How To Install Windows 8 From USB Key

[solin]

Microsoft has just released a developer preview of their upcoming operating system Windows 8. Users from all over the world can download the preview and install it on their systems. There is only one restriction with regards to the installation: You cannot update an existing copy of Windows, the Windows 8 installation requires a clean install.

I thought it would be perfect for my Acer notebook. It is fairly underpowered by today’s standards, and does not come with a DVD drive which I could use otherwise to install Windows 8.

The only viable option in this case is to install from USB keys, sticks or drives. Installation is a little bit difficulty, as it requires more preparation than just burning an ISO image to disk and putting that ISO into the DVD drive of the computer.

You need an USB key with at least four Gigabytes of free space. The first step is to format the key with the FAT32 file system. This is done by connecting the USB key to the computer, right-clicking its drive letter and selecting Format from the options. The Format window pops up where you need to make sure that Fat32 is the selected file system. Everything else can be left as is.



Wait until the formatting has finished. You now need access to the Windows 8 ISO or DVD. The developer preview is only provided as an ISO image. Check out Windows 8 Download for instructions or download the developer preview right here.

The easiest way to copy Windows 8 to an USB drive and make that drive bootable at the same time is to use Microsoft’s Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool. While designed specifically for Windows 7, it appears to work just fine to create a bootable Windows 8 USB key as well.



Just select the Windows 8 ISO when asked to pick an ISO image from the computer. Then select to copy the contents to an USB drive. The program will copy all files to the drive and make that drive bootable at the same time. You can download the Microsoft tool from here.



Install Windows 8

You plug in your USB key into the computer you want to install Windows 8 on. You need to tell the computer on first start to boot from USB and not from hard drive or another location. This is done in the Bios. You usually enter the Bios with F1, F1, Delete, Esc or another key that is highlighted on the screen on Post. Press that key and look for an entry that says Boot or Boot order and make sure that USB has the highest priority on the system. You can easily repeat the steps if the computer is not booting from USB.

The computer should pick up the installation files on the USB drive automatically and installation should commence.

Windows 8 has the following system requirements:

- 1 Gigahertz or faster 32-bit or 64-bit processor
- 1 Gigabyte of RAM for 32-bit, 2 Gigabytes of RAM for 64-bit minimum
- 16 Gigabyte hard drive for 32-bit systems, 20 Gigabyte for 64-bit systems
- Direct X 9 graphics card

Source

[JayCub]

Thank you Solin, i wonder how much of a difference this will make with a usb key 3.0 and a usb port 3.0... i will come back to this link and try it out soon.... just because

[Bearcat]

Thanks for the info Solin. I think it will be interesting to download Windows 8 and give it a test run.

[JayCub]

I would wait for the Beta to be honest Bear as i tried a few releases of Vista or Longhorn was one of the names used..i would imagine it is pretty stable as it will be based on 7 and missing alot at the same time...that's my two cents.

i thought about it and decided to skip it, plus this is my sons pc...

[Bearcat]

I would wait for the Beta to be honest Bear as i tried a few releases of Vista or Longhorn was one of the names used..i would imagine it is pretty stable as it will be based on 7 and missing alot at the same time...that's my two cents. i thought about it and decided to skip it, plus this is my sons pc...

I just took a look at the size of the download (3.2 Gbs) and opted to wait, until RC comes out. With my download speed it would take hours and I'm not "that interested". :lol

[solin]

i wonder how much of a difference this will make with a usb key 3.0 and a usb port 3.0...

I've heard of USB 3.0 has speeds 10x faster than USB 2.0

[hellnoire]

I've heard of USB 3.0 has speeds 10x faster than USB 2.0

You forgot the key word: theoretically.

No one has implemented a way to make it that fast yet.

[Zeikas]

thanks I will use it when you leave the new version

[henrydoown]

A lots of thanks for providing me this type of information with step by step.