Windows 8 Preview.

LaVail · 15-09-2011 09:38PM

I can't allocate 1536Mb of ram as per the instructions. I can only give it 1024Mb so maybe that's what's causing the crash

yoyo · 15-09-2011 09:47PM

LaVail wrote: »

I can't allocate 1536Mb of ram as per the instructions. I can only give it 1024Mb so maybe that's what's causing the crash

Try allocate it 1024 see what happens, I allocated mine 2gig+ of RAM, so ram allocation is not important

Found the *vdi and made it primary master and then iso the secondary but I still get a critical error at the same stage of the install. I think I'll leave it for now and come back to it later on and re-do the whole thing.

Is the critical error during windows setup or VirtualBox?

Nick

LaVail · 15-09-2011 09:54PM

LIGHTNING wrote: »

I got mine running with less than 900mb of RAM. I had to change a setting in the laptops BIOS in order to get it to run. I was trying everything to get it working.

Good on ya! I'm pulling my hair out here

yoyo wrote: »

Try allocate it 1024 see what happens, I allocated mine 2gig+ of RAM, so ram allocation is not important

Is the critical error during windows setup or VirtualBox?

Nick

Tried it with 1024 and same result. The critical error is a virtualbox one. Fails every time right after "windows 8 loading" > blue microsoft installation screen "language US/British english etc" fails at that part

here is pic of storage settings.. vdi=primary master iso= secondary master

LaVail · 15-09-2011 10:22PM

LIGHTNING wrote: »

I was sure it was something wrong with my image so I downloaded the 64bit version. Then I realised that the crappy test laptop didn't have a 64bit CPU

lol I was thinking too that it has to be a corrupt iso seeing as though I have basically tried all other settings/options. I don't think I could face into downloading the ISO again because the first two times I tried to download, both failed...one at 2.4GB and the other at 1.8GB :eek: Then when I couldn't recover the download I installed download manager and had to install the whole 2.83GB iso again.....

All this downloading on a three midband dongle with an average speed of 700kbps! Ive come this far only to fall short at the final hurdle

Will take a coffee break and come back to it because maybe I'm missing something that's right in front of me.

stevenmu · 15-09-2011 10:52PM

I found instructions on how to install to a VHD (virtual disk image) that you can then actually boot from at this site:
http://www.hanselman.com/blog/GuideToInstallingAndBootingWindows8DeveloperPreviewOffAVHDVirtualHardDisk.aspx

It saves having to repartition (or install over a current OS). And it means that you're running it 'on the metal' rather than through a virtual machine, but with all the convenience of using a VHD volume rather then messing with partitions.

(note: the exact instructions in the link didn't work for me, installation kept failing when I used the Windows 7 tool to create a bootable USB key, so I used unetbootin instead and that worked perfectly)

From a quick bit of playing, I love Windows 8. I love the UI (being a Windows Phone 7 user may help) and can't wait to get it on a tablet. IE 10 is blisteringly quick.

AlmightyCushion · 16-09-2011 02:26AM

I'm running this on my dell studio with a T3200 processor (2Ghz dual core), 4GBs ram, intel integrated graphics and a 5400RPM drive. It's running very well which isn't surprising as it ran windows 7 just fine. Boot up and shutdown times are very good though. It shuts down in about 5 seconds. Startup is great as well. Once it gets past the bios screen it takes about 8 seconds to show me the lock screen and another second or two to show me the start menu. Great stuff.

Graphically it's a bit sluggish but that's because I don't have a driver for the graphics card yet.

MrVestek · 16-09-2011 10:25AM

To be honest I had loads of hassle trying to get it to run in VirtualBox.

I eventually just installed it on a spare partition.

LaVail · 16-09-2011 12:21PM

Finally got it to install last night. All settings were correct but still it wouldn't work so I decided to disconnect my 3 midband modem from the internet and give it one last try, sure enough it worked first time lol. Don't know if being connected to the internet while trying to install on virtual box is a school boy error or what but disconnecting was the only thing that seemed to be stopping my installation.

