Where to download Windows 8.1 ISO to create recovery drive?

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I got a new laptop somewhat recently which came with Windows 8.1 pre-installed. I partitioned the hard drive to allow me to dual boot into Ubuntu or Windows. The problem I have encountered is that, while installing updates and other packages on Ubuntu, I had a poor internet connection and there were a few times it came disconnected and I had to start over. I am not entirely sure, but that is probably the reason for the errors I'm getting now when trying to complete the software update. It doesn't complete, it says it needs to install a certain random package but can't find the archive. I tried a few ways of fixing it, but to be honest I don't really know what I am doing with Ubuntu since I just got it. I think it will be easier to re-install it completely.

But if I delete the Ubuntu partitions, I will not be able to boot into Windows, and would need to use a recovery drive or disk in order to do so. And I am seriously getting frustrated, because the computer came with no disk and no internal recovery media of any kind, which is really stupid. When I went to the "Create a Recovery Drive" wizard it said "Some required files are missing. To troubleshoot problems when your PC won't start, use your Windows installation disk or media." What disk/media!? I didn't get either of those things, so I freaking CAN'T. It's so annoying. That seems like something that should be pretty standard. No, actually it should definitely be standard. And to top it all off, I can't even find anything online available for download. If they aren't going to provide it with the hardware they should at least make it available for download, but I guess they just want to make people pay them to fix it.

To add even more insult to injury, they do actually have a way to download it, but you need a product key, and guess what. THEY DIDN'T GIVE ME ONE. So I have no options so far, I either have to just leave Ubuntu, or hope that I can get it to boot to the USB with the Ubuntu ISO on it after deleting the Ubuntu partitions. I got lucky last time that happened, I just hit random keys while it was booting over and over until it went into some sort of recovery mode, but the screen was totally black. Then I plugged in my Ubuntu USB and it loaded it. I guess I could probably get it to work like that again, but I would prefer not to go through that again.

If anyone knows where I can get a Windows 8.1 ISO download (without product key and for free) I would be very grateful.

There is an option within Windows 8.1 to create the recovery media on a USB stick. It requires a USB stick of at least 16 GB capacity. The recovery media should be created BEFORE doing any changes to the disk partitioning or you may wreck the recovery data and not be able to create the recovery media.

I can't remember exactly where the Windows 8.1 option is, it is somewhere under the system maintenance / backup area of control panel. I used it myself prior to installing Kubuntu on the computer. I suggest you try to create the recovery media in this (the recommended way.) It will at least tell you if the recovery image on your system is still intact.

I did find that, but that's how I got the message about the "required files missing". I don't know, maybe I somehow messed it up by resizing the partitions before trying to make recovery media (though I don't see why simply resizing would affect that as it only allows you to un-allocate the available space).

But I did find an article with a download link to a Windows 8 product key finder, maybe it will be able to find whatever hidden product key is on the computer and then I can get the ISO downloaded that way.

Did you change the size of the recovery partition?

I don't even know if there is a recovery partition. But no, the only partition I touched was the primary partition, I cut that one in half and then I partitioned out the unallocated half for Ubuntu.

And I just tried the key finder, and it did find it, but when I tried using it with the program that would download the ISO for me, I got the message, "This product key cannot be used to install a retail version of Windows 8.1." So I am back to square one.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/wind ... very-drive

I don't know what you should do then. It looks like you've somehow damaged the recovery partition which means it is too late to create the recovery USB stick. The USB stick recovery media isn't just a copy of Windows 8.1, it essentially holds the factory shipped image of your drive C: along with any other software, drivers and settings. Without that you've got some real problems. Creating that recovery USB should have been the very first thing you did before you installed another OS or changed any partitions. Sounds like its too late now.

Well, from the message in the wizard it said that "if your PC came with a recovery partition, you can also copy it to the recovery drive", so it seems possible that, from the way it's worded, maybe I never had a recovery partition to begin with. For me the check box to copy from the recovery partition is greyed out, so I either didn't have one to begin with or I somehow messed it up. But since it is an optional thing, I would think I should still be able to create a recovery drive, it just wouldn't be able to copy from a recovery partition.

