Windows 8 Developer Preview release

DOWNLOADS AVAILABLE NOW!!

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/home/

If you’ve been following this blog, then you know today is a big day for the Windows team. At the BUILD conference we are about to preview Windows 8. There’s a ton to see in the product and so we’d really encourage everyone to check out the available streams on http://buildwindows.com, where we will webcast the keynote. The BUILD conference this week is focused on developers and hardware partners, and there are over 100 sessions (all of which will be available from the link above within about a day of the scheduled presentation time). In that sense it is good to keep in mind that today is the launch of the developer opportunity for Windows, not the launch of a product (and certainly not the launch of new devices).

Windows 8 represents a reimagining of Windows from the chipset to the experience. Since this is a week focused on developers, we also detailed the bold underpinnings of the re-imagination of the Windows platform, tools, and APIs. We will show off the opportunity to build applications for all of the customers of Windows 8, no matter what type of PC they have—from tablets to laptops to convertibles to desktops. We will show the brand new tools that allow you to code Metro style applications in HTML5/JavaScript, C/C++, and/or C#/XAML. The investments you have made as developers in all of these languages carry forward for Windows 8, which lets you choose how to best make use of the Windows 8 system services. We talked about Windows 8 being a no-compromise OS for end-users, and it is also a no-compromise platform for developers.

Many are interested in Windows 8 for ARM processors. Everything we showcased today at BUILD also runs on the ARM-based Windows PCs being created by ARM partners and PC manufacturers. Windows 8 running on ARM will ultimately be available with ARM-based hardware that you can purchase. ARM requires a deeper level of integrated engineering between hardware and software, as each ARM device is unique, and Windows allows this uniqueness to shine through. The new development tools enable you to start today to build Metro style applications that will seamlessly run on x86 (32 and 64 bit) or ARM architectures. Even if you use native C/C++ code, these tools will enable Metro style apps to target specific hardware if you choose. As new PCs become available for testing, PC manufacturers will develop seed programs for developers.

You probably want to try out the preview release—and you can. Starting at 8PM today, Seattle time, you can download all of the code that attendees at BUILD received. This includes 32 or 64 bit x86 builds, with or without development tools. The releases also include a suite of sample/SDK applications and the SDK (please note these are merely illustrations of potential apps, not apps that we intend to ship with Windows 8). The ISOs are linked to from http://dev.windows.com. You download with a Windows Live ID (which you might want to use to test out some of the new roaming features).

Upgrade from Windows 7 installation is not supported for pre-release code; only clean installs are supported. Reminder: this is a developer preview release and is not meant for production. It is not a beta release. We will be updating the release with various quality updates and drivers over the coming weeks/months just to exercise our overall update and telemetry mechanisms.

We’ve got a lot more blogging to do. So stay tuned. This blog continues to be a big part of the development process. Now we have a lot more shared context, and so we expect folks commenting on posts to be running the Preview so we share in the context of the release. Let’s keep comments focused on the topic at hand and we’ll pay attention for potential new topics. We know there will be a lot—that comes from reimagining a product used by a billion people!
--Steven

More...


See also:

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorial...-usb-dvd-windows-8-developer-preview-iso.html

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorial...dows-upgrade-windows-8-developer-preview.html

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2241-virtualbox-install-windows-8-developer-preview.html

 

[webster01]

i Have a problem please help

how do close applications in metro
like when i select weather applications or build application it goes full screen and there are no controls to close
when i right click options appear below but no close button

i have to restart windows :sad:

see the screenshot

 

[bemymonkey]

I'd say press the start button, but that might be difficult on a Mac...

 

[Josey Wales]

i Have a problem please help

how do close applications in metro
like when i select weather applications or build application it goes full screen and there are no controls to close
when i right click options appear below but no close button

i have to restart windows :sad:

see the screenshot
View attachment 1677

Think it is all explained here.

 

[brummyfan]

If you move your mouse to the left side of the screen(towards the edge),you can click the previous page.

 

[Bill2]

There seem to be permissions issues. Despite disabling UAC completely and being admin etc., I still get the do you want to...(though without the screen dimming) on a lot of files, I need to click on Continue to complete the action. This is very annoying. Looks like there are additional security settings.

 

[debugged]

There seem to be permissions issues. Despite disabling UAC completely and being admin etc., I still get the do you want to...(though without the screen dimming) on a lot of files, I need to click on Continue to complete the action. This is very annoying. Looks like there are additional security settings.

I enabled in-built admin account to end this annoyance.
Security is also somewhat different in file properties and registry keys - a bit more tedious to take ownership and control but still possible.