Odaise Gaelach · 16-09-2011 01:18PM

It took me three hours to find working graphics drivers for my iMac. It's not supported by Bootcamp (thank you Apple) and normally the drivers would just be downloaded by Windows 7 Update.

No such luck with Windows 8. In the end I had to re-install Windows 7 and download the drivers from Windows Update. While they were installing I nipped into the SoftwareDistribution folder and copied them from that. I re-installed Windows 8 and they worked, so I'm nearly up and running completely.

Dman001 · 16-09-2011 09:14PM

Guys I need a bitta help:

I installed Windows 8 over Windows stupidly by mistake. Now I wan to revert back to Windows 7. I thought I had a System Restore of Windows 7, but long story short I don't. And I have no Restore Discs. I'm pretty frigged!!

So what would be my best option? Getting hold of the Windows 7 Disc?

G-Money · 16-09-2011 10:13PM

I'm somewhat surprised they seem to have jettisoned the the video drivers for my graphics card in Windows 8 seeing my laptop is only 3 years old. Was stuck with a generic driver and the updated drivers from Dell wouldn't install, and expanding the driver folder, Windows wouldn't install it from there either.

MrVestek · 16-09-2011 11:23PM

Dman001 wrote: »

Guys I need a bitta help:

I installed Windows 8 over Windows stupidly by mistake. Now I wan to revert back to Windows 7. I thought I had a System Restore of Windows 7, but long story short I don't. And I have no Restore Discs. I'm pretty frigged!!

So what would be my best option? Getting hold of the Windows 7 Disc?

The serial for Windows should be on the bottom of your laptop, see if you can borrow a copy of Windows 7 off of a mate in order to reinstall.

Dman001 · 16-09-2011 11:38PM

Achilles wrote: »

The serial for Windows should be on the bottom of your laptop, see if you can borrow a copy of Windows 7 off of a mate in order to reinstall.

Yep it is, I'll have to go that route so. See people, that's why it's important to set up a System Restore and Backup!

BeciMester · 17-09-2011 12:20AM

Dual booting Win8 with Win7 on my main PC. I like the way it sets up the boot menu automatically. Win8 seems fast and stable, even new(ish) games run fine. The Metro UI goes on my nerves though, thanks for the turnoff link on the previous page.

I sure hope they make it optional in the final release, it's useless on a PC. Also, ribbon menus need to die, fast.
...
Haha, look what Google threw up: Metro Controller FTW

Dman001 · 17-09-2011 01:04AM

I like the Ribbon interface in Office, not sure if it works within the main OS though. Windows Mobile 7 is a great little OS so have great confidence Windows 8 will work great on Tablets. And WM7 appears on Nokia devices soon, Microsoft might be back in the Mobile/Tablet game.

G-Money · 17-09-2011 11:02AM

I like the fullscreen IE 10 but found it a bit awkward to use. The only way I could bring up the address bar was to right click my mouse, although I didn't spend a lot of time trying to work it out.

Same goes for trying to shutdown the PC, it wasn't immediately obvious how to do that.

I also wanted to kind of stick with the Metro UI but I had questions like, how do I run a newly installed program? Does it appear as one of these tiles?

I'm tempted to re-install it again tbh, but I think it would have to be a dual boot setup this time.

5uspect · 17-09-2011 08:57PM

Installed this today on a crappy old Dell Latitude D610. Installed fine except for audio and video drivers so it felt a bit sluggish. The wifi kept dropping out but appeared to run fine otherwise.

I don't mind the Metro interface but I think replacing the Start menu with it is a terrible idea as it displaces a lot of functionality. It's much like LaunchPad in OS X Lion and should have a unique way of accessing it (and ignoring it if you want)

Having to use the start menu hot corner to go to settings to shut it down is awful on a laptop or PC.

The Ribbon interface in explorer is clunky and ugly but I never liked that interface. The new task manager is interesting, lots of information in big clear tables and graphs.

Overall there seems to be some impressive work done to the nuts and bolts but the UI is going the wrong direction IMO.

Overheal · 17-09-2011 08:59PM

patwicklow · 17-09-2011 09:00PM

I still have xp what am i missing?

