Windows 8 User thread

marc2003 · 21 Sep 2011 at 05:07

as i got a new hard drive yesterday, i decided to try it for real instead of in a VM.

there's a handy tip in that MSDN thread linked a few posts up if you want to dual boot. rather than waste time creating a usb stick/DVD, simply mount the ISO within your current windows, make sure you have another partition/drive already formatted. don't run the installer when prompted because that only lets you upgrade. instead cancel it, and browse to x:\sources\setup.exe that starts another installer which lets you choose a partition from within windows meaning it doesn't **** up your drive letters like dual booting from a usb install does.

finally when setup is complete, you'll notice windows 8 actually fully boots before giving you the choice to boot 7 - if you pick 7 it then reboots which is very time consuming. so when in windows 8, go to the startup options (right click "computer") and set the default OS to 7. this brings backs the 7 bootloader meaning you get the choice straight after bios but you can boot either 7 or 8.

RobP · 21 Sep 2011 at 08:22

BlizzardX said:
I would love to see Steam with a Metro interface, along with other providers... Seemless access to all the stores and programs without leaving a simple interface... Great for PC gaming in the lounge, and really for work on the PC in general; for me at least!

Someone's done a mock up of what they think it would be like.

http://www.winsupersite.com/blog/supersite-blog-39/windows8/steam-metro-140629

Antar Bolaeisk · 21 Sep 2011 at 08:46

Mattus said:
It looks like Metro is supposed to replace the traditional Start menu. But flicking in and out of it just to launch a desktop app is far too laborious and slow. I can only assume that the final version will have an option to make the Start button launch a standard menu instead of Metro - seems pretty much essential on desktop PCs.

I can't really believe they're going to completely drop the old start menu, I'd imagine that it's just been left out of this version as it's a developer build to encourage people to play with metro.

NathanE · 21 Sep 2011 at 09:13

Antar Bolaeisk said:
I can't really believe they're going to completely drop the old start menu, I'd imagine that it's just been left out of this version as it's a developer build to encourage people to play with metro.

Correct.

Though there is every possibility that the Windows Key will still be mapped to launch Metro. But I suspect even that will be configurable.

Phil2008 · 21 Sep 2011 at 13:18

Kaiju said:
After playing with Windows 8 for a bit I can definitely see the potential.

Will definitely be looking to get a touch screen monitor once it rolls out too. =)

I wouldn't like a touchscreen monitor just because I couldn't stand the screen to be constantly dirty. Plus I hate ppl touching my monitor screen

A[L]C · 23 Sep 2011 at 10:42

ignore

Disco Boy · 23 Sep 2011 at 12:34

Is it possible to run this in windows virtual machine on w7 pro?

marc2003 · 23 Sep 2011 at 14:26

using virtual pc? i doubt that. it works in virtualbox and vmware workstation 8. the latter is better but costs money. you can get a 30 day trial though.

Disco Boy · 23 Sep 2011 at 16:29

Oh okay.

Out of interest, other than xp mode, is there any point in virtual pc? I thought you could install any OS in there =\

madman045 · 23 Sep 2011 at 17:14

Optiplex 745, E6300, 2GB, 250GB, X1300 Pro

Installed Windows 8 32bit, takes about 30 seconds to bring up the login box, nice touch that its linked to your live account

X1300 is unsupported so its the default display driver only

navigation takes a bit of getting used to, a little bit sluggish though, at least with 7 in can install the vista display driver

Will try and get round to watching the key notes

Photek · 23 Sep 2011 at 23:34

Disco Boy said:
Out of interest, other than xp mode, is there any point in virtual pc? I thought you could install any OS in there =\

Yeah you can install another OS in Virtual PC, i dont know if Win 8 will work but you can definitely get some Linux distros running, see here. But Win 8 now comes with Hyper-V, which is basically the same thing, but not a separate download and it's much better (it was only available on Windows Server until now).

Subliminal Aura · 24 Sep 2011 at 15:08

Finally got round to installing this on Vmware workstation 8 - when patched with vmtools it is most definitely usable

Obviously not as fluid as native but still usable.

Anyone developed any metro apps yet ? I've just not had time :rolleyes:

kedge · 24 Sep 2011 at 18:45

I noticed the win8 developer preview's default pagefile size for my 8GB of ram was set at 4GB.

MR.B · 24 Sep 2011 at 22:45

Subliminal Aura said:
Anyone developed any metro apps yet ? I've just not had time

I'm going to give it a go next month but i certainly wont be using the joke that is HTML5. I'll be using a real language

One thing i love about Win 8 is that on a W8 tablet you can actually make the apps on that tablet and then test it out on it. Not like before where you'd have to switch over to a real computer for coding/designing, then compile the app and move it over to Android/iOS/whatever... very tedious.