Windows 7 Hello from 8

[Drew]

Hi. Just thought I'd say "Hello from Windows8" I have been running it as a vm since mid-Sept. It is, certainly, interesting, very fast, slick & w/ some features & changes that are quite a voyage of discovery. I am anxious to see what I'll get once start actually testing the Beta, which is yet to be made available to us from MS. Right now I am only using the Developer Preview. 1 neat thing about it is Spell Check, that is normally (in the past) available in OFFICE (Word, etc) is everywhere; even as I write this note.

 

[Medico]

I wonder if I could take my up to date Win 8 DP Image and use that to install to the VHD. This way I could expand my Win 7 drive back to the entire partition and delete the Win 8 DP partition without loosing the customizations I have already added to Win 8 DP. How would Imaging work if I installed Win 8 DP in a VHD? When I make my Image of my Win 7 drive would it also include the VHD in the Image so when I screw up again I can be back to where I was in as little as 10 to 15 minutes? Would that Image restore both Win 7 and Win 8 DP in VHD?

Imaging is critically important to me. If these questions could be answered in the positive I would be willing to try this senario. But if I am unable to Image properly and include both Win 7 and Win 8DP, then I would be unwilling to try this at this time.

Joe, a good starting point is windows8forums.com There are many observations recorded there already.

Note: Sorry for the repeat post, I cannot figure out how to delete post #21. Perhaps a Mod could help here.

 

[Drew]

Cool ; just hit the Desktop tile & you'll have the traditional desktop instead of the tiles; after a while you may come to like them & how they can be personalized.... give it a fair, open-minded chance... there will be/are certainly differences (from 7)

& mine starts w/out a P/W

Cheers,
Drew

 

[Joe S]

Ted you might have more luck with these questions over at Acronis forum. It would seem if you made the image with the VHD in place on Windows 7 that it would be included since it's basically just a file. I'm not to sure about loading the image of Windows 8 onto the VHD.
Joe

 

[Joe S]

I found this link Link Removed and if you look in the bottom there is an app to get rid of the wonderful Metro startup and go to classic startup. It's a bit annoying how they hide things like run and command prompt and other things we are used to finding in start. Thus should be interesting to sort out.
Joe

 

[Drew]

As I said, hitting the Desktop tile takes one to the traditional desktop. Search will get Run & all the things we are accustom to having. A Win8 VHD would be part of the Win7 image as a file. As a vm is part of whatever virtual softwate in which or on which it was created.

The best 'forum' for Windows 8 is the Microsoft Windows 8 Developer Preview Category Forum
Windows Developer Preview: General OS questions Forum

Regards,
Drew

 

[davehc]

Hi TEd. Dedicated Acronis user here. an image will indeed retain everything and, if you screw up, put it back, with your virtual program, in its entirety.Only precaution is, of course, to temmebr to keep a copy of Windows 7 files and data, more recent than you last image, separately.
I don't have the problems with new and extra partitions, as expressed in this thread. I have two normally ready for any use that comes by. One is always in ready for OS betas, etc, currently windows 8. So. I have a dual boot installation. naturally, under this environment, Windows 8 finds all the hardware by the normal methods, during initial installation.
With the help of Aconis, I have an image for Windows 7 and another for 8. On top of that another for both integrated OSs. So nothing can go wrong - go wrong - go wrong.
I really think, as hinted twice by Ted, this thread should be moved, or copied, to the Windows 8 forum. Several of the points raised here have been already covered there.

 

[OldTimer]

I'm constantly testing or evaluating various OS's and permutations of various OS's.
But, I don't want any other OS mucking about with XP, my main OS.

So I put every other OS on a separate HD. Then if I want to get rid of an OS, I just reformat that drive and put something else on it.

Hard drives are so cheap anymore, that there's no good reason to put two or more OS's on a single drive. That's just a complication, looking for a conclusion, to create confusion. Or, something like that.

Cheers Mates!
Lovin' Win-8 in FL.

 

[Medico]

Unless of course if your main PC is a laptop, just saying.

 

[OldTimer]

Unless of course, you have multiple HD's and don't mind changing them in your laptop.

Now, changing a HD in my Acer Netbook is like doing a kidney transplant with a chain saw, (very messy)
but on my full size laptop, it only takes a few seconds to pop out one HD and put in another.

My netbook can be booted from a USB port. So I'm going to experiment with booting it from a hard drive on a HD to USB adapter.
I did boot it from a Win-7 Install CD, on a full size CD drive on that same adapter. After two days, I restored the little Netbook to Windows XP.

But believe it or not, I get your point.

