Windows 8 Release Candidate

Went to try the Windows 8 release candidate on my machine, and it said my CPU isn't compatible for Windows 8 :/

I suppose the preview version is 32-bit, whilst I'm using 64-bit Windows 7...

Apparently BIOS settings need to be changed, so why not detail it on the download section, rather than having to trawl through the Microsoft forums to find a solution !?

Edited by deleted (Fri 01-Jun-12 15:39:57)

Is this by any chance the the Intel VT or Amd-V related settings? That is quite common knowledge.

Its more to do with :

To install Windows 8 Release Preview on your PC, the processor (CPU) must support the following features: Physical Address Extension (PAE), NX, and SSE2. Most CPUs have support for these features, so if you receive this error, it is likely because the NX feature is not enabled on your system.

To resolve this error, follow manufacturer guidelines to enable NX (�No eXecute bit�), or the equivalent XD (�eXecute Disabled�) feature, within the BIOS security settings.

Although why the earlier candidate worked without BIOS changes...

In reply to a post by MrTAToad2:

I suppose the preview version is 32-bit, whilst I'm using 64-bit Windows 7...

There is a 64bit and a 32bit version of Windows 8 released today.

Yes, there is...

It should be common knowledge for a Windows systemadmin (That, and the Intel VT and Amd-V setting are the two BIOS prerequisites for running Hyper-V and related technologies), but indeed, why on earth the installer doesn't tell you that I don't know. Maybe it's an oversight. Certainly any home user or non-Windows techie wouldn't have a clue.

Edited by Pipexer (Fri 01-Jun-12 21:15:40)

Especially as previous Windows 8 candidates didn't need anything modifying...

Certainly any home user or non-Windows techie wouldn't have a clue.

They shouldn't be installing pre-release software IMO.

Why not ? Might want to see what all the fuss is about.

Because I think that, as the example you have given shows, you really need to think carefully about what you are doing when installing beta or pre-release software, particularly on a computer that is important to you. I do it all the time either in VMs or on a spare computer; if someone doesn't have the resources, or the technical knowledge, to do this then they are asking for trouble.

This iis the "release candidate" though, this is what MS is planning to put onto the DVD bar any great problems.

If it isn;t fixed now it will unlikely will be prior to launch and then there will be trouble as the home users would need to work out what is going on.

Also MS doesn't tend to give much instructions out with their OS's just put DVD into drive and follow instructions.

So pretty poor from MS on what is a possible launch product.

This is indeed a "release candidate", but I'll bet you anything that you like that there will be changes before it is released. Those changes will no doubt include changes to the documentation and installer based on the feedback that you and I are giving to Microsoft. You are reporting these niggles to them, rather than just griping about them on forums, aren't you?

Quite a few people have already mentioned these problems

The problem also occurs whilst installing into a virtual machine (although with even less information about what to do to fix it...)

Interesting. I had no problem installing it in VirtualBox.

What's the view from people that have tried it?
Anyone going to buy it?

I'll probably buy it to replace Vista on the laptop (especially if they do a cheap early-bird deal like they did with 7), but I'll leave 7 on the desktop.

Most likely, will probably get all my computers on it almost straight away.

Its looking good!

In reply to a post by DavidFinbarr:

What's the view from people that have tried it?
Anyone going to buy it?

Nope, I used the preview version for over a week and i could not get on with it, so will be sticking with windows 7. i build my own computers and my windows 7 is retail so it can be put onto the next computer I build, when ever that is.

if I buy a laptop which is unlikely to be honest as my laptop is used about once every couple of months, i will stick windows 7 on that if it got windows 8.

i don't like the Metro GUI, sure no doubt it is fine on touch screen, but it is not great for desktos/laptops,

MS should give people a choice to have the start menus or the Metro.

Not worth downloading the new version as very little have changed from the consumer preview version.

So you are not using it just because of the start menu... Surely that is insignificant to the majority of time you are spending on the computer?

That's what the desktop app is for.

In reply to a post by Pipexer:

So you are not using it just because of the start menu... Surely that is insignificant to the majority of time you are spending on the computer?

with out the start menu my software icons either have to be on the desktop, which I hate or on the task bar ad you can only put a certain amount on there. sure you can stick them tot he Metro GUI, but that means going back to that every time I want to run something.


As for the Apps, just more gimicks and another way to get people to use MS cloud service.

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

That's what the desktop app is for.

True, but once you get to the desktop what do you do then? All the icons are stuck on the Metro GUI, I not that fond of icons on the desktop.

Also the ribbon menu system puts me off. windows 7 does what I want, so no need to change anyway.

My PC has XP Pro x64 on one partition/HDD & Windows 7 Ultimate x64 on the other. I prefer XP.

_Vista_ was tried it - and denied it! Hated it that OS. NTFS is 'ok', FAT32 is more tweak-able (LOVELY!!), but Vista was complete [un-censored] crepe anyway.


