Wndows 8 Info

Multiple and useful sources for Windows 8

Microsoft resources:
------------------------
Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant (download, run without purchasing or installing Winn8 - similar to the Win7 Upgrade Advisor)
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...e-to-windows-8
- click the option (Download the Upgrade Assistant)
or
- direct link for the executable *.exe file http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=261871

Windows 8 Jump Start Series
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/jj687764

Windows 8 Springboard Series
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/w.../hh771457.aspx


PC World Article (‘Get to know Windows 8)
- Good resource for new users or those not familiar with Win8
http://www.computerworld.com/s/artic..._8_cheat_sheet


New Installation with Upgrade Media not possible
-i.e. Clean install to bare drive not possible with Windows 8 Upgrade version
http://www.ghacks.net/2012/07/04/win...-not-possible/


General comments on the available media:
--------------------------------------------------
Upgrade Media’ methods
- running setup from the Win8 Upgrade Media (DVD or USB) from within a previous Windows o/s upgrades that o/s (i.e. you can't run
setup from within a Windows o/s and upgrade another o/s present on the same system)

- booting from the Win8 Upgrade Media (DVD or USB) allows you to choose a drive as the destination to install Windows 8. The
destination drive **must have** a prior qualifying Windows install (XP, Vista, Win7) in order for the installation to occur.

- to option to format the drive during installation is *only* available when booting from the upgrade med

- Windows 8 requires NX, PAE, and SSE2

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...is-pae-nx-sse2

Quoted content on the upgrade process:
qp
Regarding installing Win8 to a blank drive using the upgrade media " According to Microsoft Communication's Manager Brandon
LeBlanc, this will no longer work with Windows 8 Upgrade Media. PC users who want to install Windows 8 using a Windows 8 Upgrade
download or media can only do so on a PC that has a previous version of Windows installed. Previous version in this regard means
any version of Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7."

Brandon LeBlanc wrote
" To upgrade, a previous version of Windows (e.g. Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7) **will need to be on that PC.**
/qp



Full version Media

- Retail DVD full version will not be available at this time from Microsoft (download or in retail stores), possibly not until
later and/or until after the current promotion period ends in 2013.

- Available as an OEM System Builder DVD from retailers or 3rd party sites (e.g Amazon, etc.)

- required to install to bare hard drive


--
....winston
msft mvp mail

"...winston" wrote in message ...

Quoted content on the upgrade process:
qp
Regarding installing Win8 to a blank drive using the upgrade media " According to Microsoft Communication's Manager
Brandon
LeBlanc, this will no longer work with Windows 8 Upgrade Media. PC users who want to install Windows 8 using a Windows
8 Upgrade
download or media can only do so on a PC that has a previous version of Windows installed. Previous version in this
regard means
any version of Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7."

Brandon LeBlanc wrote
" To upgrade, a previous version of Windows (e.g. Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7) **will need to be on that PC.**
/qp



I bought a copy of Win8 Pro from here yesterday:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w..._Home_FPP_Null

It's an 'upgrade'. The software checks your current installation and then does
a compatibility check. It'll tell you if there are any potential problems with
your installed software or hardware.

The price appears as £24.99, and once you've paid an activation key is provided.
At this point you can either install straight to your machine or choose to
download an iso file for later installation.

I chose to download the iso as I didn't want to upgrade my current Win7 machine.
After the iso was downloaded I burnt it to disc and tried a clean install on a
spare machine. I booted up, formatted the drive and did a clean install. It
installed and activated with no problems.
An operating system for £24.99 was just too good to ignore.

What was on the spare machine ?
- completely blank drive with 100% unallocated space ?



--
....winston
msft mvp mail


"Dave-UK" wrote in message ...


"...winston" wrote in message ...

Quoted content on the upgrade process:
qp
Regarding installing Win8 to a blank drive using the upgrade media " According to Microsoft Communication's Manager Brandon
LeBlanc, this will no longer work with Windows 8 Upgrade Media. PC users who want to install Windows 8 using a Windows 8 Upgrade
download or media can only do so on a PC that has a previous version of Windows installed. Previous version in this regard means
any version of Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7."

Brandon LeBlanc wrote
" To upgrade, a previous version of Windows (e.g. Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7) **will need to be on that PC.**
/qp



I bought a copy of Win8 Pro from here yesterday:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w..._Home_FPP_Null

It's an 'upgrade'. The software checks your current installation and then does
a compatibility check. It'll tell you if there are any potential problems with
your installed software or hardware.

