Tech explained - How to install Windows 8 from a USB drive

[HEXUS]

Itching to try Windows 8? Here's how to do it without an optical drive.

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[[GSV]Trig]

I'll be trying this later, wish the works connection was faster, 2 and a half hours left@455kb/sec lol

[Hoonigan]

Is there a way to install this to work alongside Windows 7? Only got my main PC and MBP so it's gonna have to go on my PC with Windows 7...

[[GSV]Trig]

I use Oracle Virtual Box..

[Hoonigan]

I use Oracle Virtual Box..

Is that easy to use? I've never played with that sort of thing before.

[crossy]

(I use Oracle Virtual Box..) Is that easy to use? I've never played with that sort of thing before.

Yes, it's dead simple - I use it for development work. Actually "misuse" is probably more appropriate, since I just checked and I've got 25 VM's defined in my instance (currently running 4, including a Windows XP Pro VM). Great option for me because if I've got a task that needs a lot of cpu, then I can lift-n-shift that VM from my dev box (dual core laptop running 64bit Ubuntu) to my gaming box (hexcore tower running Windows7Pro/64).

I ran the Windows7 RC in a VM because I didn't have any spare hardware - and it's definitely a good way to do things. This time I actually do have a ex-VistaBasic Acer laptop that's "surplus to requirements", so I can try a 'real' install. I might still try a VM though - just to compare with the performance of the Win7RC when it was installed.

VirtualBox is also definitely the way to go if you want to try Linux - especially if you're not sure about which distro, because you can just create a couple of VM's and try a few. My gaming box has the official Microsoft VM installed (for the XP mode) but I'm not that impressed with it.

[Moby-Dick]

You could also use VMware workstation should you happen to have a copy available

[Hoonigan]

Is running "VMs" what the "Virtualization" feature on my CPU is used for? Will that help speed things up a bit?

Currently downloading the 64bit version of the distro at 1150kb/s so won't be long til I can have a play around trying to get it set up

[crossy]

Is running "VMs" what the "Virtualization" feature on my CPU is used for? Will that help speed things up a bit?

AMD-V or Intel VT? Yes, that's what it's used for. I remain to be convinced that the hardware assist is a big deal for a single VM running. However, I did a couple of very unscientific tests and it does seem to make an increasing difference as more VM's are added.

There's a small discussion of the benefits on Wikipedia - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardwar...virtualization

I used to use VMware Server 2.0 (the free edition) but I switched to VirtualBox at the beginning of this year - mainly because the Ubuntu 10.04 update seemed to break the other software pretty badly, and I got heartily sick of trying to work around the issues.

[TheAnimus]

You could also use VMware workstation should you happen to have a copy available

Apparently it has real issues with it, so I wouldn't.

[miniyazz]

I attempted to install on VMWare Player (the latest version) and failed due to (presumably) the same issues TheAnimus was referring to. Apparently the beta version of VMWare Workstation 8 works; I haven't been bothered to try it though.

[Nelviticus]

The AMD-V and Intel VT stuff really just makes the VMs a bit more responsive until you install the VM additions (dummy drivers, provided by the virtualisation software vendor, that you install on the VM). Once you've done that, having AMD-V/Intel VT doesn't make a lot of difference.

However, currently the VM additions for Microsoft's Virtual PC and Sun's VirtualBox don't work for Windows 8 VMs (not sure about VMWare but it's probably the same story). This means that even if you can get Windows 8 to install under Virtual PC/VirtualBox/VMWare Player, it'll be pretty ropey.

A much better solution is to install Windows 8 to a virtual hard disk (a file on disk that can work like an extra hard drive). Scott Hanselman has written an excellent guide to doing this.

An even better solution than that is not to install it at all, as unless you get particularly excited by Explorer's copy dialog or the Task Manager, all the new stuff in Win 8 is horrible unless you use it on a touch-screen tablet. It's ghastly on a desktop machine.

[Hoonigan]

Oracle VM VirtualBox.. Doesn't seem to wanna work

Downloaded the x64 version at first, wouldn't work cos apparently VMs are x86.

Downloaded the x86 version now and it's crashing once "Windows Developer Preview" appears on the screen. Giving 0x0000000A as an error code..

Can anyone suggest anything?

EDIT: I'm installing directly from the ISO, reckon it'd be worth putting it on a memory stick to install it?

[spraint]

Installed the 64 bit version on Parallels 7 on a hackintosh. Worked first time. Not sure what you meant by "VMs are x86". Grabbed an earlier leak and installed that via Virtualbox on the same machine.. Maybe you should check your settings in Virtualbox if it doesn't want to install.

[watercooled]

Oracle VM VirtualBox.. Doesn't seem to wanna work

Downloaded the x64 version at first, wouldn't work cos apparently VMs are x86.

Downloaded the x86 version now and it's crashing once "Windows Developer Preview" appears on the screen. Giving 0x0000000A as an error code..

Can anyone suggest anything?

EDIT: I'm installing directly from the ISO, reckon it'd be worth putting it on a memory stick to install it?

You can install 64 bit OSes in VMs, you just need to have Intel VT enabled in BIOS and have the correct settings in Virtualbox.

Anyway, I know very little about Windows 8 but it looks horrifying - is there a way to make the GUI look normal rather than like something which belongs on a cheap phone OS?

[Hoonigan]

It seems I've been a bit silly. I hadn't downloaded the latest version of Oracle, even though it told me it was the latest.

Updated to 4.1 and it worked straight away.

Looks quite good tbh, it's a MASSIVE change from the standard Windows layout, but it works... Pretty decent stability and performance considering it's. Pre-Beta release.

Had a little mess about with the latest Ubuntu too, that's amazing! Even running in a VM it's faster, more responsive and better looking than W7.