Recovery Set Repository for Community Members

[theterminator93]

Notice:
In response to the overwhelming support of this initiative and high volume of requests, and as agreed upon with forum staff, please be advised that the service described below is for the benefit of the ThinkPads.com forum community. If you are finding out about our community as a result of your quest to locate restore media for your ThinkPad, I encourage you to sign up and actively participate.

Going forward, I will only be providing recovery sets to established forum members who meet the following criteria:
User profile must be properly populated (including location).
You have been a member of the forum for at least 14 days with a minimum of 10 meaningful posts OR you have been a member of the forum for over 2 months.
I also ask that, out of respect for the money and time I have spent assembling this repository, that you refrain from re-sharing or posting any media you receive from me.

If you do not meet these criteria and contact me requesting restore media, I will delete your message and you will not receive a reply. I do not have time to reiterate these terms repeatedly to anyone who does not take the time to read them here.

As a few of you probably know I wrote the home page article about the ThinkPad software collection a year and a half-ish ago. I've periodically responded to requests for recovery disks through the comments on that article, as well as when members PM me or publicly post a request here. My goal continues to be to amass as many sets as is practical for archival and posterity, and if I'm able to share them with others in need along the way I'm always pleased to do so. I never ask for financial compensation when I share a recovery CD set, unless I'm asked to burn and mail disks. I merely request that you own the ThinkPad with the appropriate CoA label you intend to use any restore sets you acquire from me on, for appropriate software licensing purposes, and read and understand the notice above.

I've hesitated posting something like this until now but wanted to make everyone generally aware of what sets I have, for two reasons: 1) in case someone needs a set, they know exactly what I have that I can provide, and 2) in case someone out there has a set I do NOT already have and is willing to share it with me for the purposes I mentioned earlier, that they can do so.

Please be aware that I do not have every model of ThinkPad that I have software for to test these on. While I do my best to ensure software I have archived is functional in its intended application, I cannot guarantee that the recovery set listed for your model will work for you. Please be sure to back up any data on your system before attempting a recovery. Also please understand that I am unable to provide specific or detailed guidance or support on the recovery process for each model. If you have questions about the restore process, I encourage you to start a thread on the message boards to allow the rest of the community to contribute - and to allow others who may come after you to search and find suggestions to issues they may encounter as well.

There are 5 different types of recovery that I host:

1) Hard disk image of a working system with factory install: just what it sounds like, a HDD image file of a working install from an original hard drive that was never erased after being shipped from the factory. I create these with either an Acronis live or CloneZilla boot disk (for imaging systems with the HDD installed) or (for loose HDDs connected directly to a host system, e.g. with a USB-IDE adapter) bit-by-bit copies using IsoBuster. For Acronis or CloneZilla images, they should be restored with the appropriate software boot disk on the destination system with the image connected to external media (e.g. a USB flash or hard disk drive). For bit-by-bit copies of images created with IsoBuster, these can be restored using Win32DiskImager, freely available from SourceForge.

2) Factory recovery CD/DVD image: Lenovo and IBM shipped factory recovery disks with all the software packaged and scripted install processes to prepare new system hard disks of product lines for end-users. These contain all software and drivers available for that model, and when running the recovery program, the software detects what hardawre is present and custom-tailors the installed drivers and programs for that system (e.g. for systems with a DVD drive, it would install DVD software - those without would not get it). This process usually takes 1-3 hours due to the need to decompress and install each application behind-the-scenes as it analyzes the hardware. When this process is complete the recovery software creates a hard disk image and saves it to a recovery partition on the drive for much quicker recovery by the end user later on (a 15-20 minute process instead of hours). These should be burned to appropriate optical storage media (CD or DVD - rewritables usually work if the system is new enough to read them) using an ISO recording utility. I usually use ImgBurn.

3) "Create Recovery Media" CD/DVD image: this is a backup of the recovery image created by the factory recovery process I described above, that the end-user can create with a system with an unmolested factory installation. It would be missing the comprehensive collection of unused drivers/software that come with the factory recovery media so if it was used on "similar" but non-identical systems to that from which it was created, certain drivers and associated programs might be missing. See my DVD software example above. Again, I use ImgBurn to record these to disk.

4) USB recovery creator files: in recent years, ThinkPads don't have optical drives and recovery is usually done from a bootable USB drive. Lenovo has a tool to format, partition and prepare a bootable USB flash drive with all the recovery files for systems with the correct collection of said files for a given system. This is just like #2 above, but a "modern" version. The Lenovo USB Recovery Creator tool is freely available from Lenovo's website.

