Late last week, the Windows 7 Service Pack 1 ISO downloads at Digital River suddenly dried up. In the past hour, I've received official confirmation from Microsoft that the downloads are available once again. Quoting a Microsoft spokesperson:
Windows 7 and Windows 7 SP1 ISO files should again accessible via Digital River; we apologize for any inconvenience.
If a customer has lost their media, we encourage them to reach out to Microsoft CSS for assistance.
For those of you who don't have access to MSDN -- the ultimate repository of all Microsoft software -- the Digital River links are a godsend. If you need to download a genuine copy of Windows 7 SP1, these should be your first choice. Relying on torrents or other download sites is fraught with potential peril. These are the real McCoy.
The full list of Win7 SP1 links -- there are many -- appears near the bottom of the HeiDoc.net post on the subject. Jan Krohn has links for U.S. English, traditional Chinese (Taiwan), Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish. The U.S. English version is available for Win7 SP 1 Home Premium x86 and x64, SP1 Pro x86 and x64, and SP1 Ultimate x86 and x64. The Pro and Ultimate links work for the "old" (original) SP1.
Note well: Installing the downloaded bits will give you a trial version of Win7 SP1 that can only run for 30 days. After that time, you need a valid key to keep using it.
If you already have a valid key and are downloading the ISO to re-install a fresh copy of Windows, make sure you match the version of Windows that you download with the version of Windows covered by the key; a Win7 Pro key will only work on Win7 Pro, for example. Keys that are valid on the original version of Win7 are also valid on SP1.
This story, "Windows 7 SP 1 downloads once again available from Digital River," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Get the first word on what the important tech news really means with the InfoWorld Tech Watch blog. For the latest developments in business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.