Windows 8 release to the public is almost here

Dee: Posts: 12810; Posted on: 25 Oct 12 22:46

At £24.99 for the download version, I may just give it a try.

ChristineBCW: Posts: 1299; Posted on: 25 Oct 12 22:54

The bigger choice may be Pro vs. Standard, I think. The Enterprise version will be standard in corporate environments, but the Pro's BitLocker and joining in Windows Domain seem to be the bigger calling card.

Plus there are Upgrade restrictions.

cyborg: Posts: 22; Posted on: 25 Oct 12 22:58

flop of the decade

Dee: Posts: 12810; Posted on: 26 Oct 12 01:11

It looks like it's 12am 26th wherever you are located.
Win8 Pro download just became available here in the UK.

negritude: Posts: 4766; Posted on: 26 Oct 12 08:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChristineBCW

The bigger choice may be Pro vs. Standard, I think. The Enterprise version will be standard in corporate environments, but the Pro's BitLocker and joining in Windows Domain seem to be the bigger calling card.

Plus there are Upgrade restrictions.

Not really a choice. Pro is the baseline for anyone (consumer) upgrading. Core (Standard) is only something that will be pre-installed on machines.

BradWright: Posts: 225; Posted on: 26 Oct 12 21:46

A little info for anyone planning to buy the downloadable upgrade. I bought it using a computer at work because we have a 100-Mb/Sec internet speed, but I panicked after the download was finished. Microsoft updates the download status a few times during the download. First is downloading, then verifying, and the third one is "Preparing Files", so I thought, oh shit, it's going to automatically install on this computer. But then after a couple minutes, it popped up another window that gave the choice to either (1) install it, (2) install by creating an ISO, or (3) install later from the desktop. I selected two, it saved an ISO image to the location of my choice, and also had a link to open the DVD burner to burn an installation disk. Worked perfectly. Now I just have to install it (and StartIsBack) on my computer when I get home.

BradWright: Posts: 225; Posted on: 27 Oct 12 05:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by BradWright

A little info for anyone planning to buy the downloadable upgrade. I bought it using a computer at work because we have a 100-Mb/Sec internet speed, but I panicked after the download was finished. Microsoft updates the download status a few times during the download. First is downloading, then verifying, and the third one is "Preparing Files", so I thought, oh shit, it's going to automatically install on this computer. But then after a couple minutes, it popped up another window that gave the choice to either (1) install it, (2) install by creating an ISO, or (3) install later from the desktop. I selected two, it saved an ISO image to the location of my choice, and also had a link to open the DVD burner to burn an installation disk. Worked perfectly. Now I just have to install it (and StartIsBack) on my computer when I get home.

Well, I guess it didn't work out all that perfectly after all. All three downloads turned out to be 32-bit versions, which I don't want, because my three systems are all multi-core 64-bit computers. I called Microsoft customer service and was told the overwhelming demand caused a glitch in the system, and people weren't being given the option to select 32- or 64-bit downloads, and that I should wait about 24 hours and do my downloads again. They said it would be fixed, and I would be able to select which version I want. Well, here's to tomorrow and downloading again. Hope it works.

FreqNasty_RiseS: Posts: 165; Posted on: 28 Oct 12 15:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by cyborg

flop of the decade

I put the start menu back in as I'm not ready to go without that right now.
There are some welcome improvements to windows explorer and the task manager.
Handles dual OS much better than w7. Starts up quicker. IE10 is solid.
You can avoid the metro part of it and get an improved windows 7.

alan1476: Posts: 18358; Posted on: 28 Oct 12 15:43

I just found out you can install the upgrade on a clean hdd and it will install as the full version.

BradWright: Posts: 225; Posted on: 28 Oct 12 16:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by alan1476

I just found out you can install the upgrade on a clean hdd and it will install as the full version.

I tried installing the downloaded upgrade version on a partition running the Windows 8 RTM trial, fully expecting that it wouldn't install, but it installed and activated just fine. When the installation first started, the only option was to save nothing, but it put my old profile, programs, etc., into a Windows.old folder, So I copied everything (except the Windows folder) from that folder into the new folders, and not only did I have all my personal settings back, but all but two of the programs worked as well. What was really weird is that although the programs worked, they weren't listed in Programs and Features, so I reinstalled them anyway to get them listed. Then I downloaded my Apps from the Windows store and was fully back up and running with Windows 8 Pro within a couple of hours.

xorsists: Posts: 389; Posted on: 28 Oct 12 16:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by alan1476

I just found out you can install the upgrade on a clean hdd and it will install as the full version.

I can confirm the upgrade can be used as a clean install and will activate also did it on two pcs.

if you do an upgrade windows 8 also has the option after the upgrade to boot the disc again and select repair computer advanced options reset computer and t it removes everything windows.old folder ect just like a clean install a nice feature.

Nemesys: Posts: 1349; Posted on: 28 Oct 12 19:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by FreqNasty_RiseS

I put the start menu back in as I'm not ready to go without that right now.
There are some welcome improvements to windows explorer and the task manager.
Handles dual OS much better than w7. Starts up quicker. IE10 is solid.
You can avoid the metro part of it and get an improved windows 7.

