How-To Geek

It's catastrohic on M$ for not allowing the Start Menu/All Programs to be an option in the Control Panel. I predict this OS will go belly-up for Desktop and Laptop users around the world. The youngest generation may like it but hey, they are on iPhones and Smart Phones all day texting their brains out! Most could care less about using a PC for work and gaming. But those kids between 12 and 22 who do enjoy gaming will march those W8 computers back to the store for a refund then buy a W7 computer online - the one's remaining. Best best for any gamer is buy a package deal online and build their own PC and be sure to order a W7 Home Premium DVD (and guard it like gold).

Yep. A really dumb idea by M$ that will get swept under the rug like Windows ME did in 1999. phuuu on you M$.

BUMP

IMPORTANT QUESTION !!!!

I need answer also just as <oldgeezer> does.

Where are the Members who are now posting all over the forum getting their Win8 from ????

I got it via REGISTRATION for an UPGRADE... with a link to MS. Both the $15 and $40 USD offer for 2 systems I registered. No matter which you use, you get to see a purchase screen for $40, and on the real price screen you get to enter the PROMO code from the e-mail. If it is a registered system purchased before June 1st this year, that code drops $25 USD off the price. You can then d/l an ISO, pay $15 USD more to get a DVD, or burn it to a Flash drive.

Then all you need do is run SETUP from the created DVD and off you go.

This is for a W7 Upgrade.

Irv S.

THANKS ALL !!!!

Was finally able to get the Win8 downloaded and saved as an ISO. :) :)

One note of caution !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Update files download to:

C:\Users\Your User Account\AppData\Local\Temp\xyzxz123-1b23-789e-1234-778cc8ea566c\WebSetupExpanded\

Do NOT Clean that Temp Folder Out by mistake using Ccleaner or such.

Best move the total Directory to a Safe Place if you want to make more ISOs.

Where it goes to is a FUNCTION of the settings in your BROWSER. I've changed my Browsers to always place files into my K:\InetDL folder. What you have Rick is the DEFAULT location which is in the TEMP folder.

Irv S.

@Rick, I have NOT given much thought about 'restoring' the W8 system other than my normal Ghost solution (which HAS a W8 problems that 'annoys' me, you can NOT license it, says it can't be used, what bothers me more, the Upgrade Adv. didn't know this would be a problem, but for W7 it knew it would, and it appears Norton is unaware of this too?).

Got to look around to see if RECOVERY/RESCUE disks can be made, but some is 'buried' within W8 where you can go back to a clean system. Not sure if you can do a clean install from the upgrade media though? Something I have to figure out soon to be safe. I'd hate to have to put on W7 and then do the Upgrade.

Never got asked for a license number? Might be inside the image for upgrade already or it used the same as the old W7?

Still holding out my W7 until Norton fixes Ghost but the problem I had on the New Dell was cleared by doing a System Restore to the Install state. Weather and all Live Tiles now work correctly. Have to put things back slowly to see which update broke it. Suspect a Dell file... I've done the MS Windows Update and the chipset update that I had fail before went on. That was a file I got from Dell the last time and installed before doing the Windows Update... Dell had 7 drivers to be replaced.

Oh, speaking of System Restore, since I had Ghost working on W7 and didn't want extra writes to my SSD C: drive I disabled System Restore on W7. My SSD on the system is 128GB's in size and about 50GB's were in use. Well after the Upgrade it seems W8 always enables System Restore, which I guess was good as I could do the Restore and go back to the install state. It was less than 3GB's in size. Now I'm not sure I want to keep it active? At least for now as I'm not confident Ghost will allow me to recover anything, if one part is broken, who knows what else might fail?

Irv S.

There's a useful post here by Ed Bott which answers some of the questions above, including mine:

Ed Bott on ZDNet

Not sure about contradictory? I'll assume the clean install is over the 'legal' W7 which is read by the install before the process starts. Keeping the old W7 and doing a NEW install to a clean partition IS NOT supported. The bottom line, you can't keep the old W7 around.

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Dual boot options

I just bought a Windows 7 machine and purchased the $14.95 Windows 8 upgrade. Can I keep my Windows 7 running and install Windows 8 on a second partition or in a virtual machine. The "Upgrade Assistant" looks for an existing OS so I could not figure out a way to do that easy.

Technically, no, that is a violation of the license agreement. The upgrade replaces the old license completely. The terms are written in very clear language:

The software covered by this agreement is an upgrade to your existing operating system software, so the upgrade replaces the original software that you are upgrading. You do not retain any rights to the original software after you have upgraded and you may not continue to use it or transfer it in any way.
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Seems CLEAR to me.... and the only mention of CLEAN was here (and in a comment that wasn't to 'clear')

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How do I get to 64 bit from 32 bit Windows?

There is no way to upgrade from a 32-bit copy of Windows to 64-bit, or vice versa. You must backup your data, create bootable media, and do a clean install. After you’re done, you’ll need to reinstall your programs and restore your data.
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So I'd say there is no way to do a CLEAN install? I never saw an option to FORMAT during the upgrade, but I didn't boot the upgrade DVD I made either?

Irv S.

Hmm, Rick? Not sure?

Might have answered only the first part, "Can I burn the download file to a DVD or a USB flash drive", or took the last part to be can I format a disk with it? Nothing said 're-install' W8 clean, other than the dangling " also guide me on how the serial key works in this case." which he did not answer.

Ed's a nice guy, had dinner with him probably almost 20 years ago, ask him <VBG>.

Irv S.

Also, wait for 'part 2' where he says he'll go through upgrade paths and activation issues.