5) USB recovery image: similar to a hard disk image, it's a disk image of an already prepared USB recovery disk. I extract these with ISOBuster and write these to USB flash drives using the aforementioned Win32DiskImager.

With that said, here's my current inventory of software recovery ISOs, hard disk and USB flash disk images (US English unless otherwise noted):

Early IBM models - 200, 300, 500, 600, 700 and 800 series:
240, Windows 95
240, Windows 98
240X, Windows 98
310ED, Windows 95
340CSE, Windows ("Diskette Factory" images)
355, Windows 3.1 ("Create recovery media" diskette images)
360C, Windows 3.1 (Norwegian, HDD Image)
365XD, Diskette Factory images (DOS, Win3.1, NT3.51/4.0, OS/2 and Windows 95)
380/380D, Windows 95
380E/ED, Windows 95
380XD, Windows 95
385XD, Windows 98
390, Windows 98 (German)
390E, Windows 95 (English, German and Dutch)
390E, Windows 98 (English, German and Dutch)
390X, Windows 95
390X, Windows 98 SE
510CS, Windows 3.1 (German, HDD Image)
560Z, Windows NT4 (German)
570, Windows 95
570, Windows 98
570, Windows NT4
560Z, Windows 95 (German, HDD Image)
560Z, Windows 98 (English and German)
570E, Windows 2000
570E, Windows NT4
600, Windows NT4
600, Windows 98
600, Windows 95 (US and UK English)
600E, Windows 95 (includes boot floppy from 600 - may work, not tested)
600E, Windows 98
600E, Windows NT4
600X, Windows 95
600X, Windows 98
600X, Windows NT4
600X, Windows 2000
701c and OS/2, Windows 3.11 (US and UK English)
701c, Windows 3.11 without OS/2 (HDD Image)
730T/TE, 3.11
755c, Windows 3.11 (HDD Image)
755CD, unsure of OS (Either 3.11 and/or 95)
760C/CD, Windows 3.1 and OS/2 (German)
760XD, Windows 95 (German)
760XL, Windows 95 (English and German)
770, Windows 95 (English and German)
770ED, Windows 95
770X, Windows 98, German
770Z, Windows 98
820, Windows NT 3.51
850, AIX 4


Late IBM, 2-digit model A, T, R, X and Z series:
A20m, Windows 2000
A20m, Windows NT4
A20p, Windows 95
A20p, Windows 98 SE
A21m, Windows NT4
A21m, Windows 98 SE
A21e, Windows 98 SE (English and Spanish)
A21m, Windows 2000
A21p, Windows 2000
A22m, Windows 2000
A22m, Windows 98 SE (HDD Image)
A22p, Windows NT4
A22p, Windows 2000
A30/A30p, Windows 2000
A30/A30p, XP Pro
A31/A31p, Windows 2000
A31/A31p, XP Pro (English and German)
i1200, Windows ME
i1400, Windows 98 (German)
i1400, Windows 98
i1500, Windows 2000
G40, XP Pro (English and German)
R31, XP Home
R31, XP Pro
R40, XP Pro
R50, XP Pro
R52 (Intel GMA), XP Pro ("Create Recovery Media" ISOs)
R61, XP Pro ("Create recovery media" ISOs)
S30, Windows 2000, Japanese
T20, Windows 95
T20, Windows 98
T20, Windows NT4
T20, Windows 2000
T21, Windows 98
T21, Windows NT4 (English and German)
T21, Windows 2000 (English and German)
T22, Windows NT4
T22, Windows 98 SE (English and French)
T22, Windows 2000
T22, Linux
T23, Windows 2000
T23, XP Pro
T30, Windows 2000
T30, XP Pro
T40, XP Pro
T41/R50, XP Pro (English and German)
T42/R51, XP Pro (English and German)
T43 (Intel and ATi models), XP Pro (English and German)
T43/R52 (Intel), XP Home ("Create Recovery Media" ISOs) (German)
T60, XP Pro (English and German)
T60/T60p, Vista Business x86
T61, Vista Business x86
T61p, XP Pro ("Create recovery media" ISOs)
TransNote, Windows 98
TransNote, Windows 2000
X20, Windows 98 SE
X20, Windows NT4 (English and Japanese)
X20, Windows 2000 (English and Japanese)
X21, Windows 98 SE (Japanese)
X23/X24, XP Pro
X30, Windows 2000
X30, XP Pro
X31, XP Pro (English and German)
X32, XP Pro (German)
X40, XP Pro
X41, XP Pro
X41T, XP Pro
X60/X60s, XP Pro
X60T, XP Tablet (German)
X61, XP Pro
X61s, Vista Home Basic x86
X61T, XP Tablet (German)
X61T, Vista Business x86 ("Create Recovery Media" ISOs)
Z50 WorkPad, Windows CE (Applications/User Guide and Desktop Software)
Z60m/Z60t, XP Pro
Z61p/Z61z/Z61t, XP Pro
Z61p/Z61m/Z61t, Vista Business x86

