Thinkpad T530 Windows 7 64b Restore Disc

[Vista_98]

Hello, I have a Thinkpad T530 that has a corrupted recovery partition, and is running Windows 10. I am curious if any of you guys know where to find/ have a restore disc for the T530 that installs Windows 7.
I remember seeing a post about it here before, but it was 4 years old so I don't think that the offer is still running.

[TPFanatic]

The two OS isos on this archive.org post were effective for me to restore Windows 7 x64 Ultimate on a ThinkPad. I didn't use the driver and software ISOs, just the OS isos, burnt to a DVD each. https://archive.org/details/03W2963

I favor Ultimate since it has the Bitlocker, coupled with 7 supporting EFI and Secure Boot, the OS can still benefit from security mitigations. In my opinion with Firefox ESR it remains viable for Internet browsing, and it remains the last exclusively desktop Windows OS. Any important drivers and useful software can be pulled down from Lenovo.com.

--
On any fresh install of Windows 7, before turning on Windows Update, make sure to manually install the following two updates:
KB3083710: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downloa ... x?id=49172
KB3102810: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downloa ... x?id=49542

They resolve a malfunction in the Windows Update system that causes the Update service to be uselessly SLOW.

[Vista_98]

I'll definitely look into this, thanks!

[Vista_98]

Turns out the computer was sent out with Professional, so it would be a challenge using Ultimate

[TPFanatic]

The SLIC 2.1 table in the BIOS will activate any Lenovo version of Windows 7. The archive I linked to is a Lenovo version and does activate in ThinkPads.

If you really want Pro you can try the first ISO in this archive. https://archive.org/details/03W6413 It says it's for W701 but in my experience, I've used T410/T510 discs successfully on anything from T500 to T530 without problems, and Lenovo's parts lookup tool simply defines the FRU as "W7Pro64RDVD US ", giving credence that it's ubiquitous.

An in-place upgrade between Pro and Ultimate is not possible like it is going from 7 to 10 and back to 7 within the grace period. I would still advise to go for Ultimate in case you ever want the Bitlocker. My systems get either 7 Ultimate or 10 Pro for that reason alone. But it's not like I'm a role model for best practices. I still have a few storage devices with 7 Pro that I need to either upgrade or wipe.

[Vista_98]

Interesting to know, thanks for telling me! I'll definetely try it out.

[Vista_98]

After a bit of research, i've also found a T520 Windows 7 Professional restore disc, so I might have to settle for that until I can find it through adequate research.