Digital River Windows 7 .edu iso

I just finished downloading the student discount version of home premium from Digital River and received the product key, however all it gave me was an exe to upgrade from. I need to be able to boot and install from a disk or drive as i was planning on wiping and installing new firmware onto my ssd's. could i download an iso of home premium and use the product key I received to activate it? if not, what other options do i have?

the Digital River site was very vague but did talk about a custom install using a disk so i assumed they would provide me with an iso file as this is what i've come to expect in the world of linux. All of the microsoft help sites talk about using a disk but don't give me any way to download an iso. please help!

You can use any valid installation media - borrow a 7 dvd, whatever. You have the full version key - no need to worry about upgrade.

I posted instructions how to make your own bootable.iso here:

UK Student Download Version?

cheers mate, i'm giving that a go now

Wow-need some help. I just want to make a cd in case I have to format my HD. I just want to make sure I do thhis right and understand:

1: download to a file on my hard drive(I did not partition-is that ok?)
2: Down load that zip file into where in the download from Didital river?
3: You say run a command "Oscdimg.exe –u2 –bC:\Users\Nicholas\Desktop\expandedSetup\boot\etf sboot.com –h C:\Users\Nicholas\Desktop\expandedSetup C:\WIN7.ISO"
What username do you use? What happens next?
4: Can I burn it on a dvd9read somewhere that burn on blu ray-it is too big for dvd)? Does Windows XP media player burn iso's?

Sorry about the questions kind of confused. First post and very thankful found this forum and "this" post!!! thanks.

PS-I have Windows XP Pro and have the student download Windows 7 32 Pro from Digital River.

By far the easiest way I've found to get the Digital River files to work is the USB flash method here:

How to Make the Student Discounted Windows 7 Upgrade Bootable | Notebooks.com

I was able to create a USB flash key from that, which allowed me to do a fresh "custom install" from my computer's USB. Instructions and photos are there at that link. I tried the CD burning method from different sites and never got it to work. The USB method did! (but you need a 4gb or larger USB key)

Once I created the key, all I had to do was set the BIOS to recognize the USB key as the first boot device, restart my computer, and BOOM... it worked. The only odd blip was that I had to pull out the USB once the files were all installed and it had rebooted for the first time. If I kept the key in, it tried to begin the installation process again. I just cancelled out of that process, pulled out the key, and rebooted normally for Windows to finish everything from the files it had already copied to my system.

Once again, this DID work for me from a computer with NO operating system necessary. YOU DO NOT need a previous installation of Windows. My Digital River key worked. This method (choosing custom install) wipes everything, however.

I was easier for me to just put the expandedsetup files in an iso (with UltraIso) and use unetbootin .. about 2 clicks to make the iso and one click to make the bootable USB
Browse UNetbootin, Universal Netboot Installer Files on SourceForge.net

.If you delete the ei.cfg it will ask you what version you want to install.. but it your key is for home professional it won't work if you select Pro and Ultimate... so you only have 4 months to run it without a activation.

I'm checking now to see if I burn the files from the usb to dvd will the dvd boot and do custom install.

Making the USB key is soooo much easier... and you don't have to burn discs or worry about versions, either.

My provided key worked just fine.

Originally Posted by bassexpander

Making the USB key is soooo much easier... and you don't have to burn discs or worry about versions, either.

My provided key worked just fine.

Mine too.. and I can pop my usb drive into any computer and do a full install even to Ultimate to a system with a new hard drive that's never had an os.