a black screen that says Windows Error Recovery….. I Launched Startup Repair and this is what it gave me:
Startup Repair diagnosis and repair log
—————-
Number of attempts: 5
System Disk = \Device\Harddisk0
Windows directory = C:\Windows
AutoChk Run = 0
Number of root causes = 1
Root cause found:
—————
Unspecified changes to system configuration might have caused the problem.
—————
Session details
—————
The Nortons’ tech said it was a quick & easy fix if I had a disc and knew someone who knows what they’re doing to reconfigure a file in the startup, if that is what you call it? Sorry, I am not very educated in the computer area. Lol
I guess, it can be done without doing a system restore and losing any of my saved personal info! Can one of the listed links above get me to where I can find a copy of a startup disc? I desperstely need my laptop back! Thanks in advance for any help!! 🙂
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keithd says
just bought gateway computer with win7 need help creating recovery disk
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Updated!
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