Windows 8 Consumer Preview Available Now

Installation went perfectly. It was fast and simple. Very much like a clean install of Windows 7.

For anyone wondering, a brand new installation of Windows 8 Consumer Preview (32-bit) on my particular computer took 7.56 GB (8,127,131,648 bytes).

That’s the total space used on the C: drive, no extras installed, from a previously empty hard drive.

You’ll see Windows 8 CP take up different amounts of hard drive space due to the particular hardware you have, if you chose to install the 64-bit version, etc.

is there a fix for sound after installing Windows 8? I have a realtek AC’97 built into the motherboard and a Creative Sound Blaster “live” Internal card but can not get either to work since installing Windows8 and can only seem to find updated drivers for Windows7.
before installing Win8 I had WinXP

thanks for any help!!!

Tried twice installing from downloaded Setup files on Samsung series 7 slate tablet PC (just like the one in the video demo of Windows 8), and got message at the end that “We don’t know what happened but couldn’t install Consumer Preview” and then it restored itself back to the way it was with Windiws 7.
Everything appeared to be going along fine until that point? Maybe I will try the ISO version because this PC is supposed to run it!

@Janice: I don’t have one of those here to try, but some thoughts:

1. Check for a BIOS update.
2. Clear CMOS (if there’s no BIOS update available).
3. Try the bootable flash drive method.

In earlier Windows previews I believe the FINAL RTM could not be install over a preview/beta. Do you know if that will be true with Win8?

@Jeff, I just found out:

“Also note that the final release of Windows 8 will not support upgrading from any prior Windows 8 “Preview” release, though the migrate option will still be supported.”

From this MSDN blog post from yesterday (2/29/2012)

Migration basically means it’ll keep your personal files but is otherwise a clean install.

Installed it last night with Vista drivers (Dell support doesn’t newer drivers than Vista for my PC). So far, everything except the camera picture works. I’m slowly getting the hang of it (switching between desktop and Metro UI with the Microsoft button, and searching for installed programs using the search function, for example), but frankly, I still prefer Windows XP & 7. Windows XP and 7 are simpler and tidier. Just my two cents.

@Fram: I still prefer Windows 7 as well. I’m planning on purchasing a Samsung Series 7 slate, strictly to test Windows 8 on a touch interface, so we’ll so how much I like that. As far as on a classic desktop, I’m just not buying it yet.

I made my Win8 USB and booted into it but now it just gets stuck at the fish in WinPE Second ISO i have tried as well! Don’t know what I’m supposed to do from here…

@Anon: Could be any number of things. If you take the fact that this is a beta version out of the equation, typical reasons for an installation issue like that are a) bad RAM, b) BIOS that needs updated, c) built-in driver/hardware conflict. Among other things.

I’d say b or c are pretty likely. Check the motherboard/PC-maker’s site for a BIOS update, but be sure to disconnect and/or remove any hardware that isn’t absolutely necessary during the install process.

I want to install it on other than “C” drive …How to do that.. ? My C drive is having only 9 GB partition space…

@vinay: Try this. It was written for Windows 8 Developer Preview but the same applies here with the Consumer Preview.

I just installed it, and almost right away i have a big problem concerning the sound…. i tried installing the original realtek driver, but no use…. anyway i like the way windows looks now

@nino arsovski: Here is the link to Realtek’s sound driver download page. Both options (the HD driver is the newer chipset – probably yours unless you have an older computer or sound card) have Windows 7 drivers and they should be WDM, meaning they should work fine with Windows 8.

Installer stalls every time after checking out program conflicts and issuing a user key, saying the download did not complete successfully because the user has not logged on to the network, and that the specified service does not exist. Drag!

@Michael Linder: That’s too bad! Any luck since you left your comment?

I installed win 8 into my second drive, everything’s been OK except it didn’t recognize my D-link wireless adapter. I installed the drive of D-link, it work ed out with the signal of my router but just only 1 second it’s gone.

Can anyone help with it?

@phongnguyen: I’m actually pretty surprised Windows 8 didn’t have a native driver for that. Have you had any luck since you left your comment?

Well, typical Windows junk. Don’t bother to tell you a product key is needed…
Installed fine in MY VirtualBox. Problems so far are wrong resolution for my 23″ 1920×1080 monitor. Just shows generic and 1600×1200 max res which puts bar off bottom of screen. Running in “lol letterbox” for now. Wow how far we have come. BTW Box is i7 OC’d to 4.25Ghx, Nvidia 450 OC’d, 8 TB total HD, 24 GB DDR3 Tri – Ram. A bit unorthodox for me using this beast. It seems much more at home as a tablet offering. My Android devices are much more closely related to this than my desktop os. Have ran it successfully in VirtualBox on Win7 and Fedora. Tried it on OSX Lion /w VMware Fusion and it completely failed the install.

