[MERGED] Windows 8 discussion

[Russ]

The upgrade assistant isn't working for me. I download then run it, it says it's checking compatibility etc then it comes back with an internal error saying there was an error retrieving the scan report.

[Dave42]

Microsoft: Four million Windows 8 upgrades so far

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has confirmed here at the BUILD 2012 developer keynote that since Friday, the official launch of Windows 8, the company has already sold four million Windows 8 software upgrades.

That's certainly not a bad start for Windows 8 but at the same time, most people will likely still stick with their current Windows OS and wait to buy a new PC to get Windows 8. On that front, Ballmer says that sales of Windows 8 products are good so far.

http://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft...pgrades-so-far

Does the copy of W7 you have installed and are upgrading need to be activated before you start the upgrade?

Also - what's the best image creation programme for creating a backup partition image if you want to roll back to W7?

windows 7 has its own.

[Russ]

I got around my issue by formatting and installing 7 then buying 8 straight away. It downloaded and installed ok but if I have to reformat in the future can I download it again and burn to DVD?

[SnoopZ]

There must be away of downloading officially, just don't lose the key for it.

You could make an image of it now though, this would mean you wouldn't have to install Windows 7 again.

Originally Posted by Russ

I got around my issue by formatting and installing 7 then buying 8 straight away. It downloaded and installed ok but if I have to reformat in the future can I download it again and burn to DVD?

just save the download. It should still be on the upgraded computer im not sure where its stored as I created an iso and installed using the file

[CycoSymz]

I had major problems upgrading from Windows 7 with the option of keeping all files and settings.

It kept crashing and re-starting, then it got stuck in a self repair loop and finally it just displayed the lock screen and didn't do anything else.

I formatted and re-installed and i'm now running without issues.

[Russ]

Originally Posted by tizmeinnit

just save the download. It should still be on the upgraded computer im not sure where its stored as I created an iso and installed using the file

Yeah I figured that would be the best way to do it although I've got no idea where the DL went. If you find out where it generally goes I'd be grateful if you could let me know :-D

Failing that there's an Indy computer shop near me that gives out copies of Vista, 7 etc burnt to DVD for people with a legit serial key but no disk. If he knows them as good customers he lets them have a copy (he's done it for me with my old Vista and 7) so I might have see if he can sort out an 8 disk.

So just to clarify for future reference (and assuming I get an 8 disk from somewhere, if I need to format in future will I need to install 7 then put 8 right on top with the 'do not keep anything' option?

[mike_gain]

Well that didn't last long

Windows 8 was really growing on me and I was happy with the purchase I made on Friday.....until this morning.

Went to open Chrome and got no response, went into task manager to shut "chrome.exe" down got an "access denied" error so I re-started via the power options.

Since then (about 4 hours ago) it has been stuck in a boot loop which consists of the following steps

1) Attempt to boot for about 2 minutes
2) Show a blue screen with a message like "There was a problem and your computer needs to re-start" for < 1 second i.e. so short that I can't actually read the message no matter how often I try.
3) Restart goes into Preparing Automatic Repair mode which appears to do nothing for about 2 minutes
4) then a blank sceen appears for about 1 minute
5) back to step 1

I guess I'll try and get my £25 back from Microsoft and throw a copy of Ubuntu on which is a shame as I really liked a lot about Windows 8 and it made a huge difference to my laptop's power consumption.

Originally Posted by Russ

So just to clarify for future reference (and assuming I get an 8 disk from somewhere, if I need to format in future will I need to install 7 then put 8 right on top with the 'do not keep anything' option?

That's the way I see it Russ. A PITA to install W7 but as tizmeinit said - it's an "upgrade" not the full version.

So - I'll get a legit copy, install W7, upgrade it, install updates and them image the partition...that way if I need to go back to a clean install I just restore that image without the faff of installing W7 and upgrading again!

OK - bitten the bullet...£24 and it's downloading....anybody know where it's downloaded to so I can copy the source files (iso?) for a backup to save downloading it again??

Ahh - might have found it - is this the correct place?

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WebSet up

[CycoSymz]

Originally Posted by LSainsbury

OK - bitten the bullet...£24 and it's downloading....anybody know where it's downloaded to so I can copy the source files (iso?) for a backup to save downloading it again??

Ahh - might have found it - is this the correct place?

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WebSet up

Once downloaded, it should ask if you want to install now or later from an image.
.
You select later and it should offer to burn you a DVD.

Originally Posted by CycoSymz

Once downloaded, it should ask if you want to install now or later from an image.
.
You select later and it should offer to burn you a DVD.

Cool - nice one - thanks.

Originally Posted by mike_gain

Well that didn't last long

Windows 8 was really growing on me and I was happy with the purchase I made on Friday.....until this morning.

Went to open Chrome and got no response, went into task manager to shut "chrome.exe" down got an "access denied" error so I re-started via the power options.

Since then (about 4 hours ago) it has been stuck in a boot loop which consists of the following steps

1) Attempt to boot for about 2 minutes
2) Show a blue screen with a message like "There was a problem and your computer needs to re-start" for < 1 second i.e. so short that I can't actually read the message no matter how often I try.
3) Restart goes into Preparing Automatic Repair mode which appears to do nothing for about 2 minutes
4) then a blank sceen appears for about 1 minute
5) back to step 1

I guess I'll try and get my £25 back from Microsoft and throw a copy of Ubuntu on which is a shame as I really liked a lot about Windows 8 and it made a huge difference to my laptop's power consumption.

interesting I will research recovery options for win 8 its not as clear as I thought

---------- Post added at 22:19 ---------- Previous post was at 22:05 ----------

There are some nice simple recovery tools on the windows 8 dvd if you created one. I suggest everyone does

---------- Post added at 22:27 ---------- Previous post was at 22:19 ----------

ok a little how to create a start up USB drive ,everyone should do this if they do not have media

On the new ui screen goto corner select search click settings tab and type recovery. Select recovery tab then select create a recovery drive. It will search out the drive and create you a nice bootable restore USB

You can get there by win key and r together and run control.exe /name Microsoft.Recovery

---------- Post added at 22:45 ---------- Previous post was at 22:27 ----------

Shift and F8 is meant to boot you into recovery . Now this is all well and good but my Asus mobo in its stupid wisdom uses F8 for boot select so when I try I either get the boot list or I am to late. In theory most of you will get into recovery using shift and F8. If you actually want to use safe mode you can enter recovery/troubleshoot/advanced options/windows start up settings

---------- Post added at 22:46 ---------- Previous post was at 22:45 ----------

Glad ive been pushed into a bit of research tonight otherwise I would have been stuck lol