Windows 8.1 Final - installation

kaieivindm

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Hi,

Excuse me if this is the wrong place for the post, but was best suitable for me in the morning.

When I upgraded from Windows 8 Final to Windows 8.1 Preview, it removed my UEFI Windows 8 Installation. To my knowledge, it also changes the MBR on the harddrive. After 5-10 minutes of panick attacks and such I fixed the issue in my BIOS, with some config changes.

My question is, since MS will not yet release ISO of Windows 8.1, but trough the Store, will this happen again?

UEFI boot and the posibillity to have this on Windows 8 is one of the reason why I left Windows 7. But if I can't with 8.1 it's really sad.

Regards
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 PRO 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom build
    CPU
    Intel i7 3770k
    Motherboard
    Asus P8Z77-V Pro
    Memory
    Kingston HyperX DDR 16GB 1600Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus GTX 670 DC II
    Monitor(s) Displays
    3x BenQ RL2450H
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    2 x 128GB Vertex 4 in Raid 0
    PSU
    Lian-Li 850W
    Case
    Cooler Master CM690 III Advanced
    Cooling
    Corsair H80 Water cooling
    Internet Speed
    60 Mbit fiber
Hi kaieivindm,

As its name implies Windows 8 Final is a finished version ( barring subsequent updates of course ) whereas Windows 8.1 Preview is a test, or Beta, version which can contain bugs and errors. As such you should never upgrade from a production to a test OS:

[FAQ] Things to Know Before Downloading or Installing Windows 8.1 Preview - Tweaking with Vishal

Once 8.1 has been finalised it will be released through the Apps Store and, most probably, as a Windows update:

Windows 8.1 to be released officially on October 17 | Ghacks

Assuming you have recovered your W8 Final version then you simply need to wait until October to upgrade to the final version of 8.1.

Hope that helps.

John
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7/8
Hi kaieivindm,

As its name implies Windows 8 Final is a finished version ( barring subsequent updates of course ) whereas Windows 8.1 Preview is a test, or Beta, version which can contain bugs and errors. As such you should never upgrade from a production to a test OS:

[FAQ] Things to Know Before Downloading or Installing Windows 8.1 Preview - Tweaking with Vishal

Once 8.1 has been finalised it will be released through the Apps Store and, most probably, as a Windows update:

Windows 8.1 to be released officially on October 17 | Ghacks

Assuming you have recovered your W8 Final version then you simply need to wait until October to upgrade to the final version of 8.1.

Hope that helps.

John


Thanks for the reply, but I don't quite see how that helped :)

I do understand that Windows 8.1 is preview and beta, and not final version. I was fully aware of that during installation.
But changing something crucial as MBR on a harddrive is really serious. Beta/Preview or Final.
I can't be the only one that has experienced this.

Hence my question.

As of now, the only way to aviod the issue is to wait until the Windows 8.1 ISO is available, and do a new install via USB/DVD, as I see it.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 PRO 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom build
    CPU
    Intel i7 3770k
    Motherboard
    Asus P8Z77-V Pro
    Memory
    Kingston HyperX DDR 16GB 1600Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus GTX 670 DC II
    Monitor(s) Displays
    3x BenQ RL2450H
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    2 x 128GB Vertex 4 in Raid 0
    PSU
    Lian-Li 850W
    Case
    Cooler Master CM690 III Advanced
    Cooling
    Corsair H80 Water cooling
    Internet Speed
    60 Mbit fiber
Guess I misunderstood your problem but, if you have recovered you W8 Final, with its EUFI support, then I don't see why you'd want to do a new install of 8.1 instead of an update. I've read about EUFI but have no practical experience of it, both machines I'm running 8 / 8.1 on don't support it. Sorry I can't help you, hope someone else can.

Cheers,

John
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7/8
Hello kaieivindm,
I'm using it for the sake of UEFI as well.

The first OS 8.0 was already installed in UEFI (if that's enabled in the BIOS in the first place before installing, your're safe).

Then the Store upgrade keeps everything including partitions and so: UEFI too.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy DV6 7250
    CPU
    Intel i7-3630QM
    Motherboard
    HP, Intel HM77 Express Chipset
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD4000 + Nvidia Geforce 630M
    Sound Card
    IDT HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15.6' built-in + Samsung S22D300 + 17.3' LG Phillips
    Screen Resolution
    multiple resolutions
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 250GB + Hitachi HDD 750GB
    PSU
    120W adapter
    Case
    small
    Cooling
    laptop cooling pad
    Keyboard
    Backlit built-in + big one in USB
    Mouse
    SteelSeries Sensei
    Internet Speed
    slow and steady
    Browser
    Chromium, Pale Moon, Firefox Developer Edition
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    That's basically it.
UEFI boot and the posibillity to have this on Windows 8 is one of the reason why I left Windows 7. But if I can't with 8.1 it's really sad.

You can install Vista x64, Windows 7 x64 & Windows 8/8.1 x64 in UEFI mode.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    ME, XP,Vista,Win7,Win8,Win8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Notebooks x 3

    Desktops x 5

    Towers x 4
Yes, it's true that W7 and Vista in x64 can be used for UEFI, but the super fast boot will still only be for Windows 8.

