Windows 7 was launched officially last week amidst launch parties and fanfare. As always, Microsoft gave its customers an option to get the Windows 7 DVD from retail stores or download the Windows 7 ISO directly from its servers online. Users who do not want to download Windows 7 ISO images which are widely available on Bit Torrent sites can download the ESD version of Windows 7 setup installer instead. Normally, Windows 7 setup installer that is downloaded via ESD channel is meant for upgrade version license or product key, and hence no ISO for burning to DVD or USB flash drive is provided. Now the direct download links to the Windows 7 operating system distributed via digital software distribution channel online have been leaked. The installation files of Windows 7 is hosted on the server on domain msft-dnl.digitalrivercontent.net owned by Digital River, one of the delivery partners for Windows 7. Similar to 32-bit (x86) Windows 7 setup installer, each editions of Windows 7 has its own different and separate download links, and the setup installer package comes in 3 parts, which is an executable that starts the extraction or unpacking and installation process, plus setup1.box and setup2.box. After extracting all content to a folder named ExpandedSetup, the installation files should be the same with what contains on a DVD. Personally, I would suggest you to use a download manager to download these files to ensure proper downloading of these huge files.
Windows 7 Direct Download Links
64-bit Windows 7 Professional x64 Update (2.12.2011): Due to a request by Microsoft, all the links have been redacted. You can visit DigitalRiver for further details. After downloading the files, simply double click on the executable, e.g. Win7-P-Retail-en-us-x86.exe to start unloading the box and to install Windows 7. Note that 3 files must be put together in the same directory. You still need a product key to activate installed Windows 7.
