Windows 8 Consumer Preview Now Available for Download

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[citation][nom]captaincharisma[/nom]does it bring the start button back?[/citation]

Yes, it brings the start button back. It might not work on the customer preview, I haven't tried it there yet, but it does work on the dev preview and a new version will be made for the customer preview if it doesn't work.
 
Man, it's awful. Bland icons and interface, like it's been done by a child. Annoying Metro interface. No Start menu. No Control panel icon. No Shut down button. No coherence in the design of the personal settings. Could be a terrible disaster for MS if they don't shift the tablets.
 
I had issues trying to get it to run on VMPlayer 4. Instead, opted for VirtualBox, which runs it perfectly. I haven't had much time to play with it, unfortunately. My first impression - damn the lack of a button to login. Why click & swipe? Why?!! 😡
 
[citation][nom]samuelspark[/nom]Anyone know how I can restore Windows 7 back from this Windows 8? I still have old.windows folder[/citation]

For everyone whom replaced their Windows 7 installation with Windows 8, you will need to do a reinstall because there is no restoring to Windows 7 or any other operating system. This is not a new concept. Installing Windows 8 is not like updating Windows 7, it replaces Windows 7 just as it would with any other operating system.

I hope you have your Windows 7 keys somewhere and your Windows 7 installation media because if not, you are in trouble. If you have your keys then you can download Windows 7, if not you managed to screw yourselves over.

Please look into things before impulsively trying something.

[citation][nom]supall[/nom]I had issues trying to get it to run on VMPlayer 4. Instead, opted for VirtualBox, which runs it perfectly. I haven't had much time to play with it, unfortunately. My first impression - damn the lack of a button to login. Why click & swipe? Why?!! >[/citation]

I haven't tried the customer preview yet, but with the dev preview I could hit any key instead of clicking and swiping. Try hitting the up arrow key, that is what I usually did. If it works, great, if not, well it's not going to hurt you to have tried it.

Again, there are ways to disable Metro guys. Even if the one piece of software that I recommended doesn't work, there are several more and you could just look up the registry hack(s) and do it yourself.

It's not hard to follow step-by-step instructions.
 
All I can say is WTF. I have always liked MS and have been positive in anything that has not been released yet rather than speculate but after playing with this for a few hours I am bewildered. I feel completely lost and cannot figure out how to do anything. Not to compare it to mac os but I have the same feelings as when I first tried to JUST do something that I wanted to and can't. I don't even know where to START literally and figuratively. No problem, I will just search for help, wait. Even a buddy of mine(believe me or not) says it is really bad and not to look forward to this release. I get a free copy from work but unless they do something it will be running in a virtual machine or sitting on the shelf waiting for service packs or windows 9.
 


IMO the only way they can salvage having this UI on a desktop computer is to ship kinnect with every copy of windows 8.

i mean come on i don't want to do a swipe motion every time i want to login
 
Well i was curious about windows server 8 and i was shocked. Windows Server 8 also has the METRO GUI and the start button removed :0

i can understand trying this on the consumer market but the business world? its like companies taking away their employees blackberries and replacing them with iphones
 
[citation][nom]captaincharisma[/nom]Well i was curious about windows server 8 and i was shocked. Windows Server 8 also has the METRO GUI and the start button removed :0i can understand trying this on the consumer market but the business world? its like companies taking away their employees blackberries and replacing them with iphones[/citation]

I like the analogy, but once again, Metro can be disabled if you don't mind spending under 5 minutes to do it. Since you say you have seen the server, do you mean you have access to it, or that you have simply seen it? If you have access to it, could you give us a comparison of resource usage between it and the consumer Win 8 with both being the same bit width (both 32 or both 64)?
 
[citation][nom]captaincharisma[/nom]Well i was curious about windows server 8 and i was shocked. Windows Server 8 also has the METRO GUI and the start button removed :0i can understand trying this on the consumer market but the business world? its like companies taking away their employees blackberries and replacing them with iphones[/citation]

Not that disabling Metro through a third party program or a registry hack justifies it being on a server OS. If it really is in the Server version then M$ has screwed up big time.
 


so far i only just installed it and played around with it for a few seconds and i am running the 64 bit version all this done using VMware. once you get to the desktop it automatically open a window. also have you used this new perview yet? there is no start button and i have used a program that was mentioned before to disable metro and it does not work. also i hear the reg hacks don't work as well. although later on someone may find a way to disable it. and yes you should not have to do any hacks like this for the server version
 
[citation][nom]captaincharisma[/nom]so far i only just installed it and played around with it for a few seconds and i am running the 64 bit version all this done using VMware. once you get to the desktop it automatically open a window. also have you used this new perview yet? there is no start button and i have used a program that was mentioned before to disable metro and it does not work. also i hear the reg hacks don't work as well. although later on someone may find a way to disable it. and yes you should not have to do any hacks like this for the server version[/citation]

Thanks for responding.

I've used the dev preview of x32 and x64 Windows 8 for the desktop, but the server dev was not given out for free. I have the new preview for desktops downloaded, but my usually machine isn't up and running and the one I'm on now would need to have most of my web browser's tabs closed to fit in a VM with my little 2GB of DDR2 memory. I'll get around to ir sooner or later, just not yet.

I most of all want to see the memory usage of Windows 8 server x64 when it has no programs running, but until I grab a copy somehow (Not that I support pirating, but honestly I'm okay with downloading an alpha version of Windows), I can't get it set up the way I would use it to compare it to my current systems with Windows Server 2008r2 x64.

So long as it uses less resources, mainly memory, I'll get a copy when it comes out (legally) and use it instead of Server 2008 r2 x64. I wanted to know if it uses less than x64 consumer Windows 8 to see if it is further optimized like Server 2008r2 is when compared to Windows 7.
 
[citation][nom]cronik93[/nom]Do win7 drivers have no problems with Win8?[/citation]

well most should as drivers from vista is working on 8. (for some reason, the only thing i need drivers for is a 5 in 1 memory card slot on my laptop and the latest one was made before about a year before 7 was out)
 
Windows Vista and 7 drivers should be compatible with Windows 8. There might be a few that aren't but the majority should be fine. If you aren't sure then back up the Win 8 partition and install the driver. If it works, great, if not, restore the back up to the original drive and no harm done except for some wasted time, no big deal. You even then get to tell people about the failed driver so fewer people actually end up screwed by it.
 
[citation][nom]mobrocket[/nom]anyone running it with virtualbox?[/citation]
I just installed it on VirtualBox, the x64 version. I hate this. I got past the first menu and got to what looks like Windows as we know it, minus the Start button. I have on idea how to get back to the main Metro UI if that's what it's called.
 


you can use the windows logo button to get back or hover over the right edge of the screen for a menu to popup
 
[citation][nom]JOSHSKORN[/nom]I just installed it on VirtualBox, the x64 version. I hate this. I got past the first menu and got to what looks like Windows as we know it, minus the Start button. I have on idea how to get back to the main Metro UI if that's what it's called.[/citation]

Metro is opened from hitting the start key like the start menu in all other windows from Win 95 (I think) and up.
 
This install does not seem to work on a Nvidia based board. I get all through the whole install then a generic message that "windows can not be setup on your hardware"
 
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