Windows 8 was installed on UEFI, and my boot time was about 5.8 seconds. Then after I installed Windows 8.1 Preview, the boot time increased to 15.0 seconds, thats quite the harsh decrease. And no more UEFI boot available on the disk.

So either Windows 8.1 preview did something to my MBR; and changed some settings, or else I am clueless of what has happend to my computer.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 PRO 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom build
    CPU
    Intel i7 3770k
    Motherboard
    Asus P8Z77-V Pro
    Memory
    Kingston HyperX DDR 16GB 1600Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus GTX 670 DC II
    Monitor(s) Displays
    3x BenQ RL2450H
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    2 x 128GB Vertex 4 in Raid 0
    PSU
    Lian-Li 850W
    Case
    Cooler Master CM690 III Advanced
    Cooling
    Corsair H80 Water cooling
    Internet Speed
    60 Mbit fiber
UEFI doesn't increase boot speed that much: it's Hybrid Boot that is enabled (on Win6 and Win7 it doesn't exist).

Even on MBR (tested on Pentium 3 PC) with IDE disks: just 10 seconds boot, because of the Hybrid boot is on.

If the feature is disabled or if you restart, then you get a slower startup.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy DV6 7250
    CPU
    Intel i7-3630QM
    Motherboard
    HP, Intel HM77 Express Chipset
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD4000 + Nvidia Geforce 630M
    Sound Card
    IDT HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15.6' built-in + Samsung S22D300 + 17.3' LG Phillips
    Screen Resolution
    multiple resolutions
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 250GB + Hitachi HDD 750GB
    PSU
    120W adapter
    Case
    small
    Cooling
    laptop cooling pad
    Keyboard
    Backlit built-in + big one in USB
    Mouse
    SteelSeries Sensei
    Internet Speed
    slow and steady
    Browser
    Chromium, Pale Moon, Firefox Developer Edition
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    That's basically it.
When I upgraded from Windows 8 Final to Windows 8.1 Preview, it removed my UEFI Windows 8 Installation. To my knowledge, it also changes the MBR on the harddrive.
Us knowing exactly how you did the upgrade might help us understand the situation, but for the update to change your system to MBR, it would have had to reconfigure the Hard Drive. It could not do that unless all the prior partitions had been removed from the drive, which you would have to choose to do.

If you got the UEFI back by changing some bios settings, perhaps you just lost the Windows Boot Manager which is associated with a UEFI install. Or another hard drive was involved in the install process.

If you feel like it, you might attach a snipping tool picture of your Disk Management window using the paperclip on the advanced replies. Maybe that would clear up the situation.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Grown
    CPU
    i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8Z77 -v Pro, Z87-Expert
    Memory
    16 G
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX 680 Classified (2)
    Hard Drives
    Kingston SSD 240 GB

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Self built
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-4790
    Motherboard
    GA-Z87X-D3H
    Memory
    G.SKILL 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 F3-10666CL9D-8GBNT
    Graphics Card(s)
    Sapphire ATI Radeon R7 250
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC892
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung UN32EH5000, Dell 1703FPT
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    WD5003AZEX
    WD10EZEX
    Samsung HD103SJ
    Samsung 128 GB 840 PRO
    PSU
    SeaSonic M12II SS-500GM
    Case
    Fractal Design Define R4
    Cooling
    Zalman CNPS9900ALED
    Keyboard
    Logitech K800
    Mouse
    Logitech M705
    Internet Speed
    16 Mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Avast
    Other Info
    Bose Companion 2 Multimedia Speakers
When I upgraded from Windows 8 Final to Windows 8.1 Preview, it removed my UEFI Windows 8 Installation. To my knowledge, it also changes the MBR on the harddrive.
Us knowing exactly how you did the upgrade might help us understand the situation, but for the update to change your system to MBR, it would have had to reconfigure the Hard Drive. It could not do that unless all the prior partitions had been removed from the drive, which you would have to choose to do.

If you got the UEFI back by changing some bios settings, perhaps you just lost the Windows Boot Manager which is associated with a UEFI install. Or another hard drive was involved in the install process.

If you feel like it, you might attach a snipping tool picture of your Disk Management window using the paperclip on the advanced replies. Maybe that would clear up the situation.

You Sir, are totally correct! The W 8.1 Preview somehow borked my Windows Boot Manager setup. Don't know why or how that happened though.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 PRO 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom build
    CPU
    Intel i7 3770k
    Motherboard
    Asus P8Z77-V Pro
    Memory
    Kingston HyperX DDR 16GB 1600Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus GTX 670 DC II
    Monitor(s) Displays
    3x BenQ RL2450H
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    2 x 128GB Vertex 4 in Raid 0
    PSU
    Lian-Li 850W
    Case
    Cooler Master CM690 III Advanced
    Cooling
    Corsair H80 Water cooling
    Internet Speed
    60 Mbit fiber
Actually, I was saying a Windows 8.1 install could not have changed the drive configuration unless specific conditions had been met.

Supplying the requested info might help us see what happened. If you want to wait for the final version to be released and try again, just let us know.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Grown
    CPU
    i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8Z77 -v Pro, Z87-Expert
    Memory
    16 G
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX 680 Classified (2)
    Hard Drives
    Kingston SSD 240 GB
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