Windows 8 Installation

Question

Have you tried Windows 8 developer preview yet? If yes, what do you think?

Mahesh Chand · Answer

Went to Sony store today. There is nothing they can do. There was a problem with the motherboard. Not sure it was because of Windows 8 or hardware itself. Now I need to resend to Sony and then they will replace it. Bummer!

Mahesh Chand · Answer

@Mamta Nice! @Suthish - Well, these days laptops don't come with bootable CDs :). I trusted Microsoft and upgraded my new Sony Viao but now going to Sony Store today to get it fixed.

Mamta M · Answer

Hi Suthish, Mahesh, Am putting together a comprehensive post on all the various approaches to install Win 8. Just wait a bit more as it is still in progress. Yes, dual-boot with Win 7 is possible, but you have to be careful while doing it. I will be posting the blog very soon.

Suthish Nair · Answer

Might partition having some issue's.. using a bootable CD you can find the problem and fix it. Normally we do like this when system dosen't boot.

Mahesh Chand · Answer

It killed my laptop. I am still not sure if it is the laptop (hardware) or Windows 8, now it does not start. I plan to get it fixed and write a daily blog on what I am doing with Windows 8.

Suthish Nair · Answer

Mamta, that means the installation will erase all the hard disk partitions informations/files? Am planning to have Win7 and Win8 side by side on different partition and default boot as Win 7..

Mamta M · Answer

I had mentioned in my reply that a direct install of the Win8 dev preview erases all existing content. One needs to be very careful of that.

Mahesh Chand · Answer

So I upgraded my Sony Viao laptop from Windows 7 Pro to Windows 8 DP. It deleted everything and worked for an hour or two. After that something happened and now computer won't even start :). Bummer! Probably will go to Sony store to see if they can figure it out.

Mamta M · Answer

Mahesh, Beware of all the issues that can happen during installation. Dual-boot is bit risky, read a lot abt it before you try. Also you can read up on this: http://www.hanselman.com/blog/GuideToInstallingAndBootingWindows8DeveloperPreviewOffAVHDVirtualHardDisk.aspx though this didnt work for me, it worked for many others who have found it useful. One thing is for sure: Windows 8 rocks!! It's simply fantastic. From developer pov it will take some time to get used to its way of working.

Mahesh Chand · Answer

Downloading now. Hope it will give me a dual boot option. I do have a 64-bit OS :)

Mahesh Chand · Answer

Great feedback Mamta. Now I feel like installing it on my laptop.

Mamta M · Answer

Yes I tried. Had many issues because a) my one and only existing OS was 32-bit. b) Bought new HDD, formatted it to 64-bit, installed vmware and tried installation on vmware but didnt work because i discovered at that stage that my CPU doesnt support hardware assisted virtualization (no support for VT) so cant use that either. c) Tried booting through bootable USB or VHD but even that didnt work. Got some boot errors. Eventually, I just went ahead and started setup of Win8 on the disk, which erased the existing Win7 and installed Win8. So now I do have Win8 but not in the way I wanted it. Still, it feels a thrill to see the new OS, had fun experimenting with the Metro UI. The built-in games and apps are fabulous. Now I need to go back and try again for approach c). Once I get that working, I will blog abt my entire experience. Also, now I want to know how to get more (free) Metro apps on my PC. Any clues?

Windows 8 Installation

Answers (12)