Windows 8.1 Preview

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87 posts

Master Geek

#846463 27-Jun-2013 22:18

Installed and have been running for 4 hours now. Found AVG doesn't work as there are "known compatibility issues" so Windows defender reactivated itself. Quick Google search and apparently the developers have been notified.

Network drivers from VMware and TunnelBear couldn't be loaded also and remain unusable.

Scrolling in the start menu is not as smooth as it was before and everything feels a little more sluggish (placebo?).

The show desktop button has weird behaviour when you have 4 apps open at once. Like when I have the desktop open on the left, and another 3 apps open (Desktop | App1) (App2 | App3) across 2 monitors, if I click the show desktop button on the bottom right of the desktop, App3 closes and shows desktop when all that should be happening is my windows minimizing.

Watching Youtube seems to sporadically freeze every minute for like a second now.

This is running on my laptop:
Intel i5 460m
Nvidia GT 425m
Intel 120GB 330 series SSD

As expected from a preview version. I'll probably have to revert back to 8 but I'll give it some more time to see what other bugs there are.

semigeek

1606 posts

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#846465 27-Jun-2013 22:21

freitasm: Actually not... "The Windows 8.1 Preview is not available right now".

Damn, and this is a Microsoft Surface. It'd have thought it would be easier.

Had the same problem, so I gave up

dontpanic42

1574 posts

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#846467 27-Jun-2013 22:22

freitasm: Actually not... "The Windows 8.1 Preview is not available right now".

Damn, and this is a Microsoft Surface. It'd have thought it would be easier.

Do you have Windows Media Center loaded on that device by any chance?
I have exactly the same error as you on my main desktop with the free Media Center key installed, the free key I got when Windows 8 first came out.

I was able to successfully download and install Windows 8.1 on my laptop which was originally a fairly fresh and vanilla install of Windows 8 Pro x64. Not sure if this has any bearing on it, but I'm wondering if my Media Center key loaded on my desktop machine is muddying the seemingly tentative nature of this Windows8.1 update.

freitasm

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Geekzone

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#846470 27-Jun-2013 22:27

I have nothing on this Windows Surface. I have just reset it explicitly for the purpose of having a fresh install with nothing else to interfere with the Preview.

macuser

2120 posts

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#846471 27-Jun-2013 22:28

Ended up installing it on my Envy X2, there wasn't any hacking involved. The Device is less responsive though, probably due to the graphics drivers that Nathan said had issues.

The device is secondary to me so it's fine if it's a little slow for a while. Any issues I can just reinstall Win 8 from the HP recovery partition.

UPDATE: Windows automatically installed some better video drivers, I get vsync now in OS and it's all a little better. About 70% as fast ui wise as stock win 8.

Update 2: After a few windows updates were installed it's running great.

nathan

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#846473 27-Jun-2013 22:33

freitasm: Actually not... "The Windows 8.1 Preview is not available right now".

Damn, and this is a Microsoft Surface. It'd have thought it would be easier.

there's a reason why its a Preview. the non English US version is being worked on now so the .MSU file installs. Will be available shortly.

nathan

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#846475 27-Jun-2013 22:35

freitasm: I have nothing on this Windows Surface. I have just reset it explicitly for the purpose of having a fresh install with nothing else to interfere with the Preview.

i suspect the Store is just getting hammered at the moment with everyone downloading a 2.5Gb app

try again shortly and see if it works

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surfisup1000

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#846495 27-Jun-2013 23:59

antoniosk: Look what arrived in my mailbox this morning....
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/preview

Looks interesting... I sometimes wonder if a technet sub is worth looking at....

8.1 ISO's available from tomorrow, I have a VM ready and waiting....

I stupidly bought a new notebook with windows 8 ... quickly upgraded to windows 7 after getting frustrated.

Windows 8 just gets in the way of productivity for me.

Just my opinion, I completely understand there are people with the opposite experience .

dontpanic42

1574 posts

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#846498 28-Jun-2013 00:34

A small thing I've noticed so far, the right-hand "charms" bar shifts the options/buttons closer to the corner you activated from. Might not seem like a big deal, but it's a nice touch.

Klipspringer

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#846524 28-Jun-2013 08:10

hmmm I will wait for the final release. Will let you guys do all the testing

freitasm

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#846596 28-Jun-2013 10:09

Installed from ISO. Device Manager shows an unknown PCI Simple Communications Controller device.

As I said, this is the kind of stuff that should "just work" (TM) on a Microsoft Surface.

nathan

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#846601 28-Jun-2013 10:18

freitasm: Installed from ISO. Device Manager shows an unknown PCI Simple Communications Controller device.

As I said, this is the kind of stuff that should "just work" (TM) on a Microsoft Surface.

obviously because the OS image was wiped off

You'll find the Surface Pro driver pack here
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=38826

freitasm

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#846604 28-Jun-2013 10:22

I did a reset on the Surface yesterday and it worked just fine. Installed Windows 8.1 on top of this machine.

So the ISO doesn't even have the drivers for Microsoft's own hardware?

freitasm

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#846609 28-Jun-2013 10:24

Windows Update offered the drivers/firmware pack now, installed and up again.

nathan

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#846612 28-Jun-2013 10:27

freitasm: I did a reset on the Surface yesterday and it worked just fine. Installed Windows 8.1 on top of this machine.

So the ISO doesn't even have the drivers for Microsoft's own hardware?

no, why should it?

drivers change, then the ISO needs to be updated? If you include Surface drivers to you include drivers for the other 4000 Windows 8 machines?

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