TiGeR KiNgS · 17-09-2011 09:51PM

if people are having trouble with getting this working on Virtual box try this link

http://www.howtogeek.com/74515/how-to-test-drive-windows-8-in-virtualbox/

dmm1000 · 17-09-2011 11:17PM

Installed here on an old P4 1GB Ram

works great for everything so far except ONE really annoying problem

Powered USB External Drive is recognised OK

But both 4GB USB Flash Drive & 150 GB unpowered portable 2.5" external drive are not recognised

powered drives seemingly it can "see" & unpowered it seems it can not - anyone else facing this issue ?

Capt'n Midnight · 18-09-2011 12:12AM

patwicklow wrote: »

I still have xp what am i missing?

It's a developer preview.
It's not alpha yet
It's not beta yet - at that stage it would be only unstable
It's not gold
It's not had it's first service pack - windows 95 / NT4 took a few service packs to be reasonably reliable

So it's a preview of what the OS may look like , but it's not ready for production use. So when it's released and you can afford to pay for a license and your computer can run it, only then may you be missing something.

But if you just browse then you aren't missing anything

Threads merged.

pickarooney · 18-09-2011 09:38PM

I haven't enough free space on my main hard drive to install this. I can't seem to find a way of selecting my secondary hard drive for the Win8 partition.

I'm a little confused about adding IDE/SATA controllers and disks also. I have three hard drives - 2 on SATA connectors and one (the one I want to use) on IDE.

dmm1000 · 19-09-2011 01:49PM

providing they dont introduce a "timebomb" or expiry date this W8 preview this version is stable and currently does most of the things i need it to ..... a functional windows OS for free ........

Zascar · 19-09-2011 02:16PM

I must give this another go - cause most people here seem to really like it but I thought it was rubbish! I really do not like the metro thing. Seems more flashy crap than substance. Clicking on any of the apps give you a splash screen for a few seconds before the thing pops up. How annoying! Looks nice the first few times but when are they going to learn people want things to happen fast with minimal fuss! They seem to have taken a lot of the control away which I do not like. Maybe I just need to spend more time on it...

Odaise Gaelach · 19-09-2011 02:52PM

I quite like it. It definitely takes a lot of getting used to, but I find that it's not too bad.

Of course, it isn't even a beta version so there's bound to be things that are fixed and implemented in the final version. So far so good, though.

Capt'n Midnight · 19-09-2011 06:58PM

dmm1000 wrote: »

providing they dont introduce a "timebomb" or expiry date this W8 preview this version is stable and currently does most of the things i need it to ..... a functional windows OS for free ........

eh all windows demos time out :rolleyes:
windows 95 preview expired in November 95

microsoft didn't get to have $50Bn in petty cash by being a charity
don't expect the desktop OS to be cheap unless their market share crashes. While BSD/Linux etc are free, Mac OSX is €30. Full retail windows 7 ultimate is about 10 times that.

Rambo · 20-09-2011 03:03PM

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

eh all windows demos time out :rolleyes:
windows 95 preview expired in November 95

microsoft didn't get to have $50Bn in petty cash by being a charity
don't expect the desktop OS to be cheap unless their market share crashes. While BSD/Linux etc are free, Mac OSX is €30. Full retail windows 7 ultimate is about 10 times that.

Windows Developer Preview

run out on 12/03/2012

Plenty of time to test it out

installed it vmware workstation 8 without any hassle

Plowman · 20-09-2011 06:12PM

This post has been deleted.

21-09-2011 11:17PM

I'm in two minds about whether to try this or not, I'm usually very slow at adapting to new systems.

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

If he had more ram, his would probably show a similar amount of usage to yours. Windows vista, 7 and I assume 8 start loading things that you use often into un-used memory so that they will start up quicker. It's a good thing that you have high memory usage not a bad thing.

The way the Task Manager has worked since Vista is that the Memory graph only shows your physical RAM usage, not physical+virtual. So the more RAM you have, the more likely you are to see it at a higher value. The Commit value in the System column is more akin to what XP would have shown as this includes everything.

Windows 8 Preview.

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