Lenovo Models - three-digit E, P, T, W and X series:
Edge 15, Windows 7 Pro x86
E330/335, Windows 8 Pro x64 - German
E550, Windows 10 (USB Recovery Disk Image)
E560, Windows 10 (USB Recovery Disk Image)
SL300/400/500, XP Pro ("Create recovery media" ISOs) - Czech
SL300/400/500, Vista Business x86 - English/Czech
T400/T500, XP Pro
T400/T500, Vista Business x86
T400/T500, Vista Business x64
T400/T500, Vista Ultimate x86
T400/T500, Windows 7 Home x86
T400/T500, Windows 7 Pro x86
T400/T500, Windows 7 Ultimate x64
T410/T510, XP Pro ("Create recovery media" ISOs)
T410/T510, Windows 7 Pro x86
T410/T510/W510, Windows 7 Pro x64
T420 (presumably T520/W520 as well), Windows 7 Pro x64
T530 (presumably T430/W530 as well), Windows 7 Pro x64 ("Create recovery media" ISOs)
T430/T530/W530/X230, Windows 8 Pro x64 (English and Russian)
T440p, Windows 7 Pro x64 ("Create recovery media" ISOs)
T540p/W540/W541, Windows 7 Pro x64
T450, Windows 8.1 Pro x64 (USB Flash Drive image)
T550, Windows 7 Pro x64 ("Create recovery media" ISOs)
T460, Windows 10 Pro x64 (USB Flash Drive creator files)
T460, Windows 7 Pro x64 ("Create recovery media" ISOs)
T470/T25, Windows 10 Pro x64 (USB Flash Drive image)
T480, Windows 10 Pro x64
T580, Windows 10 Pro x64 - Engish/Dutch/Italian/French
T490, Windows 10 Pro x64
Tablet 10, Windows 8.1 Pro ("Create recovery media" USB image) - English/Czech
W700ds, Windows XP Pro ("Create recovery media" ISOs)
W700/W700ds, Windows Vista Business x64 ("Create recovery media" ISOs)
W700/W700ds, Windows 7 Pro x64 ("Create recovery media" ISOs)
X200/X300/X301, Windows 7 Pro x86
X200/X300/X301, Windows 7 Pro x64 - English/German/Italian/French
X200/X300/X301, Windows XP Pro
X300, Vista Business x86
X301, Vista Business x86 ("Create recovery media" ISOs)
X201T, Windows 7 Pro x86
X220, Windows 7 Pro ("Create recovery media" ISOs) - English/Czech
X230, Windows 7 Pro x64

Lenovo Models - two-digit E, P, T, W and X series:\
L14/15 G2, Windows 10 Pro x64
L14/15 G3 (AMD), Windows 11 Pro x64
T14/15 G1, Windows 10 Pro x64
T14/15 G2, Windows 10 Pro x64
T16 G2, Windows 10 Pro x64
T16 G2, Windows 11 Pro x64
P50, Windows 7 Pro x64, German ("Create recovery media" ISOs)
P51, Windows 10 Pro x64 - English/Dutch/Italian/French
P52, Windows 10 Home x64 - English/Dutch/Italian/French
P73, Windows 10
P14s G3 AMD, Windows 10 Pro x64
P14s, G3 AMD, Windows 11 Pro x64
P15 G1, Windows 10 Pro x64
P15 G2 (Intel), Windows 11 Pro x64
P16s G2 (AMD), Windows 11 Pro x64
X13 Yoga G3, Windows 10 Pro x64
X13 Yoga G3, Windows 11 Pro x64

BIOS Mods
No-1802
T60 SLIC2.1/removed wifi whitelist
Middleton's BIOS for T61/R61/X61
X300/X301 Dual IDA/SLIC2.1/removed wifi whitelist
X200/201, X301, T400/500/W500,W701 wifi whitelist removed
X220, T420/520/W520 removed wifi whitelist

If you need one of these, have something I do not and are willing to share, or are willing to test a recovery set for which the OS/Language details I am unsure of, please let me know! Again, please be aware of the conditions on receipt of recovery media on this list, provided at the beginning of the post.