Well said!!!
It sums it up perfectly.
This mirrors my sentiments based on similar experiences.

roadworker: Posts: 931; Posted on: 28 Oct 12 20:56

You can make it look and act the way you want.......
IMHO,it's not the flop of the decade,you don't need Metro if you don't like it......

Nemesys: Posts: 1349; Posted on: 29 Oct 12 13:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by alan1476

I just found out you can install the upgrade on a clean hdd and it will install as the full version.

Hi Alan.

Any special steps required for this?

Nemesys: Posts: 1349; Posted on: 31 Oct 12 13:21

Has anyone else succeeded in doing a clean install with Windows 8 upgrade?

The local CompUSA is running Windows 8 Pro Upgrade at $69.99 with an 120GB OCZ Vertez 3 SSD at $39.99 (after $20 mail-in-rebate) if purchased on the same ticket.

I'd like to step into this if it does work as such.

Thanks

Dee: Posts: 12810; Posted on: 31 Oct 12 13:39

I found you can easily do a clean install to a new HDD/SSD but it won't activate.

Best way is to do a quick very basic install of XP/Vista/Win7 (don't even bother updating or installing drivers), then update from there using the "keep nothing" option.
Once Win8 is installed and activated, you can delete the "Windows old" folder than was created during the Win 8 install.

Nemesys: Posts: 1349; Posted on: 31 Oct 12 13:58

Thanks Dee.

That was my alternate solution.

It appears to me hit or miss on the clean install. Some were successfull and other not so on the activation.

Do I even bother to activate the Windows 7 install?

Seán: Posts: 9650; Posted on: 31 Oct 12 14:08

I've Windows 8 running in a separate partition. I started with the upgrade assistant in Windows 7 and selected the "Keep nothing" option. After it created the bootable USB stick which I then booted, I chose the "Custom (Advanced)" installation, selected the unpartitioned space on my SSD containing Windows 7 and after the installation completed, it gave a boot menu with the choice of Windows 7 & 8.

As a result, I can continue using my existing Windows 7 or the clean Windows 8 installation. It activated successfully.

While the OS Choice menu looks nice, the only thing I don't like about it is that it reboots the PC to go back into Windows 7. For example, if I want to boot into Windows 7, I must first wait for my PC to POST and load the OS choice screen. When I choose "Windows 7", the PC reboots and must wait for the POST process again before it boots into Windows 7. Finally, when I shutdown (or reboot), the OS choice screen appears again the next time the PC is booted. When Windows 8 is chosen in the OS choice screen, the Start (Metro) screen appears pretty much instantly.

Dee: Posts: 12810; Posted on: 31 Oct 12 14:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nemesys

Do I even bother to activate the Windows 7 install?

My Win7 install was activated. No idea if it needs to be activated or not.

Nemesys: Posts: 1349; Posted on: 31 Oct 12 16:51

Thanks Dee.
Thanks Seán.

Heck it only takes a minute to activate anyway. I'll just activate it.
I just picked up the Windows 8 Pro/OCZ 120GB SSD combo from CompUSA ($139 after taxes).

Seán, I use an ICY DOCK mobile rack to swap out the drives, keeping the OSes completely isolated.

If I have to, I'll drop Windows 7 on the new SSD and activate it before upgrading to Windows 8 using the "Keep Nothing" option Dee mentioned above.

roadworker: Posts: 931; Posted on: 31 Oct 12 17:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seán

As a result, I can continue using my existing Windows 7 or the clean Windows 8 installation. It activated successfully..

Same strategy here....

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seán

While the OS Choice menu looks nice, the only thing I don't like about it is that it reboots the PC to go back into Windows 7. For example, if I want to boot into Windows 7, I must first wait for my PC to POST and load the OS choice screen. When I choose "Windows 7", the PC reboots and must wait for the POST process again before it boots into Windows 7. Finally, when I shutdown (or reboot), the OS choice screen appears again the next time the PC is booted. When Windows 8 is chosen in the OS choice screen, the Start (Metro) screen appears pretty much instantly.

Try with win 7 as default in the windows 8 msconfig-->computer startup setting....

Liggy: Posts: 8212; Posted on: 31 Oct 12 19:12

In Windows 7 there was a trick, modifying one registry key to allow activating fresh installs with an upgrade key. I also found reports that this trick will still work on Windows 8.

You just need to change the registry value HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersionsetup/OOBE/MediaBootInstall from 1 to 0 and run the command "slmgr /rearm" with elevated rights.

Seán: Posts: 9650; Posted on: 31 Oct 12 20:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by roadworker

Try with win 7 as default in the windows 8 msconfig-->computer startup setting....

Thanks, that worked.

That also saves going through two POSTs just to reboot Windows 7.

roadworker: Posts: 931; Posted on: 01 Nov 12 00:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seán

That also saves going through two POSTs just to reboot Windows 7.

I know.......and windows 8 boots directly to it's own partition after selecting the os in the "old" win 7 bootmanager....

Windows 8 release to the public is almost here

24 Comments on Windows 8 release to the public is almost here

Windows 8 release to the public is almost here

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