Of course it's possible!

Posted Dec 16, 2011 9:36 UTC (Fri) by khim (subscriber, #9252)
In reply to: Windows licensing and installing by giraffedata
Parent article: Distribution "popularity"

I don't know if you know this, but it is quite common not to have it. Those kinds of things get lost. Also, I believe it is common for a computer to come with a Windows license but instead of a CD, there are files on the disk drive and the user is instructed to burn his own CD. I doubt many people do that, and if the computer breaks, there's no install media.

Well, it's well-known fact that people rarely think ahead. I, for one, always make these backup disks and keep them around before I install Linux: it's quite a hassle to replace them if I ever decide to go back to Windows.

If people want to live without insurance then it's their right: they can always buy retail copy if Windows, so it's not a big deal.

But from what you say, the answer to my question is that it's pretty much impossible to get Windows install media.

It depends on your vendor, actually. Usually you can contact your vendor and they will ship installation disks for a nominal fee. Just remember that your vendor is Microsoft only if you bought retail copy of Windows (or if you are an enterprise and own volume license, of course). If you bought Windows from OEM (it's preinstalled on your computer, for example) then it's up to OEM to support you.

YMMV: some OEMs are very accommodating, some will ask you to jump through lots of hoops, but in the end they are the ones who should give you replacement for broken/lost copy of Windows.

P.S. Surprisingly enough tiny OEMs are the least problematic: they are too small to create their own spin of Windows thus they use some generic OEM Windows package - and these are not so hard to find. It's much harder to find Windows for some particular version of Dell or Sony.