The price appears as £24.99, and once you've paid an activation key is provided.
At this point you can either install straight to your machine or choose to
download an iso file for later installation.

I chose to download the iso as I didn't want to upgrade my current Win7 machine.
After the iso was downloaded I burnt it to disc and tried a clean install on a
spare machine. I booted up, formatted the drive and did a clean install. It
installed and activated with no problems.
An operating system for £24.99 was just too good to ignore.

"...winston" wrote in message ...
What was on the spare machine ?
- completely blank drive with 100% unallocated space ?


As I said, I formatted the drive. It was then blank.

No, what was on the drive before it was formatted

--
....winston
msft mvp mail


"Dave-UK" wrote in message ...


"...winston" wrote in message ...
What was on the spare machine ?
- completely blank drive with 100% unallocated space ?


As I said, I formatted the drive. It was then blank.

"...winston" wrote in message ...
No, what was on the drive before it was formatted



Windows 7 Pro 64 bit , I think.

Thanks. I suspected an o/s was present on the drive prior to formatting. The upgrade needs to verify an o/s before allowing one to
proceed to install.

Fyi...if you haven't seen this:

Ed Bott covers everything quite accurately
cf. http://www.zdnet.com/how-the-new-win...ou-7000003028/
qp
Note that upgrade eligibility has nothing to do with the operating system currently installed on the system when you go to perform
an upgrade. If you have a previous Windows 8 preview version installed, that doesn’t confer any upgrade rights. That sticker on the
side of the PC (or the CoA, if you installed a retail version) is the most important factor in defining the underlying license.

After I upgrade, can I use my old Windows version on a separate partition or on another PC? Can I give it away or sell it?

No. The upgrade replaces the old license completely.

The terms are written in very clear language:
"The software covered by this agreement is an upgrade to your existing operating system software, so the upgrade replaces the
original software that you are upgrading. You do not retain any rights to the original software after you have upgraded and you may
not continue to use it or transfer it in any way."

--
....winston
msft mvp mail


"Dave-UK" wrote in message ...


"...winston" wrote in message ...
No, what was on the drive before it was formatted



Windows 7 Pro 64 bit , I think.

"...winston" wrote in message ...

Thanks. I suspected an o/s was present on the drive prior to formatting. The upgrade needs to verify an o/s before
allowing one to
proceed to install.



You seem to be under the impression that a Win8 upgrade disc cannot do a clean install.
I've just tried an experiment regarding my upgrade disc.
I booted a machine from a live cd and formatted the C: drive.
So now the C: drive is empty of any Windows operating systems or remnants.
I then booted this machine with my upgrade dvd, named ESD-ISO.
This is the iso I downloaded from Microsoft after buying a license key.
The first screen asks for a language to install.
The only available one is English (United Kingdom) as opposed to the usual
English (United States).
The next screen says ' Install now'.
The next screen asks for the key.
The next screen asks to agree to the license terms.
The next screen gives me a choice of Upgrade or Custom install.
I choose Upgrade and a message box tells me to start Windows normally
and perform the upgrade from within Windows.
As there is no Windows on this drive this option obviously won't work.
I go back and select Custom install.
The next window shows drive C:

Drive 0 Partition 1 Total size 149.0 GB Free space 149.0GB Type System.

Clicking 'Next' starts installing Windows 8.
So you can do a clean install with the upgrade iso.

Dave-UK wrote:

"...winston" wrote in message
...
Thanks. I suspected an o/s was present on the drive prior to
formatting. The upgrade needs to verify an o/s before allowing one
to proceed to install.



You seem to be under the impression that a Win8 upgrade disc cannot
do a clean install. I've just tried an experiment regarding my
upgrade disc. I booted a machine from a live cd and formatted the C:
drive. So now the C: drive is empty of any Windows operating systems
or remnants. I then booted this machine with my upgrade dvd, named
ESD-ISO. This is the iso I downloaded from Microsoft after buying a
license key. The first screen asks for a language to install. The
only available one is English (United Kingdom) as opposed to the
usual English (United States). The next screen says ' Install now'.
The next screen asks for the key. The next screen asks to agree to
the license terms. The next screen gives me a choice of Upgrade or
Custom install. I choose Upgrade and a message box tells me to start
Windows normally and perform the upgrade from within Windows. As
there is no Windows on this drive this option obviously won't work. I
go back and select Custom install. The next window shows drive C:

Drive 0 Partition 1 Total size 149.0 GB Free space 149.0GB Type
System.