But what I don't understand, is why a PC Enthusiast would not have a big honkin' Desktop Computer,
that could rival an IBM Mainframe. Eh? ( I do! )

 

[Medico]

There are documented ways to "shut off" the Metro interface. Take a look through the windows8forums I linked in post #6 above.

 

[davehc]

In Ted's linked page, this is a great one Metro Apps - Open from Desktop in Windows 8 - Windows 8 Forums I am using it regularly now.

 

[davehc]

" found this link Link Removed" With respect to the author, That is a bit of a sledgehammer to crack a nut. If you search, from the metro start button, you can right click the Command prompt and "pin" it to the Metro start menu. Subsequently, it can be pinned to the taskbar or wherever you desire it. But, I, at least for the moment, am not finding a great deal of advantage in the Metro menu, so I am using the standard, Windows 7 like, interface am start menu, selected using the tutorial I have linked in my previous post.

 

[Drew]

Yep, you can always Pin things. Myself, I keep cmd in Quick Launch... have lots of things there... keeps the Taskbar less cluttered. & hitting the Desktop tile gives a traditional desktop, w/out tiles. You can put QL in Win8, same as it can be put in Win7

Cheers,
Drew

 

[OldTimer]

With the one script to disable the Metro UI and a few more mouse clicks, I have my desktop looking SO much like my XP desktop.
I grabbed a few old favorites, like, Notepad, Wordpad, Command Prompt and put them on the start menu. I have disk cleanup (extended) on my desktop. I'm calling Win-8, "A Keeper".

The reboot timer has my system with Win-8 shutting down and rebooting in just 69 seconds, on my SATA III hard drive.
It was 79 sec's when I had Win-8 on a SATA II hard drive.

 

[Trouble]

Hi. Just thought I'd say "Hello from Windows8" I have been running it as a vm since mid-Sept. It is, certainly, interesting, very fast, slick & w/ some features & changes that are quite a voyage of discovery. I am anxious to see what I'll get once start actually testing the Beta, which is yet to be made available to us from MS. Right now I am only using the Developer Preview. 1 neat thing about it is Spell Check, that is normally (in the past) available in OFFICE (Word, etc) is everywhere; even as I write this note.

No, I wasn't rreferring to any browser, although, I have FF7, IE9 is my preferred browser. I meant Spell Check is now throught the entire OS, not a browser issue. But, yes, I am using IE10 in Win8

Cheers,
Drew

Hello Drew:
Can you give some examples of how or where you have found the Spell Check utility available "everywhere" in Windows 8 Developers Preview. I for one was excited about this possibility but upon testing of both Notepad and Wordpad from within the New OS, I was unable to determine how to take advantage of the new feature.
So now I'm wondering if perhaps you have either a newer release (I'm using 6.2.8102 build 8102) or perhaps I didn't turn on a hidden feature or possibly make a registry edit that enables this feature.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Randy

 

[davehc]

That is of interest to me, also, Drew. I have explored 8 extensively for this feature. I see numerous references to it when I browse, but it seems to be a suggestion of things to come, when the platform preview was around, rather than fact in Windows 8. I am sure, if there are no hiccups, it will be available, however, in the Beta. I am aware that the function is in IE10, but cannot find it working over the entire OS.

 

[Drew]

Ok, I sat through the Keynote of Build hosted by Steve Ballmer. I understood him to say during that presentation, spell check is not just in Office but, through out the OS in Windows 8, @ which point there was a big, collective Ooooo & a round of applause from the audience; just after that, when I 1st went live w/ Win8 Dev Preview (Build 8102) I was writing in either this forum or the MS IT Pro Category Forum & noticed spell check @ work & said to myself, Oh, now that's cool & remembered what Steve had mentioned... Now, you have me wondering if the remark (he made) was about IE10 rather than Win8; and I was really seeing the browser @ work not, the OS. I think, some time soon, I'll listen to his speech, again, to see if I thought he was talking about the OS but, actually was in regard to the browser coming w/ it.

 

[Drew]

Please be aware... the Win8 Dev Preview is not Windows 8. Heck, we haven't even seen a beta yet. The Dev Preview isn't even that; more like a rough draft

 

[Trouble]

Just sat through all 23 minutes and 27 seconds of it as well and didn't here that.
Day 2 Microsoft BUILD Conference - Steve Ballmer Keynote - YouTube

 

[Drew]

Then you missed that part... it's actually about 2.5 hrs. long. The you tube thing you found is not all of the morning presentation, can't be. I will try to listen to it again ASAP.

Cheers,
Drew