[Lister]

PM send

[zenstalker12]

PM Sent and thank you.

[BubbaMc]

Thank you very much for doing this for the community!

[TheForgottenKing]

I believe I have the original 701C floppies, however I am unable to test at the moment as my A31p is not working yet. I'll update you if you want each file separately, assuming you don't already have it

[theterminator93]

I've got some files that look like they might be used to create a recovery, but no floppy disk images. If they check out I'd be happy to receive them!

[pkiff]

This is a very helpful and generous service, theterminator93, thanks!

If I am able to find some of my old recovery disks, I'll check to see if I have any that aren't already in your list. I know that I have some for the X60T/X61T somewhere, but they've not surfaced out of my mess of storage boxes for a couple years now.

Phil.

[Trickfan277]

Hi,
I used to rebuild laptops in the early 90s and I still have quite a few Think Pads that I'm working on refurbishing but I'm missing some of the original recovery CD's for the 600x and 600e if you can get back to me please I do have quite a few recovery CDs for other models and am happy to share them with you. I need to go through it all to know exactly what I have in storage. I know I have at least 7-10 self booting recovery images that put the Windows on very quickly example 380z,760L,760XL,760XD,760E, much more including user manuals and most all legacy IBM Laptop Service Manuals, etc. I look forward to hearing from you and getting these up and running again. BTW, I really like your 600x with the 850P3, very nice!
Thanks,
Trickfan277

[theterminator93]

I'd be happy to share what I have for the 600 series. I have two sets for the 600 and two for the 600X; nothing explicitly for the 600E unfortunately (yet, anyway! ).

I'll send a PM with a link shortly.

If you come across anything that you're willing to share, I'd be very grateful!

[GMGolds]

PM Sent!

[martin_boro]

PM sent, restore sets downloaded and work great!

10/10. Would restore again!

[NKVD1934]

I send pm for the 380z restore CD...

[cracamato]

Hola, podria enviar PM Lenovo x201 Tablet. Gracias.-

[cracamato]

Hi, is this posible send me link Recovery CD Lenovo thinkpad x201 tablet ? Thanks.-

[BillMorrow]

Hola, podria enviar PM Lenovo x201 Tablet. Gracias.-

hola cracamato, por favor habla ingles en este foro..

[ArtiomWin]

I've got PM, thanks

[thinkpad3]

PM’d Thanks for the help

[Gajdem]

PM send

[fatkatsupra1]

If you have the media for A31M I would greatly appreciate it!

[jsphillips86]

PM Sent

[mrtaufner]

How can I favorite a topic? Thanks a lot!

Will send PM with request later

[rheacox]

This is hugely helpful, thanks for doing this! PM will be sent soon.

[robi8080]

PM send. Thanks

[H-Atkinson]

PM sent, thank you for offering this service.

[pm2960]

PM sent --- Thank you very much for your efforts in making this available !

[trondl]

PM sent. Thanks!

[cokomoko]

PM send, thanks.

[Luuk813]

PM has been sent, thanks in advance!

[BillMorrow]

commenting here to add that i promised to sort through the remaining recovery sets i have accumulated since about 1995 and FedEx them to theterminator93..
in sorting out the personal CD's from the recovery CD's i was launched on a cleaning spree of my office and i keep finding more recovery sets (some original, some copies) tucked here and there.. even one for one of the S30 thinkpads but while THAT thinkpad is a rare english version that recovery set is in japanese..!
since it took about 12 years for my office to get into the state it was in when i started it is taking some time and effort to clean up (to the point my shredder broke and i had to fix it!) and uncover the remaining recovery sets but progress IS being made and i WILL be sending this OP (theterminator93) the remaining recovery sets i have in my possession..
so i think his list might expand, somewhat..

[Radioguy]

commenting here to add that i promised to sort through the remaining recovery sets i have accumulated since about 1995 and FedEx them to theterminator93..
in sorting out the personal CD's from the recovery CD's i was launched on a cleaning spree of my office and i keep finding more recovery sets (some original, some copies) tucked here and there.. even one for one of the S30 thinkpads but while THAT thinkpad is a rare english version that recovery set is in japanese..!
since it took about 12 years for my office to get into the state it was in when i started it is taking some time and effort to clean up (to the point my shredder broke and i had to fix it!) and uncover the remaining recovery sets but progress IS being made and i WILL be sending this OP (theterminator93) the remaining recovery sets i have in my possession..
so i think his list might expand, somewhat..

Thanks Bill.