Clicking 'Next' starts installing Windows 8. So you can do a clean
install with the upgrade iso.

Two questions. Did you format the partition (NTFS) first? Did the
installer create a 100MB active boot partition?
--
Crash

English is not my native tongue; I'm an American.

"Dave-UK" wrote in message ...

"...winston" wrote in message ...

Thanks. I suspected an o/s was present on the drive prior to formatting. The upgrade needs to verify an o/s before
allowing one to
proceed to install.



You seem to be under the impression that a Win8 upgrade disc cannot do a clean install.
I've just tried an experiment regarding my upgrade disc.
I booted a machine from a live cd and formatted the C: drive.
So now the C: drive is empty of any Windows operating systems or remnants.
I then booted this machine with my upgrade dvd, named ESD-ISO.
This is the iso I downloaded from Microsoft after buying a license key.
The first screen asks for a language to install.
The only available one is English (United Kingdom) as opposed to the usual
English (United States).
The next screen says ' Install now'.
The next screen asks for the key.
The next screen asks to agree to the license terms.
The next screen gives me a choice of Upgrade or Custom install.
I choose Upgrade and a message box tells me to start Windows normally
and perform the upgrade from within Windows.
As there is no Windows on this drive this option obviously won't work.
I go back and select Custom install.
The next window shows drive C:

Drive 0 Partition 1 Total size 149.0 GB Free space 149.0GB Type System.

Clicking 'Next' starts installing Windows 8.
So you can do a clean install with the upgrade iso.




Update - You can do a clean install but it won't activate with the upgrade key!
After rebooting a couple of times the build number appears in the bottom right corner.
A message appears in Action Center about 'Activate Windows now'.
Entering the key results in a message saying the key can only be used for upgrading.
So I was wrong and ...winston is correct!

"Dave "Crash" Dummy" wrote in message ...
Dave-UK wrote:

"...winston" wrote in message
...
Thanks. I suspected an o/s was present on the drive prior to
formatting. The upgrade needs to verify an o/s before allowing one
to proceed to install.



You seem to be under the impression that a Win8 upgrade disc cannot
do a clean install. I've just tried an experiment regarding my
upgrade disc. I booted a machine from a live cd and formatted the C:
drive. So now the C: drive is empty of any Windows operating systems
or remnants. I then booted this machine with my upgrade dvd, named
ESD-ISO. This is the iso I downloaded from Microsoft after buying a
license key. The first screen asks for a language to install. The
only available one is English (United Kingdom) as opposed to the
usual English (United States). The next screen says ' Install now'.
The next screen asks for the key. The next screen asks to agree to
the license terms. The next screen gives me a choice of Upgrade or
Custom install. I choose Upgrade and a message box tells me to start
Windows normally and perform the upgrade from within Windows. As
there is no Windows on this drive this option obviously won't work. I
go back and select Custom install. The next window shows drive C:

Drive 0 Partition 1 Total size 149.0 GB Free space 149.0GB Type
System.

Clicking 'Next' starts installing Windows 8. So you can do a clean
install with the upgrade iso.

Two questions. Did you format the partition (NTFS) first? Did the
installer create a 100MB active boot partition?

Yes I formatted to NTFS and no, as the disk was completely blank, it did not create the 100MB hidden partition.
But now it's of academic interest only as the upgrade key will not activate a clean install.
Never mind. It's still a good deal. :-)

Dave-UK wrote:

"Dave-UK" wrote in message
...

"...winston" wrote in message
...
Thanks. I suspected an o/s was present on the drive prior to
formatting. The upgrade needs to verify an o/s before allowing
one to proceed to install.



You seem to be under the impression that a Win8 upgrade disc cannot
do a clean install. I've just tried an experiment regarding my
upgrade disc. I booted a machine from a live cd and formatted the
C: drive. So now the C: drive is empty of any Windows operating
systems or remnants. I then booted this machine with my upgrade
dvd, named ESD-ISO. This is the iso I downloaded from Microsoft
after buying a license key. The first screen asks for a language to
install. The only available one is English (United Kingdom) as
opposed to the usual English (United States). The next screen says
' Install now'. The next screen asks for the key. The next screen
asks to agree to the license terms. The next screen gives me a
choice of Upgrade or Custom install. I choose Upgrade and a message
box tells me to start Windows normally and perform the upgrade from
within Windows. As there is no Windows on this drive this option
obviously won't work. I go back and select Custom install. The next
window shows drive C:

Drive 0 Partition 1 Total size 149.0 GB Free space 149.0GB
Type System.