@Gyro: A few thoughts if you’re still interested:

- The product key is public. Shouldn’t be a problem needing a product key. It’s even in my blog post.
- The video resolution issue is likely due to needing a better driver from NVIDIA. That’s not MS’s fault. Not yet.
- And yes, certainly more at home on a tablet. I’m not sure I’m going to like this on a non-touch interface like a desktop. We’ll see.
- I do know that you need one of the very latest versions of VMware for Windows 8 to work. That was an issue in VMware.

Ive downloaded windows 8 beta, i had little over 7 gigs of ram. i burned on a bootable dvd disk to another hard drive, however im having a hard time finding where it downloaded on my pc so i can delete it. as i have now noticed it says i have only 3.46 gigs left on hd. my question is where did it actually download too so can delete it?

@Luis Pardo: Hard to say. Do a search in Windows for all files but limit the search for files over a certain size. Then sort by size in the results. You’ll find it. However, for the most part, downloads go to C:\Users\[NAME]\Downloads or the Desktop.

Don’t know if this will help, but the shortcut on my desktop says:

C:\Users\JANICE\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WebSetup\Sources\WebSetup.exe /late elevate

But since I couldn’t get mine to install at all maybe you shouldn’t listen to me – LOL!

Do a search for Windows8-ConsumerPreview And that should locate it.
You will either have an ISO file or an EXE file, depending on what your downloaded.

I install Windows 8 on a system build: amd x2 1.5gb ram 160gb hd, video card nvidia 512mb. everything runs smooths, but the ps2 mouse was disabled. had to use a usb.

downloaded windows 8, burnt an ISO copy.used an old GB hdd and did a fresh install which from start to finish took 26 Min on my home desktop.windows 8 doesn’t do any thing for me,the new style interface just slows my user experience down. won’t be buying it.

@jim: That’s about where I’m at.

I installed windows 8 preview and I am really impressed with it, but what happened after two days is when I tried to restart it is showing restarting forever….. no-booting nothing just simply restarting, restarting…
Even I powered off and restarted the pc and again restarting. I tried with all the possible methods not re-booting in any way… and its still showing restarting.

can some one help to get ride of it.

Thanks in Advance

@achi: “Getting rid of it” involves installing whatever operating system you now want. So, for example, if you have a Windows 7 disc, and want Windows 7 back on there, do a clean install of Windows 7.

This version is supposed to work on tablets. Anybody has any idea how much hard drive is being used by the OS after install?

I’m asking because 32 GB tablets now are expensive (actual space is 29+GB) and if Windows 8 OS is going to be taking up at least 6 GB of that then you’ll only way less than 20GB left after all the other junk software that comes with that tablet pre-installed.

@Pres: See my first comment on this post. Granted, that’s on a desktop, and there will be a slightly different installation on a tablet, but it’ll be close.

Would Lenovo, Thinkpad Model L412 drivers supports windows 8? Other than IE 10, what other browsers works on it? Thanks.

@TexAzaña: Windows 8′s default drivers should work with most popular hardware out before the CP was released so yes, I’d guess your laptop would be fine. Any drivers that Windows 8 doesn’t automatically install should have Windows 7 drivers that will work. Remember, Windows 8 was built on top of Windows 7 so in most cases, the same drivers will work. The same was true for much hardware between Vista and 7.

As far as the browsers, I haven’t tried installing Firefox, Chrome, or Safari in Windows 8 CP but that’d be an interesting experiment. My guess is that they would all basically work but might have some quirks. I do know that Chrome and Firefox (not sure about Safari) will be available at some point as full metro apps, meaning they’d fit in with Windows 8 a bit more seamlessly.

Hello. My PC is a Sony Vaio with 4GB RAM, Dual Core 2.26 GB, and 250GB HD. I have two concerns with Windows 8. In comparison to Windows 7, I feel that it is slows down and heats up my PC. The fan is running more frequently now. Is this my PC or something related to Win8. Thanks for any help.

@Mohamed: If this happened immediately after installing Windows 8, I’d blame Windows 8. It’s either pushing your computer harder because it needs to to get by (unlikely by the look of your specs) or there are some drivers that need updated, probably the video card drivers, that will help. Now do those updated video card drivers exist? Probably not yet. You’ll have to wait until hardware makers start publishing them, which won’t be until later this year, closer to the release date.

thanks!!! its easy to install, like a w7 on process and its nice on desktop even Im not yet using a touchscreen monitor thanks again maybe some other users can try this!!!!!!!!!!

