Paul Thurrott - Windows 8 Secrets

If you purchased a boxed, retail version of Windows 8 or would simply prefer to install Windows 8 the old-fashioned way, even with an electronic purchase, you can of course still do so. We don’t recommend it. But it’s important to realize that this option is still available.

If you purchased Windows 8 electronically from Microsoft, the web installer is the default install type. But you are also given the option to download the installer files as a disc image, or ISO, which you can then use to create a bootable Setup disc (or USB flash drive) so you can install Windows 8 at a later time or perhaps on another PC.

A couple of notes about this process:

• Product key:Microsoft will provide you with a 25-digit product key that you must have handy during the Windows Setup process. We recommend printing this out if possible or having a second PC or device available nearby so that you can read this key from that second device and input it on the PC to which you are installing Windows 8.

• Upgrade or Full:With previous Windows versions, Microsoft offered Upgrade and Full versions of each product edition. This time around there are only Upgrade versions, which can be used for both clean and upgrade installs.

• 32-bit or 64-bit:Like Windows 7, Windows 8 is available in both 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) variants. Generally speaking, you will want the 64-bit version for a clean install or migration. But if you plan to perform an in-place upgrade, you will need to use the same version, 32- or 64-bit, as your current Windows version. You can find this information in the System control panel.

• Product version:Windows 8 is available in multiple product versions, or SKUs (Stock Keeping Units). For a clean install, ensure that you’re buying the Windows 8 product version you want. For an upgrade or migration, ensure that you’re buying a product version that meets or exceeds the product version of your current version of Windows.

• Drivers:If you are performing a migration or in-place upgrade, it’s highly likely that Windows 8 will not recognize every hardware device and peripheral attached to your PC. So you will need to be ready with the drivers you may potentially need. At the least, make sure you have a Windows 7- or 8-class driver for your PC’s network adapter so you can get online. Then, you can navigate to your PC vendor’s support website to download any remaining missing drivers. We discuss this process in more detail later in the chapter.

If you downloaded an ISO file from Microsoft, you can use this file to create a bootable Windows 8 Setup DVD disc or USB memory key. How you do this will depend on which version of Windows you’re currently running. In this section, we’ll look at some common scenarios.

You will need a blank recordable DVD with a capacity of 4.7 GB or higher for this purpose.

To create a bootable Windows Setup disc with Windows 7, simply double-click on the Windows 8 ISO file. The Windows Disc Image utility, shown in Figure 2-17, will launch and help you create this disc.

Figure 2-17:The Windows Disc Image utility can help you create a bootable Windows Setup disc.

If you would rather use a bootable USB key to install Windows, or are using an older Windows version, you can use Microsoft’s excellent USB/DVD Download Tool, available from the Microsoft Store. This utility, shown in Figure 2-18, will guide you through the process of creating a bootable Windows 8 Setup disc or USB memory key.

Figure 2-18:The USB/DVD Download Tool

You can find this tool at tinyurl.com/4qfdm4xonline.

You can use the following basic steps to install Windows 8 using the boot media (Setup disc or USB flash drive) you just created. Note that since this process is advanced, we assume you know what you’re doing and will only be providing basic instructions.

• Back up:You’re pretty much on your own with this one, but you will want to back up all of the important data and other files on your PC if you are installing Windows 8 onto an existing machine. This is true regardless of whether you plan to perform a clean install, in-place upgrade, or migration. Remember: better safe than sorry.

If you’re upgrading or migrating, you will run Windows Setup from within your existing version of Windows and not boot the PC with the media you created.

• Boot the PC with your Windows Setup media:You will most likely need to interrupt your PC’s boot process in order to boot from a USB memory key, especially. But this could be true for a bootable DVD as well. Consult your PC documentation—or pay attention when the BIOS screen appears—to discover how this works on your particular machine.

• Run Windows Setup:The Windows 8 boot disc (or disk) will prompt you to Install Windows or access its recovery tools. Choose Install Windows, of course, and step through the wizard-based application. The initial steps are very similar to those described in the previous section about the web-based installer, though you will not be provided with an opportunity to generate a compatibility report.

• Use the OOBE:After a few reboots, Windows Setup will load the out-of-box experience (OOBE), stepping you through the final configuration of your PC and user account. This process is identical to that described in the previous section about the web-based installer.

• Post-install tasks:After you’ve signed in to Windows and have accessed the Windows 8 Start screen for the first time, the real fun begins. You’ll need to copy back any data, documents, and other files, reapply your personal settings, install Windows-based applications and new Metro-style apps, and, of course, ensure that Windows is up to date, both with software and driver updates.

We discuss this latter activity in the next section.

However you choose to install Windows 8, at some point you will be confronted with the blank slate of the new Start screen and may be wondering what happens next. Windows 8 may look quite a bit different than its predecessors, but this is one case where the general strategy remains the same. It’s time to engage in some post-Setup activities to ensure that your PC is up and running as efficiently as possible. More to the point, you need to ensure that you’re really done configuring Windows 8 so you can begin actually using it.

The first step is to check your hardware drivers: Ideally, all of the hardware connected to your PC has been correctly detected and assigned an up-to-date driver. But that’s often not the case. There are two ways in which to trigger driver updates after Setup is complete: one automatic (and thus preferable) and one manual and considerably more difficult.

Let’s try the automatic route first: Visit Windows Update to trigger a check of the Microsoft Update service, which will be polled for three things, by default: software updates, security patches, and, yes, driver updates. There are many ways to run Windows Update, and Windows 8 confusingly offers two interfaces to this functionality, the old control panel interface and a new, Metro-style version. Let’s use the latter.