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Published
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April 17, 2012 |
Last Updated |
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April 17, 2012 |
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Introduction |
Windows 8 Consumer Preview is a prerelease version of Windows 8 that focuses on people and apps and gives you powerful new ways to use social technologies to connect with the people who are important to you. It's Windows reimagined. Windows 8 Consumer Preview is built on the rock-solid foundation of Windows 7 and has the security and reliability features you expect from Windows. It’s fast, and it’s made to work on a variety of form factors—especially the new generation of touch devices.
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Note : This article was written when Windows 8
was still in Consumer Preview build, changes might occur
later to the product once it is RTM.
Windows 8
Consumer Preview is one of the biggest changes that
Microsoft has made to Windows, moving it from an
operating system aimed at a single class of hardware
(PCs and laptops) to one that spans a wide range of
devices, including desktops.
Windows 8
Consumer Preview works great on the same hardware that
powers Windows 7:
•
Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster
•
RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit)
•
Hard disk space: 16 GB (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
•
Graphics card: MicrosoftDirectX 9 graphics device or
higher
Additional requirements to use certain features:
• To
use touch, you need a tablet or a monitor that supports
multitouch.
• To
access the Windows Store, download and run apps,
you need an active Internet connection and a screen
resolution of at least 1024 x 768.
• To
snap apps, you need a screen resolution of at least 1366
x 768.
In the below steps I will show you
how to download and install Windows 8 Consumer Preview,
so lets start.
- Windows 8 Consumer
Preview Setup will check to see if your
PC can run Windows 8 Consumer Preview
and select the right download.
Download Windows 8
Consumer Preview Compatability checking
tool:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/download
- Run the Windows 8
Consumer Preview Setup

- If you have User
Account Control (UAC) enabled, then you will
recieve a message if you want to allow
the program to run, click on Yes

- The tool will
launch and start checking compatability
issues with your installed applications
and drivers.


- Review the
Compatability Report and check
if any
application needs to be addressed (
updated or uninstalled )


- Its better after
you fix the addressed applications to
run the compatability tool again and
check one last time the compatability
report to see if anything wrong was left
over. Click Next when
done


- You will recieve
the Product Key, write
this aside and keep it with you so that
when you are asked for it in the future
you can type it. Click
Next to start
Downloading Windows 8

- Windows 8 will
start to download

- Once the download
is completed, you are ready now to
install Windows 8. You are presented
with three options, either to Install
Now, Install Windows 8 on another
partition, or postpone the installation
and install it later. I want to upgrade
my Windows 7 now, so I will choose
Install Now.

- The setup will
check if everything is ready and then
will display the license terms

Accept the licnese terms, by selecting
I accept the license terms
and then click on Accept

- Next page will ask
you if you want to keep your own
settings and data or would like to wipe
your data and install a clean copy of
Windows 8. What you can keep depends on the current
version of Windows running on your PC.
These options only show up if the
current version of Windows supports
them.
 Here are the options you
might see:
Windows settings.
Windows settings
like Ease of Access,
your desktop background,
or Internet favorites
and history will be
kept. Not all settings
will be moved.
Personal files.
Anything saved in the
User folder is
considered a personal
file, like the Documents
and Desktop folders.
Apps. Some
apps are compatible with
Windows 8 Consumer
Preview and will just
work after Windows 8
Consumer Preview is
installed. Some apps
might have to be
reinstalled after
Windows 8 Consumer
Preview finishes
installing, so be sure
to find the installation
discs and installers for
apps you want to keep.
Nothing.
Delete everything and
replace your current
version with a copy of
Windows 8 Consumer
Preview. Your personal
files will be moved to a
windows.old folder.
If you choose
Nothing, make sure to do the
following before you continue:
Back up your files to an
external hard disk, DVD
or CD, USB flash drive,
or network folder.
Find the installation
discs and installers for
the apps you know will
work in Windows 8
Consumer Preview and
need to reinstall.
If you use a fingerprint
reader or other biometric device to sign
in to your computer, make sure you write
down your password. You’ll have to sign
in by typing your user name and password
the first time you use Windows 8
Consumer Preview.
- The installer will check if anything else is needed before starting the installation of Windows 8, and then will ask you to restart the PC

Click Restart PC

-
After your system reboots, logon to your
account and accept UAC to resume setup

Choose Continue from where I left off to
resume setup and click Next

-
Now you are ready to install, click
Install

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Installation will start and your machine
will be rebooted several times

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Once installation is completed,
Windows 8 will startup and will ask you
few questions to setup your account. In
the Personalize page, select the
background color and then click Next

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In the Settings page, select either to
choose the Express Settings
or to
Customize it. The description of the
Express Settings is listed below, I will
select Use Express Settings

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In the Sign in page, enter your local
username's password. This is your
password that was used with Windows 7

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If you have a Microsoft account, then
you can use it to sign into your PC,
this will make you able to :
- Download apps from Windows Store
- Access your files and photos anywhere
- Sync settings online

Enter your email account password, and
then click Next

You will be asked to enter security
verification info. These info will be
used when you want to recover your
password in the future, in case it was
lost of forgotten. Then click Next

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The sign in process will start into your
machine using your Microsoft account and
password

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When you see the below screen, this
means you are in Windows 8 . In
future articles, I will be showing you
how to work with Windows 8 and
discussing new
features introduced with Windows 8.

Summary
Windows 8 Consumer Preview is one of the biggest changes that Microsoft has made to Windows, moving it from an operating system aimed at a single class of hardware (PCs and laptops) to one that spans a wide range of devices, including desktops. Windows 8 Consumer Preview build is
available for download and you can try it now. In this
article I have shown you how it is easy to do an inplace
upgrade from Windows 7 to a Windows 8 Consumer
Preview build.
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