Clicking 'Next' starts installing Windows 8. So you can do a clean
install with the upgrade iso.




Update - You can do a clean install but it won't activate with the
upgrade key! After rebooting a couple of times the build number
appears in the bottom right corner. A message appears in Action
Center about 'Activate Windows now'. Entering the key results in a
message saying the key can only be used for upgrading. So I was wrong
and ...winston is correct!

Did you try the double install trick that worked with Windows 7 to do a
clean install with an upgrade installer?

--
Crash

I always thought Mensa was a Japanese import.

Dave "Crash" Dummy wrote:
Dave-UK wrote:

"Dave-UK" wrote in message
...

"...winston" wrote in message
...
Thanks. I suspected an o/s was present on the drive prior to
formatting. The upgrade needs to verify an o/s before allowing
one to proceed to install.



You seem to be under the impression that a Win8 upgrade disc cannot
do a clean install. I've just tried an experiment regarding my
upgrade disc. I booted a machine from a live cd and formatted the
C: drive. So now the C: drive is empty of any Windows operating
systems or remnants. I then booted this machine with my upgrade
dvd, named ESD-ISO. This is the iso I downloaded from Microsoft
after buying a license key. The first screen asks for a language to
install. The only available one is English (United Kingdom) as
opposed to the usual English (United States). The next screen says
' Install now'. The next screen asks for the key. The next screen
asks to agree to the license terms. The next screen gives me a
choice of Upgrade or Custom install. I choose Upgrade and a message
box tells me to start Windows normally and perform the upgrade from
within Windows. As there is no Windows on this drive this option
obviously won't work. I go back and select Custom install. The next
window shows drive C:

Drive 0 Partition 1 Total size 149.0 GB Free space 149.0GB
Type System.

Clicking 'Next' starts installing Windows 8. So you can do a clean
install with the upgrade iso.




Update - You can do a clean install but it won't activate with the
upgrade key! After rebooting a couple of times the build number
appears in the bottom right corner. A message appears in Action
Center about 'Activate Windows now'. Entering the key results in a
message saying the key can only be used for upgrading. So I was wrong
and ...winston is correct!

Did you try the double install trick that worked with Windows 7 to do a
clean install with an upgrade installer?

A Google search yields a ton of articles on doing a clean install of
Windows 8:
http://www.google.com/search?q=clean...with%20upgrade
--
Crash

"Never apologize. It's a sign of weakness."
~ Leroy Jethro Gibbs ~

"Dave-UK" wrote in message ...

"Dave-UK" wrote in message
...

"...winston" wrote in message
...

Thanks. I suspected an o/s was present on the drive prior to formatting.
The upgrade needs to verify an o/s before allowing one to
proceed to install.

You seem to be under the impression that a Win8 upgrade disc cannot do a
clean install.
I've just tried an experiment regarding my upgrade disc.

Update - You can do a clean install but it won't activate with the upgrade
key!
After rebooting a couple of times the build number appears in the bottom
right corner.
A message appears in Action Center about 'Activate Windows now'.
Entering the key results in a message saying the key can only be used for
upgrading.
So I was wrong and ...winston is correct!

So what you are saying is that so far it is behaving the same way a Windows
7 upgrade disk did. What if you now used the same Windows 8 disk to
"upgrade" your current installation and then activate that new instance?
That's how it worked with the Windows 7 upgrade disks.

On Mon, 29 Oct 2012 13:53:11 -0000, "Dave-UK" wrote:

Update - You can do a clean install but it won't activate with the upgrade key!
After rebooting a couple of times the build number appears in the bottom right corner.
A message appears in Action Center about 'Activate Windows now'.
Entering the key results in a message saying the key can only be used for upgrading.
So I was wrong and ...winston is correct!

And yet this
http://www.winsupersite.com/article/...e-media-144648
Seems to suggest it's possible.

--
Claim nothing: Enjoy
David: NorthWest England