I installed the consumer preview of windows 8 and it has slowed my hp laptop down to a snails pace. Constantly get high cpu usage messages too that I rarely got with w7. It is driving me crazy! Not happy at all

After exploring it a little too, I’m really not sure what the benefit is to going with w8? The apps are Microsoft only for email and messaging. If you use gmail or other providers you still have to go through your desktop to access. Maybe I just haven’t seen it function correctly as it is certainly not running fast like some others have posted. Could be something wrong with compatibility with my computer. Still trying to figure out what to do

@Laura: Yes, there’s probably some compatibility issue with your particular machine. Maybe a BIOS update or certain driver updates will help. Those won’t come until closer to the release date.

As far as the apps – yes, Microsoft apps are almost exclusively all there are, which makes sense of course for the time being. Developers need time to figure out how to incorporate their programs as Metro apps.

Hi

I installed Windows CP in a really low resource computer (Dell Optiplex GX260 512RAM with a crappy video card) but it move fast and almost everything open real quick.

I like the New version of Windows.

@WebUser: That’s good to hear. I’ve been meaning to see “how low it can go” with some older equipment but just haven’t had the time.

I downloaded Windows 8 consumer preview on my Sony Vaio laptop. It has removed any semblance of it being a Vaio. Nothing works-my built-in camera, can’t download pictures from my memory stick, can’t connect my iPhone to iTunes, the picture is too big for the screen and I am afraid to find out what else is missing or nonfunctioning.
I have kept up with back up files on an external hard drive, so it looks like I am going to restore from there.

@Ellen: Sounds like a lot of the drivers and programs needed to make your Vaio work just aren’t working with Windows 8. Not crazy, just unfortunate. This is why it’s called a “preview.”

i install windows 8 consumer preview.. it installed perfectly. but after that it does not support sound driver. my pc config is intel dual core 2.60 Ghz and mercury PG31z mother board.i download from internet and install the sound driver. but i installed correctly but sound icon on task bar is not enabled. please give solution for sound driver.

@karthikeyan: What driver did you download?

This is the best thing since sliced bread. I am loving it. What happens after the final release to win 8 cp. Will we have to upgrade?

@Ken: You won’t have to upgrade from Windows 8 CP to Windows 8 as soon as it comes out, but you will eventually (or reinstall Windows 7, Vista, XP, etc.). I don’t think the timing has been released yet.

ETA: By “upgrade” I mean replace. There isn’t a true upgrade path between preview versions of Windows 8 and the final release. In other words, at some time, you’ll no longer be able to use Windows 8 CP. You’ll have to clean install a new OS: Windows 8, Windows 7, etc.

Hello.

I installed Win8 CP on my Sony Vaio FW series last month. I needed to clean up that machine anyway so I did the CP install.
FW190 E, Dual Core 2.5 GHz, 4 Gigs RAM, 500 Gigs HD;
I only kept if for a while and then went back to a clean install of Win7 Home Premium.
My obeservations:
- Win CP Installed very fast.
- I was a lucky one because believe it or not, all my devices worked immediately with no problem (video, graphics, wireless etc…). I did not have to go fecth updated ones. I was totally surprised by that.
- For me the experience was interesting as my machine was literally flying; The speed increase was very noticeable and I did not notice any overheating.
- Interface took half an hour to really get used to it. Then it became fun customizing it.

I was pleasantly surprised, although it is obvious that Win 8 is designed with tablets in mind.

Why did I take it off? i did not like the idea of not being able to upgrade to a full Win8 when available Q4 2012.

Pat

@Pat: Thanks for the detailed thoughts! My tablet is on order… I’m looking forward to trying Windows 8 on it. While I had a similar driver and speed experience as you, it was that darn new interface that got me.

I saw your answer on the Fish issue above.
Unfortunately I found no bios updates (atleast for my 770-c45) to prevent this.

I have the 1D0 right now and the Live Update seems to only download the new bios version (1F0), it never installs it. I tried to M-flash the card but i keep failing.

I wonder what options i have now, because Dev Preview makes the computer restart every 2 hours.

@Mattias: You might not have any option at all, unless you can determine what is causing the problem and disable it, assuming that is even a fix. For example, it might be that the onboard sound controller is causing a problem and disabling it (and living without sound) fixes the problem. But I’m not sure how you’d determine this without a lot of painful testing. This is simply the downside of using a pre-release OS: the motherboard or computer maker simply hasn’t tested, and then issued updates, to support it.

I’am not completly sold on the windows 8 os based on my use of the consumer build im some were between 50/50 on it, I dont like how the Start is now missing from the bottom left hand corner it bothers me and makes finding programs and files a bit more time consuming the ever b4 if the start bar was brought back and windows media player was brought back i’d be ok with the os but i;d probly just stay with windows 7 due to my overall knowledge of the 7 build

@Greg: I agree completely.

