There’s no doubt, there’s a bright future with Windows 8 and it does have lots of exciting features. But, did everything looks good and easy. Well, easy!! Not really.
I’m sure I will not be the only person who have experience problems installing Windows 8. Now, please understand, this not to critize Microsoft in any way. Every IT PRO and/or Developer will have different scenario, and in one point in time, will have installation issues.
I had a problem trying to install from Windows 7 the new “Windows 8 Developer Preview” client. At first I thought it was my download was corrrupted. I didn’t have any problems with the Server version.
But then, after restarting my computer, I lost my “Bootmgr”.
Now, this happened because I boot to multiple OS’s: Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7. I had one successfull installation of the “Windows 8 Server Developer Preview” but on my Windows 7 the installation failed to install over. The problem is, you will not notice your “BootMgr is missing” error after a reboot was performed.
So, what precautions you should take to prevent this issue:
- Make sure you have create a “System Repair Disk” for you Operating System.
- Also, do a Windows Backup.
In most cases, using the “System Repair Disk” will get you out of the hold. In my situation, I had to delete all my System, and my Windows 7 Partition. This way I took a longer route and able to put back a clean Windows 7 OS, and only then I could successfully install “Windows 8 Developer Preview” client.
Now, looking back to what I had done, I realized that MAYBE I would have avoided this issue if I had paid attention to the Windows 7 “System Configuration“. And, here’s why:
There’s a possibility the failed installation of the Windows 8 client was due to not having my Windows 7 “Set as Default” boot OS. Now, if this doesn’t work, then delete the partitions and try again.
At the end, I finally got my BootMgr working with two OS’s: Windows 8 Server and Windows 8 Developer Preview working fine.
I’m ready!! To continue install applications, and doing more test with Windows 8.
To download Windows 8 Editions, go to your MSDN subscription, or get it at this link: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/home/
Happy Testing!!