{"id":323,"date":"2012-02-29T11:12:00","date_gmt":"2012-02-29T11:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.msdn.microsoft.com\/cesardelatorre\/2012\/02\/29\/installing-windows-8-release-preview-on-a-vhd-file-from-a-bootable-usb-pen\/"},"modified":"2012-02-29T11:12:00","modified_gmt":"2012-02-29T11:12:00","slug":"installing-windows-8-release-preview-on-a-vhd-file-from-a-bootable-usb-pen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/cesardelatorre\/installing-windows-8-release-preview-on-a-vhd-file-from-a-bootable-usb-pen\/","title":{"rendered":"Installing Windows 8 Release Preview on a .VHD file from a bootable USB-Pen"},"content":{"rendered":"

** May 31st 2012 \u2013 UPDATE TO WINDOWS 8 RELEASE PREVIEW **<\/em><\/p>\n

There are quite a few steps to do, so I\u2019ll write it down for my records.<\/p>\n

Specifically, I have installed the Windows 8 Release Preview<\/strong> on a on a Samsung Slate Series 7 Tablet<\/strong>, but on a .VHD with native Boot:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For more info about .VHD with Native Boot, see<\/strong> (Updated: May 31, 2012 Applies To: Windows 8):<\/p>\n

http:\/\/technet.microsoft.com\/library\/hh825689.aspx<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Requirements<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

– You\u2019ll need a USB keyboard<\/strong> plugged into your tablet.<\/p>\n

– A USB-Pen<\/strong> with at least 8 Gb<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

A.- INSTALLING THE OPERATING SYSTEM<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

STEP #1<\/strong>
Backup your data on your Series 7. <\/strong><\/p>\n

STEP #2
Update BIOS<\/strong>
(this step is optional \u2013 unsupported developer BIOS will resolve hardware button incorrect mapping when Windows 8 is installed.) Use at your own risk.
Download the last BIOS for the Series 7 Slate from the Samsung Support web site and install it following the provided procedure.<\/p>\n

STEP #3 – <\/strong>Configure BIOS (do this even if you don’t update the BIOS.)
<\/strong>Enter BIOS setup: Power off the PC. Power the system back on and at the same time, press the \u201cHOME\u201d hardware key on the bezel. Select \u201cENTER SETUP\u201d (note: if you do not have a USB keyboard attached you can use the VOL+\/VOL- keys to select, Rotation Lock button as \u201center\u201d, and both vol buttons at the same time to go back.)<\/p>\n

– Select the ADVANCED menu option in the BIOS menu
– Change \u201cAllow UEFI boot<\/strong>\u201d to YES
– Save settings and exit.<\/p>\n

STEP #3<\/strong><\/p>\n

Get the Windows 8 Release Preview bits (ISO image)<\/strong><\/p>\n

First of all, you need to get the bits. I want an .ISO image so I\u2019ll burn it on an USB pen.<\/p>\n

You can download the .ISO image from here: http:\/\/windows.microsoft.com\/en-US\/windows-8\/iso<\/a><\/p>\n

Then, having an empty USB pen (it will be formatted), just burn it on it. You can use the Microsoft Store USB\/DVD Download Tool<\/em><\/strong>. Grab it from here:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.microsoftstore.com\/store\/msstore\/html\/pbPage.Help_Win7_usbdvd_dwnTool#ms_help_topics_at4<\/a> <\/p>\n

Once installed, you run the tool and you\u2019ll get a wizard where you specify the origin .ISO image and the destination bootable USB Pen:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

So, ready to start the real process!.<\/p>\n

STEP #4 – <\/strong>Booting the Windows 8 Release Preview from the USB-Pen<\/strong><\/p>\n

– Plug the bootable USB-Pen into the USB slot in your Tablet.<\/p>\n

– Start the tablet, but almost instantly (after half a second), press on the small \u201cHOME\/WINDOWS\u201d hardware key  on the center of the tablet. This will show you the BOOT-MENU, so I can boot from the USB-Pen:<\/p>\n