I use the D-link Range Booster WUA-2340 for wireless wifi. It worked good with win 7. I installed win 8 in another drive in my computer, but when I install D-link with its CD-drive, it worked, ask me the password of our router, but just 1 second, it’s gone. when I try to start it again, I saw the info :” The procedure entry point apsApply could not be located in the dynamic link library C:/Programfiles/D-link\RangeBooster G WUA-2340\AirplusCFG.exe”.

Any Idea

@Phong Nguyen: Sounds to me like an issue that D-Link will need to address for Windows 8.

Thank you Tim

I installed Windows 8 on my Dell Inspiron 1720. I had to flash the bios first which went perfectly with the download from Dell. I have 2 HDD bays so I just used a blank drive in the second bay and boot from that. That way I preserved my original factory drive.
I went from Vista to 8. Huge change. It actually works great. My only complaint is that i use Yahoo for my everyday email even though I have had a hotmail account for years. I would like to be able to use Yahoo as my default email program but no luck so far and I don’t want to have to change my email address on the accounts I have yahoo listed. Not a huge problem, but still its inconvenient at times.
I’m used to 8 now. I have a desktop with Vista and another laptop with XP SP3. XP will always be my favorite, but I find that 8 has a better feel to it than Vista or 7, although I like some of the features in 7 that were carried through to 8.
I’ve been thinking about buying a touch screen monitor just to be able to use 8 and all its features.
Since I have only used Android a few times, I can’t give a good comparison to it.
I pulled some of the drivers 8 didn’t have from my original disks for vista. Another driver I pulled from the XP drivers for my laptop. All in all, it was fairly simple to install.
Once you get used to where things are and how to open different menus, it gets easy. I found the best way to do it was to download the WIndows 8 short cut key list. That way you can actually see what features 8 has and how to get to them quickly.
So.. So far, so good.

Here are some of the Hot keys… Finding ‘Start” is easy. Just tap “Windows” key by itself. Or you can Hit “Windows” “C” to get to the shut down menu. You can also just hover your mouse in the lower left or right corner of the screen.

It does take some getting used to, but its not that bad. Have fun with it. And remember, most of the major hospitals use Windows XP … XP ran my life support when I was in the hospital. So I don’t tread lightly on the idea of switching programs, yet, again.

New hotkeys for the Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Key combination Windows 8 functionality

Windows-Space Switch input language and keyboard layout.
Windows-O Lock device orientation.
Windows-, Temporarily peek at the desktop.
Windows-V Cycle through toasts.
Windows-Shift-V Cycle through toasts in reverse order.
Windows-Enter Launch Narrator.
Windows-PgUp Move the Start Screen or a Metro-style application to the monitor on the left.
Windows-PgDown Move the Start Screen or a Metro-style application to the monitor on the right.
Windows-Shift-. Move the gutter to the left (snap an application).
Windows-. Move the gutter to the right (snap an application).
Windows-C Open the Charms bar.
Windows-I Open the Settings charm.
Windows-K Open the Connect charm.
Windows-H Open the Share charm.
Windows-Q Open the Search pane.
Windows-W Open the Settings Search app.
Windows-F Open the File Search app.
Windows-Tab Cycle through apps.
Windows-Shift-Tab Cycle through apps in reverse order.
Windows-Ctrl-Tab Cycle through apps and snap them as they cycle.
Windows-Z Open the App Bar.
Windows-/ Initiate input method editor (IME) reconversion.
Windows-J Swap foreground between the snapped and filled apps.

@Bill: Thanks for the valuable information!!

Thanks man for keys……

Sorry, but this is more of a question. I Have NTLDR is missing press ctl alt del . If I download 8 can I fix my problem if i f12 and boot from ISE-CD?

@Justcallmedee: It depends on why you’re getting the NTLDR error. Did you see this tutorial? You may be able to fix the problem without buying Windows 8. But, yes, as long as your computer is able to run Windows 8 and you don’t have some other problem, a clean install of Windows 8 will probably fix the problem because you’re erasing everything on the drive, including most likely causes of the NTLDR issue.

after installing win8 my fan runs a lot mor while i play a game. it heats up so much that graphics slow down may b da processer is too hot, it didnt happen wid da same game in win7. mine is hp pavilion core i3 1st gen , 3gb ram..

@deepak: There are a number of reasons this might happen, but if we look just at the information you gave me – that the change occurred only after after the Windows 8 installation – then you might want to look at upgrading the video card drivers and looking closely at the settings for the video card.