Windows 8 Beta (Consumer Preview) now available to download for x86 and x64

Forums › Microsoft Windows › Windows 8 Beta (Consumer Preview) now available to download for x86 and x64

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Ultimate Geek
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#588740 1-Mar-2012 10:52

I'm quite keen to try this out and very impressed with the download speed!

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Dratsab

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#588775 1-Mar-2012 11:37

Just installing it onto a laptop now in VMware Player but have to go out very soon so won't have time to play with it until much later :-( Looking forward to installing it (in VMware Player) on my 25" HP Touchsmart this evening!

Lurch

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#588786 1-Mar-2012 12:07

Downloaded it, Burnt it, printed a DVD cover for it, Installed it, Tried it. Formatted the drive and put Windows 7 back. :-)

maverick

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WorldxChange

#588788 1-Mar-2012 12:10

Lurch: Downloaded it, Burnt it, printed a DVD cover for it, Installed it, Tried it. Formatted the drive and put Windows 7 back. :-)

Lol ... now that's funny

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freitasm

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#588797 1-Mar-2012 12:25

XBox Live Sign-In not supported in New Zealand.

Me tile allows you to read Tweets and Facebook posts in your timeline, but you can't post anything.

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StevieT

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Ultimate Geek
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#588805 1-Mar-2012 12:40

What does everything look like in Windows 8 without the tablet view being enabled?

Lenovo

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freitasm

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#588806 1-Mar-2012 12:45

If you start a non-Metro app it will just show the old Windows Explorer UI - without the Orb at the bottom. The Windows key on your keyboard swaps between Metro and old-style desktops.

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Lias

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#588817 1-Mar-2012 13:12

No windows classic, or ability to disable metro and force traditional start menu is a dealbreaker for me, and I'd imagine virtually every Enterprise IT department in existence. 5 minutes of using Metro left me wanting to ask Al Qaeda to target Redmond.

Waste of a download and resource to create that VM.

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freitasm

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#588820 1-Mar-2012 13:19

You can disable Metro using a registry change or policy.

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th3r3turn

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#588871 1-Mar-2012 14:16

downloaded and installed onto my SSD. somewhat ok, im still getting use to it.

Lias

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#588882 1-Mar-2012 14:31

freitasm: You can disable Metro using a registry change or policy.

Disabling it via the registry change breaks all sorts of other things like task manager, file ribbon in explorer etc, however. You need to use a 3rd party utility to get start menu with the rest of the new ui working. Every core windows component should work in a "Windows Classic" theme out of the box, without the need for third party utilities..

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AndrewMac

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Master Geek
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#589017 1-Mar-2012 18:39

my installation failed, but it kindly restored my windows 7

Dratsab

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#589026 1-Mar-2012 18:57

Have had to crash my laptop twice now because its system resources get completely used up - 100% memory and CPU. Not sure if it's VMware or Windows 8, either way I've given up on my laptop.

More success on my touchsmart but don't like the way a "fullscreen" implementation of VMware is actually only half a screen of the O/S with a MASSIVE black border around it. I notice VMware is also hogging a massive chunk of both memory and CPU resource, which leads me to think trying to run one than one virtual machine with software would be a waste of time. Any suggestions for usable virtual machine software?

Back on topic...not sure if I'm keen on the metro interface for a desktop. This is probably down to many years of using a mouse so I'm game to give it some time.

nathan

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#589029 1-Mar-2012 18:59

geekiegeek: The set-up tool method failed for me as it reported my CPU as under 1Ghz - on a Core i7 2600K running at 4.5Ghz!

Grabbing it now from my technet sub.

Anyone know if this version includes desktop virtualization?

yes indeed, Hyper-V is in the client, you just need SLAT enabled CPU/hardware

Hyper-V in Win8 supports massive numbers, 1TB RAM per guest VM, 32 vCPUs per guest, 64 TB VHDX vDisks etc

nathan

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#589031 1-Mar-2012 19:02

Dratsab: Have had to crash my laptop twice now because its system resources get completely used up - 100% memory and CPU. Not sure if it's VMware or Windows 8, either way I've given up on my laptop.

More success on my touchsmart but don't like the way a "fullscreen" implementation of VMware is actually only half a screen of the O/S with a MASSIVE black border around it. I notice VMware is also hogging a massive chunk of both memory and CPU resource, which leads me to think trying to run one than one virtual machine with software would be a waste of time. Any suggestions for usable virtual machine software?

Back on topic...not sure if I'm keen on the metro interface for a desktop. This is probably down to many years of using a mouse so I'm game to give it some time.

everyone installing with Oracle Virtualbox and VMWare player:

I'd recommend you install with BootVHD instead of installing into a virtualisation layer

you'll get much better performance, direct access to the hardware, still won't affect your current OS install, if you want delete Win8, you can just delete the VHD file off your file system and boom its gone

if you need BootVHD guidance I can whip up a quick blog post

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