The MacBook Pro gets PLENTY of my attention. There is not a lot of (guffaw) virus thingys... er, threat warnings. Oh happy days.


I may venture near Windows 8 but I DO prefer to W8. HAH! See what I did there?!?

Was only coming on here today to post about Diskeeper 12 Professional Upgrade - I now have so, job done!

FAT32 is more tweak-able?! what are you on about?

*points and laughs at the FAT(32) guy*

Running Diskeeper 12 here - new UI but let's be honest not much in the way of new technologies - their best technology so far has been InvisiTasking imho (what Automatic Defragmentation uses to not impact other processes) - does exactly what it says on the tin. IntelliWrite - jury still out on whether the file system filter affects performance negatively.

The main problem with Diskeeper is the price - not possible to achieve a RoI in many cases.

In reply to a post by Pipexer:

FAT32 is more tweak-able?! what are you on about?

*points and laughs at the FAT(32) guy*

Running Diskeeper 12 here - new UI but let's be honest not much in the way of new technologies - their best technology so far has been InvisiTasking imho (what Automatic Defragmentation uses to not impact other processes) - does exactly what it says on the tin. IntelliWrite - jury still out on whether the file system filter affects performance negatively.

The main problem with Diskeeper is the price - not possible to achieve a RoI in many cases.

> FAT32 is great for that, Pipexer. Tweaking IS just swell, man..

*LM-Flipping-AO at the non-Mac user.

DK12 has no interest to me ATM, maybe later. MBP comes first. My PC has 32GB RAM and no worries with slowdown.
The MBP has 8GB RAM & doesn't need it.

It's very good software and well recommended to all.

In reply to a post by Pipexer:

FAT32 is more tweak-able?! what are you on about?

*points and laughs at the FAT(32) guy*

I nearly spat a mouthful of tea at the screen when I read that as well. I thought the 'FAT is better'/'Do we trust NTFS' nonesense died out with the turning of the millenium. FATx is fine for removable media but who the bleep would still be using it for mainstream storage?

A Mac user, it seems!

In reply to a post by AEP:

A Mac user, it seems!

Understandable with BootCamp as that way you can write to the Windows partition from OS X. Sadly OS X has read only support for NTFS. (I guess Apple haven't seen NTFS-3G yet).

Who in their right mind would put windows on a MAC?

In reply to a post by DavidFinbarr:

What's the view from people that have tried it?
Anyone going to buy it?

no for 2 reasons.

1 - I dont have a touchscreen device to put it on and to me its a touch screen OS.
2 - There is no logical reason for me to replace windows 7 its only 3 years old and does everything I need. Supports all modern hardware features as well.

In reply to a post by Pipexer:

So you are not using it just because of the start menu... Surely that is insignificant to the majority of time you are spending on the computer?

you think thats the only change?

I am for what its worth often stopping and starting apps, so things like quick launch and the start menu are a core requirement. I am not a fan of search boxes to run apps.

In reply to a post by Chrysalis:

you think thats the only change?

That's the only change that I could see that would get a users' back up. The other changes (that are forced on you) I cannot see how one could possibly dislike.

I don't think it's fair to call it a touchscreen OS, it works perfectly fine with a mouse and keyboard. A touchscreen OS is like what is on the iPad or iPhone (iOS is this? I'm not a mac expert).

well some people will dislike 'any' change so you have alreayd misjudged its impact.

How about closing windows.
Launching apps.
App management.
Settings management.

Microsoft have even publicaly stated its optimised for touchscreen, its a touchscreen OS, just because it will load up on a desktop it doesnt mean its a desktop OS. The entire design is centred around making it work well on touchscreens. Sadly also seeing this affect on major websites as well like the bbc, the bbc site is all tiled styled now for touchscreens and its poor compared to the old bbc site on my desktop for usage.

Microsoft may have said it's "optimized" for touchscreen but they won't have intended for that to mean "it's not optimized for PCs and laptops" - As much as MS want to play catchup with apple and android there is absolutely no way they would put their PC and laptop market at measureable risk by putting it on the back burner. If they lose that market they are totally [censored].

Steven Sinofsky has stated it works just as well with a mouse or keyboard driven user, he is probably the person most in charge of the project, so any other statements from MS probably aren't as authoritative as his.

When I first jumped to Windows 7 from XP I also had some of the same problems by accidentally hovering over taskbar items making aero peek get in the way, I adapted quite quickly, people will do the same with Windows 8.

Agree with you about the BBC website but the BBC don't know what they are doing when it comes to technology, Microsoft on the other hand know exactly what they are doing.

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

Who in their right mind would put windows on a MAC?

My MBP has boot camp - I use the Win7 partition for work use, and running tools that there isn't a MAC equivalent (e.g. inSSIDer).

In reply to a post by jchamier:

tools that there isn't a MAC equivalent (e.g. inSSIDer).

iStumbler?

