Paul Thurrott: Windows 8 Secrets

• Understanding the different options for installing and upgrading to Windows 8

• Understanding how the web-based installer works

• Using new Windows Setup features

• Choosing a sign-in type

• Employing post-setup tasks for a complete install

• Looking at advanced Windows 8 configurations

• Using a dual-boot configuration

• Installing Windows 8 on a Mac

With previous Windows versions, Microsoft offered a fairly static set of capabilities by which one could install the OS onto a new or existing computer. These capabilities were based on the same underlying functionality but were designed to serve three basic audiences: end users, businesses, and PC makers, and not necessarily in that order. As such, the process was pretty technical for the typical user, which wasn’t much of a problem because very few users actually installed Windows this way anyway. Most acquired Windows with a new PC purchase or, perhaps, through a work-based PC.

With Windows 7, however, those usage patterns changed somewhat. For the first time, a significant percentage of Windows users upgraded existing PCs running a previous version of Windows to Windows 7, and to do so they typically purchased a retailed, boxed copy of the new OS, in Upgrade form, and then performed the upgrade manually.

The reason for this sudden change is obvious: With Windows 7, for the first time, a new version of Windows actually had system requirements that matched, not exceeded, those of the previous version. So while many users did of course buy new, Windows 7-based PCs—several hundreds of millions of them, in fact—many also chose to continue using their existing computers as well.

With Windows 8, Microsoft expects a mix of both traditional PC sales and retail upgrades, again because Windows 8 does not exceed the system requirements of its own predecessor. And many users will simply purchase a Windows 8-based device, such as a tablet, and then upgrade their existing PC as well so that they can take advantage of this Windows version’s excellent PC-to-PC sync and integration capabilities. So, since many users would still be installing Windows 8 on their own going forward, Microsoft has evolved the Windows Setup process yet again. And this time, finally, we think they got it right.

As is the case throughout this book, we’ll be focusing largely on new features and functionality, in this case with regards to Setup and installing Windows 8 on your own PCs. But don’t worry, power users: If you have specific setup needs, we cover those as well.

What about Windows RT? This ARM-based version of Windows 8 comes only with new hardware and cannot be purchased in software-only form, either in retail packaging or electronically, as with Windows 8. So the only Windows Setup experience you’ll have will involve the so-called out-of-box experience, or OOBE, that’s discussed later in the chapter. But since that bit is so obvious, Windows RT users can feel free to skip much of the information in this chapter.

With Windows 7 and previous Windows versions, Microsoft provided a monolithic installation application called Windows Setup that was custom-tailored for managed businesses and PC makers but could also be used, in manual form, by end users. This same Setup application came with both the Full and Upgrade versions of Windows and provided a consistent interface between the two.

Those who purchase Windows 8 today in retail, boxed form will find that Setup—shown in Figure 2-1—hasn’t changed much since Windows 7. The color scheme is a bit different, the out-of-box experience (OOBE) steps / those that appear after Setup is complete and you have to enter some information about yourself and the PC) are now touch-enabled and evolved, and the whole process is a bit shorter. But overall, things haven’t changed much.

Figure 2-1:Windows Setup

This is both good and bad.

For businesses and PC makers, it means that the tools and methods they use to blast Windows 8 images onto PCs will be familiar and efficient, and not require training. This, after all, is what Windows Setup was really made for anyway.

But for end users, this old-fashioned setup routine is incomplete and inefficient. It doesn’t include vital and important tools such as the Upgrade Advisor, which provides you with a compatibility report for your hardware and software before you install Windows, or Windows Easy Transfer, which makes upgrades and migrations of data possible. Furthermore, Setup won’t work well electronically, so those who hope to install or upgrade to Windows 8 over the Internet would need to first download the massive Windows installer file set—roughly 3.5 to 5 GB, depending on the version, then burn it to disc or copy to a specially made, bootable USB hard drive or flash drive. And then they would need to boot the computer with that device and go through the manual setup process.

Yes, you can do this if you really want to. But there’s a better way.

Those who wish to install Windows 8 the old-fashioned way should consult Paul’s website, winsupersite.com, where the clean install and upgrade/migration scenarios are fully documented. But we provide some related information later in the chapter for those who are forced to continue using these methods.

With Windows 8, Microsoft has combined three of its Windows installation tools into a single web-based version of Setup that overcomes virtually all of the problems with the traditional, monolithic Setup application. Available at windows.com, this new installer can perform a clean install, upgrade, or migration to Windows 8 more quickly and more reliably than ever before.

To understand why this new web-based Setup is superior, consider how you used to install Windows (and how, optionally, you still can with the retail-type Setup application in Windows 8) and why you would be performing this task in the first place.

The most common reason you’d find yourself wasting an afternoon—or more commonly, an entire day—futzing around with Windows Setup and the attendant activities you must undergo is that you’ve got an existing PC running the previous Windows version and you’d like to upgrade. This Setup type was fraught with the possibility of disaster, and since you may want to bring your settings and data along with you—called a migration —or even your currently-installed applications—called an in-place upgrade —the times and places in which something could go wrong—resulting, perhaps, in data loss—could multiply as well.

The second most common reason to run the traditional Windows Setup routine is that you’ve been using Windows for a while and your PC is starting to slow down. And what you’d like to do is back up all your settings and data, run Setup, wipe out Windows, and just reinstall it from scratch. This is called a clean install of Windows, though Microsoft for some reason refers to it as a custom install.

Clean installs are a tricky business. Assuming you get through Setup without any issues—which, to be fair, doesn’t require a lot of skill—that doesn’t mean you’re done. The trouble is that Setup might not have found all the drivers for your PC. Even though Windows Update can often find more drivers, that won’t help if your network adapter driver is among the missing and you can’t get online. Regardless, it’s very common to visit Device Manager and discover that some hardware devices were not properly configured with drivers. And the name of a device in Device Manager sometimes doesn’t even provide a hint about what the device really is, making the process of finding the correct driver next to impossible.