Will the ISO downloaded from this site be legal?

sling-shot

Wise Old Owl
I have come across this website Windows 8.1 Download ISO 32 / 64 Bit Free Official

It allegedly provides legal Windows 8.1 Professional ISO for free download.

I believe free is not as in free beer but free to create installation media from which a bloatware free install of Windows is possible unlike those recovery images created from pre-installed OEM installations.

My doubt is if this is so or is it just another pirated ISO? I am not sure Windows 8.1 is available as an ISO for download.
 

Vyom

The Power of x480
Staff member
Admin
The ISO hosted on their servers doesn't seem legit in any way. The site is someone's private blog and started just last year in February.
You need a valid and genuine product key to activate Windows. The ISO mentioned on the site have no information about any product key.

Actual downloads of Windows 8 and 8.1 is here: Get Windows - Microsoft Windows

Be vary from sites like this. If you want to use Windows freely sign up for a Dreamspark account. You would need to be a student and have a student Icard to prove that you are, and you can then access Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012 which are equivalent to Win 7 and Win 8.
 
OP
sling-shot

sling-shot

Wise Old Owl
You have misunderstood my intention. Please read my post again.

I may buy a laptop sometime in the near future. I understand that almost no new consumer grade laptop ever ships with a DVD let alone an unmodified one.

Many of the guides on the internet recommend that we erase the factory installed version and install a clean copy from a Windows DVD and use the key provided on the laptop to activate. In case of Windows 8 I guess it just uses information from BIOS to activate so no need for that step.

Windows 7 ISOs were available through Digital River? I guess. But no such source has been discovered for 8.

Your suggestion of buying yet another copy of the same Windows looks like a ginormous waste to me.

So I thought if it was just an image of original DVD I could use this to install on to such a laptop.

So...
 
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