heidoc.net, who has acquired WinCert recently, has some interesting tools and info links to make it easier to get genuine MS ISO's, of OS versions all the way back to MS-DOS 6.0 and Win 3.1, and of most of the Office versions. ============================= Microsoft Windows and Office ISO Download Tool Page 1 of 7 This tool allows an easy and comfortable way to download genuine Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 disk images (ISO) directly from Microsoft's servers, as well as Office 2007, Office 2010, Office 2013, Office 2016, and Office for Mac. In the past, Microsoft provided disk images for many of their products through their subcontractor "Digital River". These downloads were pulled in early 2014. Afterwards, Microsoft made a limited selection of downloads available on their TechBench site. Our tool accesses that TechBench site, and unlocks a large number of hidden download files on it. Download: Windows ISO Downloader.exe Version: 5.10 Release Date: 10 August 2017 Requirements: Windows 7 or newer, .NET Framework 4.6.2 or newer, Internet Explorer 8 or newer. Support: through the WinCert Forum. Please only use the forum for support requests, so that other users can also benefit from the discussion. Email Updates If you want to receive instant notifications whenever new downloads are auto discovered, and placed under the "New Additions" in the download tool, please subscribe to our mailing list. For some tips and tricks (re-arming, unlocking additional Windows 7 versions, alternative download options, generic product keys etc.), please refer to the other articles about Microsoft products. ============================= Microsoft SHA1 Hash Archive from my.visualstudio.com Microsoft has recently removed public access from the MSDN Subscriber Downloads area, where it was possible to look up SHA1 hashes, file names, file sizes, release dates, and other metadata of original Microsoft product downloads, so that users had a way to verify whether a given file is genuine, or has been tampered with. Microsoft has moved the MSDN downloads to my.visualstudio.com, however, non MSDN members no longer have access to the metadata. This is why we have created this archive as a dump of all data from the new downloads repository. It includes most operating systems from MS-DOS 6 through Windows 10 Creators Update, Windows Server, and applications such as Microsoft Office. You can either browse through the database manually, or use the powerful full text search engine. This archive is always kept up to date with new releases. Number of files currently on the database: 41512 As an example of the Database: Microsoft Download Directory: W Product Family Web Control SDK and DDKs Web Storage SDK and DDKs Windows 10 Windows 10, Version 1511 Windows 10, Version 1511 (Updated Feb 2016) Windows 10, Version 1607 Windows 10, Version 1703 (Updated July 2017) Windows 10, Version 1703 (Updated June 2017) Windows 10, Version 1703 (Updated March 2017) Windows 3.1 (16-bit) Windows 3.11 (16-bit) Windows 3.11 for Workgroups (16-bit) Windows 3.2 (16-bit) Windows 7 Windows 8 Windows 8.1 Windows 8.1 with Update Windows Advanced Server Windows CE .NET Platform Builder 4.1 Windows CE .NET Platform Builder 4.2 Windows CE DirectX Kit Windows DNA XML Windows Embedded 8 Industry Pro Windows Embedded 8 Standard Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry Update Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry with Update Windows Embedded CE 5.0 Windows Embedded CE 6.0 Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R2 Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3 Windows Embedded Compact 2013 Windows Embedded Compact 7 Windows Embedded Compact 7 - June 2017 Windows Embedded Device Manager Windows Embedded POSReady Windows Embedded Standard Windows Embedded Standard 7 Windows Essential Business Server 2008 Windows Hardware Compatibility Windows Home Server Windows Home Server 2011 Windows Installer Windows Internet Explorer 7 Windows Internet Explorer 8 Windows Media Windows Mobile 2002 Windows Mobile 2003 Windows MultiPoint Server 2011 Windows MultiPoint Server 2012 Windows NT 3.51 Windows Point of Service Windows Rights Management Services Windows Server 2003 Windows Server 2003 R2 Windows Server 2008 Windows Server 2008 R2 Windows Server 2012 Windows Server 2012 Essentials Windows Server 2012 R2 Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials with Update Windows Server 2012 R2 with Update Windows Server 2016 Windows Server Technical Preview Windows Server Update Windows Services for UNIX 1.0 Windows Services for UNIX 2.0 Windows Services for UNIX 3.0 Windows Services for UNIX 3.5 Windows SharePoint Services Windows Small Business Server 2008 Windows Small Business Server 2011 Windows Storage Server 2008 Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Windows Thin PC Windows Virtual PC Windows Vista Windows Workflow Foundation Windows XP Windows XP Embedded WinFS
Best I understand, they're linking to "official" MS links, like the old Digital River ones, but the links aren't released to the public by MS, or at least not all of them. So, how are they getting away with it? I don't know. I just discovered all of this yesterday, because I rarely go to WinCert anymore. See below.
Are you saying Microsoft is still hosting Windows 3.1? It is a bit reminiscent of WHD downloader perhaps, because not all MS updates are directly accessible through their site either.
I'm not sure. The database above is NOT a link database, but rather that of the Microsoft SHA1 Hash Archive from my.visualstudio.com so that you can verify by SHA1 hash that whatever you download, from wherever you can find it, is a legitimate untouched MS ISO. Since my.visualstudio.com, or wherever the ISO's themselves are actually stored, is not available to the general public, I don't know how to verify whether the ISO's of the older OS are still available through MS or not. From looking at the database above for Win 3.1, I noticed that while several languages are listed, English, French, Spanish, and some other common ones are not. I also have not tried the Download Tool mentioned above to see what you can, and cannot, download, and from where. Regardless, I felt that the amount and type of info available through the heidoc.net site was significant enough to warrant listing it here to make sure you all knew about it. Consider it just one more tool to put in your belt. As always, YMMV.
Ah, I see what you mean now... that it's a database of hashes only and not of the sources themselves. Not sure how that is useful, except to see if one might have any malware attached. Or perhaps post-release changes or modifications -- because I don't know anybody around here who does that...
Not the same but I thought I would mention it here. zdevilinside PM'd the following to me which may be of interest:
It seems like the info that trouba/zdevilinside found ties in well with this thread. Get the ISO from the-eye and confirm the SHA 1 hash at heidoc to confirm that the ISO you got is valid and untouched. Thanks trouba/zdevilinside!