Paul Thurrott: Windows 8 Secrets

When you’re ready, close the compatibility report and click Next.

Next, Setup says it’s ready to download Windows and notes that a product key has been “pre-keyed,” or pre-applied to the installation. This means you won’t have to type a 25-digit alphanumeric product key as you do with a manual clean or upgrade install.

Click Next and the wizard will download the rest of Windows 8 Setup. This procedure should just take a few minutes on a high-speed connection, but it could take much longer, of course. As Setup notes, you can continue using the previous Windows version during this process.

Once the full set of installation files are downloaded, Setup will check the integrity of the downloaded files. This is important because large chunks of the Setup process occur when the PC is offline and once it begins, there’s no way to elegantly recover should a corrupt file be encountered.

When that process completes, Setup reports that it is getting files ready. This is a plain English way of explaining that Setup is decompressing the compressed files it previously downloaded. So this process could take a few minutes as well.

A fourth option, Install on another partition, can also appear if you’re using a PC with multiple disk drives or partitions.

When it completes, Setup then prompts you to select one of several choices, as shown in Figure 2-4. These can include Install now, Install by creating media, or Install later from your desktop.

Figure 2-4:You can defer the install or copy the installation files to DVD or USB.

This is similar to the process utilized by the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool, yet another previously separate tool that is integrated into the web-based installer. We told you this thing was special.

These choices seem straightforward, but the second option is a cleverly disguised way to trigger a process whereby you can install the Setup files to a DVD or USB memory device. This allows you to perform a more traditional, if less seamless, installation later, or to another PC.

If you’re ready to go for it, choose Install now and then click Next.

Setup may prompt you to check for software updates here. We strongly recommend performing this check, since there are occasionally newer components available online. That said, this will be more of an issue if you previously deferred the install for some reason using the Install later option in the previous step of the wizard.

After a bit of churning, Setup will present the End User License Agreement (EULA). You must accept the license terms before you can click the Accept button to continue. It’s like you’re accepting it twice.

The next screen, shown in Figure 2-5, determines what type of install you will perform. Because this is so important, and can vary from PC to PC, we’ll need to spend a bit of time on this. (This figure was obtained by running the Windows 8 Setup from Windows 7.)

Figure 2-5:Think wisely here.

And yes, these options are part of what used to be Windows Easy Transfer.

You are asked to choose what you want to keep, and there will be some mix of the following choices here, depending on which version of Windows you’re currently running:

• Keep Windows settings, personal files, and app[lication]s:This install type equates to what used to be called an in-place upgrade. This means that virtually everything from your existing Windows installation, including applications—we’re not sure why Microsoft uses the term apps here—will come forward as the OS is upgraded to Windows 8. This is the most complete install type because nothing will be lost. And it’s available only to those who are currently running Windows 7.

• Keep Windows settings and personal files only:This hybrid option, which can be considered an advanced migration, saves your custom settings as well as everything in your personal folders (all of your documents, desktop files, and so on, as well as those for any other user accounts). This option is available only to those upgrading from Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 or 2.

• Keep personal files only:This will perform what we used to call a migration, meaning that Setup will save everything in your personal folders (all of your documents, desktop files, and so on, as well as those for any other user accounts), wipe out the current Windows version, perform a clean install, and then copy the personal files back. What you lose with this type of install are your custom settings and your installed applications. This option is available to all supported Windows versions, including Windows 7, Windows Vista (all versions), and Windows XP with Service Pack 3.

• Nothing:This is the clean install, or what Microsoft calls a custom install. In this install type, Setup will wipe out all of the files and data on the disk and then install a factory-fresh version of Windows. Everything that was there will be lost. This option is also available to all supported Windows versions, including Windows 7, Windows Vista (all versions), and Windows XP with Service Pack 3.

We can’t stress this enough: Trust technology to do the right thing, but have a backup plan, in this case literally. That is, yes, Setup will most likely not lose any data during a migration or in-place upgrade. But just in case, be sure to copy your important data to a removable drive and then remove that drive during Setup.

After making your selection, Setup will collect its wits and determine if there are any more steps to perform before it begins the actual process of applying Windows 8 to the PC.

You may recall that Setup could have previously informed you that one or more applications will need to be uninstalled before Windows 8 can be installed. If this is the case, you will see a prompt like the one in Figure 2-6. Here, Microsoft Security Essentials will need to be uninstalled before Setup continues. Click the Uninstall button next to any applications that need to be uninstalled.

Figure 2-6:Some applications will need to be uninstalled before Setup will complete.

After this process completes, Setup may need to restart the PC, depending on which types of tasks it asked you to complete. If so, Setup will resume immediately and automatically after the reboot, and it will prompt you to continue from where you left off or start over from the beginning. Choose the former and then click Next.

Setup will again check to make sure there are no more steps to take before it can install Windows 8. Finally, it will present the screen in Figure 2-7 that verifies the type of install you’ve chosen. You can make a last minute change to that install type if you’re unsure.

Click Install to continue. Setup will switch into a full-screen mode install Windows 8. During this process, which will involve a few reboots, Setup will configure hardware and install device drivers. It will also reapply your Windows settings, personal files, and other files if you configured it to do so.

Figure 2-7:One last check and you’re ready to install Windows 8.

When Windows 8 is finally ready, the computer will reboot for the last time and the out-of-box experience, or OOBE, will appear. In the first phase of the OOBE, Personalize, you have just a single choice to make: your Metro color scheme, a set of two colors that includes an accent (or foreground) color and a background color. This scheme is used on all Metro experiences, including the Windows 8 Start screen (but not to the desktop), and all Metro apps. This screen is shown in Figure 2-8. Pick a color scheme then click Next.