 

[Joan Archer]

Just read this thread and I'm still undecided about whether I'm going to bother with 8. After the excitement when 7 was being released I just can't get the feel for this one and may just keep checking in here to see how it's working out before deciding whether to take the plunge.

I'm still too tied up playing with my smartphone and there's only so many hours in the day.

 

[z3r010]

If they dont get rid of the stupid start menu I wont bother myself.

 

[kado897]

Nor me. They could very easily make Metro an option on a Win 7 style start menu (one you could remove if it annoyed you).

 

[24c]

If they dont get rid of the stupid start menu I wont bother myself.

I agreed, until I found a post today on MDL, that mentioned renaming the shsxs.dll file to shsxs.dll.old.
I did and now I have the Win7 type START menu, and some of the Metro goodies, like dual monitor feature, Explorer ribbon.

Needless to say, but I will anyway - there maybe be some risk involved with this. So far so good for me. I dual boot 7 and 8, keeping up to date backups of both - a less risky this way.

 

[Bill2]

24c, the shsxs renaming does the same thing as the reg tweak. Only thing i noticed with the shsxs was that the confidential ms bit on the wallpaper goes away leaving only the evaluation part. Did you notice any other difference?

 

[24c]

Bill2 - It kept the Explorer Ribbon, and the dual monitor taskbar feature, as mentioned - - haven't checked much else yet, but will do later today.

ETA - Task Manager, old version, seems to take a while to pop up.

 

[debugged]

renaming the shsxs.dll file to shsxs.dll.old.

works. The only drawback so far is that it takes longer to finish composing the desktop and taskbar after restart. Explorer new features are retained.
Ribbon would be ok with me if I could choose from a much wider selection in the Quick Access toolbar, as in Office; at the moment there seem to be only 6 tools to select.

 

[debugged]

"renaming the shsxs.dll file to shsxs.dll.old"
Too good to be true... you mess up the new Task Manager with this - you eventually get the old version after a long delay.
Looking through the file with ResHack, there may be some more issues with some bits of Explorer, but haven't encountered any yet.
Maybe someone can make an app that eats the other apps and then swallows the Start screen.

 

[davehc]

Another way to regain the old start Menu.
Regedit -HKey_Current_User - Software - Microsoft -Windows - Currentversion - Explorer.
Change the "RPEnabled " to 0.

Reboot.
I did this as Global Admin but I don't know if that is needed.

 

[Britton30]

Well after about an hour of running Win 8 in Vbox, I deleted the vhd. Windows 8 will work great for a smart phone or tablet, desktops not so much I think. Metro, what the heck is that for? I've found no way to close a Metro app after opening.

 

[Airbot]

Guess you didn't read my earlier post directed to your earlier post..

 

[echrada]

Windows 8 =

So far not for me - I do not use a tablet or a touch screen monitor at this time, so not for me. Without Metro it is just Win 7 as has been stated a few times in this thread, and as I already have it, why spend more money?

 

[sjaak327]

From some of the reactions on this thread, it seems that even on eight forums, Windows 8 doesn't cut it.

Strange, I personally thought Vista was rock solid, whilst Windows 7 was just a minor upgrade (which it was in almost any sense). Here we are talking about a real major Windows release. They have basically changed so many things, and I have to say most of it for the better.

Yes the metro start menu needs getting used to, however I am not reverting back to the old start menu, been there and done that. In fact, the new one is just as fast as the old one, I used the search option mainly to start apps, well you can still do the exact same thing in the metro start menu, so I see no real reason to be wanting the old startmenu back. This will rock on a tablet, and I find it somewhat disappointing that Apple has locked down the A5 so much that I can't put the metro UI on the Ipad2, as it totally owns the boring IOS icon grid !

But enough about the metro UI, look at the numerous enhancements they made to the good old desktop, Explorer ribbon making file management so much quicker, tons of new shortcuts, nice gimmicks for the multi monitor people. And most of all, the inclusion of Hyper-v into the client OS ! No more dual booting Server 2008R2, just so I can run more then two VM's concurrently, without my system grinding to a stop due to the type 2 hypervisor Vmware workstation, or worse virtual box. Hyper-v as a type 1 hypervisor offers such a huge performance increase, that this alone would me want to replace Windows 7 immediately. I actually removed SRV2008R2 and replaced it with Windows 8, and I might not boot into Win 7 much..

 

[The Howling Wolves]

Just saw this
How to Download and Install Windows 8 on a New Partition | PCWorld

But I am probably late with posting this...