\"WP_000245\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Again, in order to select the right option (USB DISK), if you do not have a USB keyboard attached you can use the VOL+\/VOL- keys to move up\/down on the Boot menu, and then select the option pressing the second small harware key on the right of the tablet (beside the \u2018on\u2019 key).<\/p>\n

You will see a \u201cWindows\u201d word<\/font> over the black background (no more the small fish of the Consumer Preview) when starting the Windows 8 setup:<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a> <\/p>\n

Then, you\u2019ll see the initial \u201cWindows 8\u201d setup Window:<\/p>\n

\"WP_000247\"<\/a><\/p>\n

STEP #5 \u2013 Creating a .VHD file drive from the Windows 8 setup process<\/strong><\/p>\n

Instead of installing Windows 8 on the plain hard-drive, we\u2019re going to create .VHD file and then we\u2019ll install Windows 8 on that .VHD file<\/strong>. The booting start will be native<\/strong> (no HyperV), having the same performance than installing it on the plain hard-drive, but it is a much cleaner way. When I get another version of Windows 8, I\u2019ll install it on a different .VHD file. It is a nice, clean and great way to handle native Dual\/multiple booting.<\/p>\n

– Select keyboard and \u2018time & currency\u2019 preferences for the setup, and then press the \u2018Next\u2019 button. You\u2019ll see a Windows 8 window with a single \u201cInstall now\u201d button. Press on the \u2018Install button\u2019 button (This is a different way than when doing a similar setup procedure using Windows 7).<\/p>\n

\"WP_000266\"<\/a><\/p>\n

– Carry on with the typical screens (Product Key, License, etc.) until you get to the \u2018Installation type\u2019. Select \u2018Custom Install\u2019:<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Go until the Drive selection screen.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

– CAUTION: You\u2019ll get to the Drive selection Window<\/strong>. Now, pay attention here<\/span>.<\/p>\n

DO NOT PICK AN EXISTING HARD DRIVE<\/strong>. As shown in this screenshot, instead hit SHIFT-F10 to get to a console command-prompt<\/span><\/strong>. We want to create and attach our VHD file and install Windows 8 to THAT instead!!.<\/p>\n

\"WP_000270\"<\/a><\/p>\n

– Now we finally get a Command prompt Windows where we\u2019ll be able to create a native bootable .VHD file-drive. We\u2019ll install Windows 8 on that .VHD file, afterwards.<\/p>\n

– Explore de drives you can see from the command prompt (C:, D:, E:, etc.). When installing Windows, it usually creates several small initial partitions, therefore, when you do the following steps, you have to specify E:\\ drive instead C:\\ drive (At least, that is my case). If you try with C:\\ and you get an error message saying something like "You don’t have space enough". Try specifying E:\\ drive, and check the partition where you are going to create the .VHD file.<\/p>\n

– Run the Diskpart command-tool writing Diskpart.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"WP_000271\"<\/a><\/p>\n

– Now, we create the .vhd file. I\u2019m going to create a 30GB expandable file. You can create it bigger or smaller.<\/p>\n

Type: Create vdisk file=E:\\Windows8.vhd maximum=30000 type=expandable<\/strong><\/p>\n

– Select the .vhd file so the Windows 8 setup is able to see it as a drive<\/p>\n

Type: select vdisk file=E:\\Windows8.vhd <\/strong>  <\/p>\n

– Attach this drive to the setup system:<\/p>\n

Type: attach vdisk<\/strong><\/p>\n

and Finally get out of the DISKPART tool, too.<\/p>\n

Type: exit<\/strong> (you will exit DISKPART)  <\/p>\n

– Finally get out of the command prompt, another \u2018exit\u2019:<\/p>\n

Type: exit<\/strong> (you will leave the Windows Command-Prompt, but Do Not Reboot!!)<\/p>\n

– We return now to the \u2018Drive selection Window<\/strong>\u2019.<\/p>\n

– Press the \u2018Refresh’ button, and you\u2019ll see our new .VHD drive!:<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

– Install Windows 8 on this attached .VHD.<\/strong> First you’ll need to create a partition & format it, selecting the drive which is really our .VHD file, and then clicking on the "Drive Options (Advanced)". From tha tmenu you can create a partition within the .VHD file and format it, afterwards.<\/p>\n