In reply to a post by billford:

In reply to a post by jchamier:

tools that there isn't a MAC equivalent (e.g. inSSIDer).

iStumbler?

I've been using WiFi Scanner from the MAS:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wifi-scanner/id411680...

but its nowhere as good as inSSIDer.

I tried that iStumbler but it failed to run on my OS X Lion installation; maybe it didn't like the WiFi (formerly Airport) card in my 2011 MBP.

In reply to a post by Pipexer:

Microsoft may have said it's "optimized" for touchscreen but they won't have intended for that to mean "it's not optimized for PCs and laptops" - As much as MS want to play catchup with apple and android there is absolutely no way they would put their PC and laptop market at measureable risk by putting it on the back burner. If they lose that market they are totally [censored].

Steven Sinofsky has stated it works just as well with a mouse or keyboard driven user, he is probably the person most in charge of the project, so any other statements from MS probably aren't as authoritative as his.

When I first jumped to Windows 7 from XP I also had some of the same problems by accidentally hovering over taskbar items making aero peek get in the way, I adapted quite quickly, people will do the same with Windows 8.

Agree with you about the BBC website but the BBC don't know what they are doing when it comes to technology, Microsoft on the other hand know exactly what they are doing.

windows 7 also had regressive GUI changes, the difference been tho it had a huge technical leap from XP (as XP was very old on win7 launch) and the GUI changes were less of an impact. I was able to bring back quick launch, things like the taskbar hovering popups are tunable even to the point of effectively disabling them. In truth vista may actually be a better OS than win7 as after a couple of service packs they ironed out a lot of the bugs but its reputation was permanently tarnished and on its launch XP wasnt so old and dated.

Ultimately for me win8 offers very little and win7 is still technically modern. I feel I am not alone on this and it wouldnt surprise me if windows 8 has poor sales compared to win7 because it is a short time after win7 release.

I would say people saying win8 is good or bad is about 50/50 at the moment and win7 was nothing like that ratio, in addition windows 8 forum site according to the owners of the windows 7 forum site has had way less hitsand active posters when compared to when windows 7 was at the same stage.

Lets hope microsoft do the sane thing and dont drop support for windows 7 soon.

The BBC R&D department is at the forefront of audio and visual technology.

In reply to a post by broadband66:

The BBC R&D department is at the forefront of audio and visual technology.

Audio and Video perhaps, but computer-related matters, probably at the back!

In reply to a post by broadband66:

The BBC R&D department is at the forefront of audio and visual technology.

Says who? they did not do a very good job with Freeview or digital radio to be honest, both systems was out of date before we had them.

All the BBc can do sound wise is compress everything so much that is sounds rubbish.
If the BBC R&D department is at the forefront of audio and visual technology, then we are screwed

I thought the BBC R&D department was Birtched out existence some years ago?

No, the Beeb still has an R&D department, though I've no idea how good it is:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/index.shtml

Are you getting it mixed up with the Radiophonic Workshop? That was chopped ages ago.

>Lets hope microsoft do the sane thing and dont drop support for windows 7 soon.

14th Jan 2020.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/products/...

Thanks for the views.

For me I can't see the point of updating from 7 to 8.
I have a totally stable system and happy with the Start Menu.

If I used a touch-screen it would be different, but I dislike them, so unlikely to buy one in the foreseeable future.

In reply to a post by billford:

No, the Beeb still has an R&D department, though I've no idea how good it is:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/index.shtml

Are you getting it mixed up with the Radiophonic Workshop? That was chopped ages ago.

Now that used to be good.
I got a couple of record with sounds from them, that can be used for plays and stuff like that.

In reply to a post by DavidFinbarr:

>Lets hope microsoft do the sane thing and dont drop support for windows 7 soon.

14th Jan 2020.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/products/...

another 8 years or so, pretty good to be honest, by that time they may have seen sense and give people the choice to go back to the start menu in the next couple of versions of windows.

i thought the next version of windows was going to do everything online, seems not and I doubt that will happen for years.

Even XP got a couple of years and there are still loads of people that uses that.

In reply to a post by DavidFinbarr:

Thanks for the views.

For me I can't see the point of updating from 7 to 8.
I have a totally stable system and happy with the Start Menu.

If I used a touch-screen it would be different, but I dislike them, so unlikely to buy one in the foreseeable future.

Same here, i got a retail version of 7, so I can move it to different computers as I update.


Touch screen is fine on my phone, but I don't see the point of it on a desktop or a laptop to be honest and if I ever did decide to get a tablet, it would be Android based, not that I looking at getting one to be honest.


Phone wise i will stick with Android, one unit running Microsoft software is enough.

Saying that if I could get a phone to run pure linux I would think about it.

In reply to a post by DavidFinbarr:

>Lets hope microsoft do the sane thing and dont drop support for windows 7 soon.

14th Jan 2020.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/products/...

yeah microsoft have a good support policy there, much better than other operating systems.

XP on my VM is even still getting updates so i guess it qualifies for the extended support period.