How to Upgrade from Windows 7, Vista, or XP to "Windows 8 Consumer Preview"

   Information

This will show you how to do a upgrade install with the Windows 8 Consumer Preview from within a started Windows 7, Vista, or XP to be able to replace your current OS and keep your current accounts, files, and settings from Windows 7, Vista, or XP in the new Windows 8 Consumer Preview installation.

You must be logged in as an administrator to be able to do this tutorial.

   Note

Windows 8 Consumer Preview: frequently asked questions

Upgrade from:	Windows Consumer Preview (32-bit or 64-bit)
Windows 7	You keep programs, Windows settings, user accounts and files
Vista	You keep Windows settings, user accounts and files
XP	You only keep user accounts and files

	Windows 8	Windows 8 Pro	Windows 8 RT (ARM)
Upgrades from Windows 7 Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium	YES	YES	NO
Upgrades from Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate	YES	YES	NO

Windows 8 Consumer Preview System Requirements
Windows Consumer Preview works great on the same hardware that powers Windows Vista and 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 and to 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.

Here's How:


1. If you have not already, you will need to create a bootable USB or DVD of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview ISO.


2. From within Windows 7, Vista, XP, open the Windows 8 Consumer Preview USB thumb drive or DVD, run the setup.exe file, and close the Windows Explorer window. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: For example, I did this from within Windows 7.

3. Select (dot) Go online to install updates now, and click on Next. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: If you would like to help with Windows 8, then you could also check the box at the bottom as well.

4. When finished checking your computer, check the I agree to the license agreement box, and click on Accept. (see screenshots below)

5. Select (dot) what you would like to keep in Windows 8 Developer Preview from your Windows 7, Vista, or XP, and click on Next. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: These options may vary depending on what OS you currently have, and what you have installed.

6. Windows 8 will now check for compatibility issues to see if you'll need to do anything to get your PC ready for Windows 8 Developer Preview. If anything is found, you will need to take care of it being continuing. (see screenshot below)

7. If nothing is found from step 6, then click on the Install button. (see screenshot below)

8. Windows 8 Developer Preview will now start to install. The computer will restart a few times during this. (see screenshot below)

9. When finished, select to Use express settings or Customize. (see screenshots below)
NOTE: I selected Use express settings in this example, but Customize will give you a few more options to select from before seing step 10.

10. Click on Skip. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: If you would instead like to set up to use a Windows Live email address to log on to your computer with instead of a local user account, then you could enter a Windows live email address and click on Next to do so.

   Note

Signing in with a Windows Live ID is not required, but allows you to:

* Easily reacquire your Metro style apps on multiple Windows 8 PCs. The app’s settings and last-used state persist across all your Windows 8 PCs.

* You can associate the most commonly used Windows settings to your user account. In this way, the saved settings are available when you sign in to your account on any Windows 8 PC. So your PC will be set up just the way you are used to.

* You can also save time with sign-in credentials, because now the same credentials are available for the different apps and websites you use and you can easily get back into them without having to enter credentials every time.

* You can automatically sign in to apps and services that use Windows Live ID for authentication.

11. Your PC is now being prepared to start Windows 8 Consumer Preview. (see screenshot below)

12. Congratulations, you have finished upgrading your Windows 7, Vista, or XP to Windows 8 Consumer Preview. (see screenshot below)

13. You will notice that you will have a C:\$Windows.~BT and a C:\Windows.old folder that contains copies of files from the previous Windows installation. (see screenshot below)

14. If there's nothing in them that you would like to copy back into Windows 8, then you could use Disk Cleanup to delete the Previous Windows installation(s), Temporary Windows installation files, and Windows upgrade log files items to free up the large amount HDD space that they take. (see screenshots below)

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

• How to Create a Bootable USB or DVD with the Windows 8 Consumer Preview ISO
• How to Do a Clean Install of Windows 8
• How to Do a Dual Boot Installation with Windows 8 and Windows 7 or Vista
• How to Create a Windows 8 VHD at Boot to Dual Boot with Windows 7 or Vista
• How to Delete the "Windows.old" Folder in Windows 8
• How to Install "Windows 8 Consumer Preview" on VMware Player
• How to Install "Windows 8 Consumer Preview" on VirtualBox