You might get an error\/warning saying that your computer hardware might not support this disk, just ignore it and press \u2018Next\u2019..<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

-It will reboot, etc., and you got it!!!!<\/p>\n

– When starting, I have now a native & multiple-Boot, for Windows 8 (Release Preview), Windows Consumer Preview and Windows 7, because I already did similar setup processes with older OS versions:<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Remember, the great thing here is that even when we are starting Windows 8 from a .VHD file, it is booting in a native way, so performance will be good (graphics card, etc.). Starting like that, Windows 8 runs smoothly in this Samsun Tablet.<\/p>\n

I have my native operating systems stored in just a few files, so my hard drive is kept clean, for the future (next versions, etc.).<\/p>\n

Something like the following files:<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There you have it, the first METRO screen of Windows 8  Release Preview:<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Enjoy Windows 8 Release Preview!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

B.- (OPTIONAL) CONFIGURING BOOT OPTIONS<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

You might want to change dual boot options, option string names, etc.  <\/p>\n

When you want to configure the boot options of windows you can use bcdedit.exe<\/b> to modify the boot settings.<\/p>\n

For instance, once you have booted in Windows 8 (any boot, you might have 2 ‘Windows 8’ option strings… ;-)), you might want to change those boot options strings. In order to do so, start a CMD prompt and run bcdedit.exe (in \\Windows\\System32) to see the GUID of your boot options:<\/p>\n

bcdedit \/v<\/b><\/p>\n

Remember\/copy the GUID of your VHD installation and type the following line, of course, changing my ‘xxxxxxxx’ stuff to your GUID.<\/p>\n

bcdedit \/set {xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx} description "Windows 8 .VHD Image"<\/b><\/p>\n

You can put the description you like, but the above line will change the description for your VHD installation boot option.<\/p>\n

You can also change the order of the boot options typing the following:<\/p>\n

bcdedit \/displayorder {xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx} \/addlast<\/b><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Finally, once you have these kind of .VHD images, you can copy it and have as many BOOT options as you want.<\/p>\n

The easiest way is to copy an originall boot menu option, like:<\/p>\n

bcdedit \/copy {Original_GUID_Number} \/d "my new description"<\/b>
or
bcdedit \/copy {current} \/d "my new description"
<\/b>or
bcdedit \/copy {default} \/d "my new description"<\/b><\/p>\n

Type again the following to see the new GUID for your new copied boot option:<\/p>\n

bcdedit \/v<\/b><\/p>\n

Copy that GUID to a notepad or a paper… <\/p>\n

After that, you must change the 2 pointers within the menu option, so they point to the new\/right .VHD file:
<\/b><\/p>\n

bcdedit \/set {My_new_GUID_Number} device vhd=[C:]\\MyNewVMFile.vhd <\/p>\n

bcdedit \/set {My_new_GUID_Number} osdevice vhd=[C:]\\MyNewVMFile.vhd<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

** May 31st 2012 \u2013 UPDATE TO WINDOWS 8 RELEASE PREVIEW ** There are quite a few steps to do, so I\u2019ll write it down for my records. Specifically, I have installed the Windows 8 Release Preview on a on a Samsung Slate Series 7 Tablet, but on a .VHD with native Boot: For more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":362,"featured_media":12806,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[117],"class_list":["post-323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cesardelatorre","tag-windows-8"],"acf":[],"blog_post_summary":"

** May 31st 2012 \u2013 UPDATE TO WINDOWS 8 RELEASE PREVIEW ** There are quite a few steps to do, so I\u2019ll write it down for my records. Specifically, I have installed the Windows 8 Release Preview on a on a Samsung Slate Series 7 Tablet, but on a .VHD with native Boot: For more […]<\/p>\n","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/cesardelatorre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/cesardelatorre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/cesardelatorre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/cesardelatorre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/362"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/cesardelatorre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/cesardelatorre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/cesardelatorre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/cesardelatorre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/cesardelatorre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/cesardelatorre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}