But as soon as I click next, it gives me the message about not having all the required files. It doesn't even start doing anything.

I could show or tell you what my partitioned drive looks like, it seems to me that one of the smaller partitions should be a recovery drive, I don't know what else it would be there for.

You know, now that I think about it, I bet it wasn't the fact that I partitioned it, but the fact that Ubuntu basically takes over the whole startup, so I bet the "missing files" are the original Windows boot configuration files, which were probably moved or removed by Ubuntu.

The recovery partition will be perhaps 16 GB minimum. The one on mine was larger, around 50 GB as I recall.

Hmmm... I remember even when I hadn't partitioned anything yet, I was a bit confused, because I saw 4 partitions. One was the main disk space, one is I assume where the boot configuration goes (the EFI partition), then there were 2 more called OEM partitions, one almost 10 GB and one only 100 Mb. But I am almost certain that is how it came, I was very careful to leave those alone because I wasn't entirely sure what the purpose of them was. I still don't know, because apparently neither have any recovery files.

Edit: Dang, I thought I clicked the right image, it wasn't showing up on the page so I couldn't tell. Well, it doesn't matter all that much. I'm thinking at this point I'll just have to do what you said, and either contact the Toshiba or Microsoft about it and see if they can help me out.

I can't think of anything more that could help. Maybe Microsoft do have somewhere that you can download Windows 8.1 and reinstall it from scratch, but I don't know if your original serial number will work with it; I somehow doubt it. Maybe your next step should be to contact the vendor or manufacturer of your particular computer... they often have help/support forums for their brands of hardware where you can get advice for free. Failing that you could contact Microsoft customer support, but they will likely charge you (i.e. an expensive number to call).

Would it be possible to back up all my files on my external hard drive, totally wipe the machine, re-install Windows, and then use the external hard drive to boot into Ubuntu? That way it wouldn't be taking over my Windows boot configuration anymore, and I wouldn't even have to worry about all of this anymore. But I don't know how I'd re-install Windows. Would resetting to factory defaults fix the problem?

How would you re-install windows? You don't have any recovery media (i.e. the USB backup) nor do you have any separate Windows installation disks. What exactly would you set to factory defaults? If you had already got the USB backup then you could reinstall the initial factory defaults i.e. the original image of C: with Windows, drivers, third party applications and so on. But you don't have such a backup, so you can't restore the original factory image. Without Windows installation media of one form or another you aren't going to be able to put Windows back on that computer if you wipe it.

Ok, here's something odd. I downloaded MiniTool Partition Wizard, and the one 10 GB OEM partition is labeled as the "Recovery" partition, even though in the Windows disk manager it is just labeled "Healthy (OEM Partition)". I know I never touched it too, so it should still be intact. I wonder why it thinks there isn't a recovery partition then.

So the big question is why Windows complains it is unable to find all the files it needs to create your recovery USB stick. Have you tried doing a google search of the exact error phrase Windows gives you when it falls over?

Yes, so far I haven't found anything about it.

Edit: I did, however, find another program for making recovery media on the computer, this one is from Toshiba. Yet it does the exact same thing, it tells me there is no recovery area on the hard disk immediately.

I also noticed an "explore" option, so I did that for the recovery partition. Everything seems to be there, I found a lot of stuff for the Windows boot configuration, as well as a lot of other stuff. I am very confused that it isn't recognizing it.

I've just looked at your image above. What I DO notice, is that windows hasn't allocated a drive letter to your recovery partition. On mine I think it was drive E under windows. I think it is a distinct possibility that since your repartitioning that windows has lost track of where its recovery partition is. It is there in name only, but Windows isn't looking for it by name. It is looking for it either as drive E, F or G (for example) or as the nth partition on the disk. Either way it can't find it, hence the error message. Again, this scenario wouldn't have happened if you'd created the recovery USB stick first.

So you need to get windows to look in the right place (or under the right drive letter) to find the recovery partition. This would likely entail removing your Linux installation and putting the partitions back to how they were when you bought the computer. However, there would still be no guarantees that this would resolve the problem. Unless done with care you could make your computer unbootable.