{"id":19756,"date":"2011-09-14T14:01:20","date_gmt":"2011-09-14T12:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onsoftware.en.softonic.com\/?p=19756"},"modified":"2025-07-02T01:56:50","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T08:56:50","slug":"how-to-download-and-install-windows-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/how-to-download-and-install-windows-8\/","title":{"rendered":"How to: Download and install Windows 8"},"content":{"rendered":"

Windows 8 Developer Preview<\/strong><\/a>, a very early testing version of Windows 8 mainly addressed at software developers, is already available for download<\/strong>. You can choose between the 32-bit<\/a>, 64-bit<\/a> and 64-bit with development tools, and test it as much as you like until November 3rd, 2012<\/strong> – the preview’s expiration date. Hardware requirements<\/strong> are the same for the three versions: a 1-GHz processor, 1 GB of RAM memory and 16 GB of free space in your hard drive. Not too much to ask for these days.<\/p>\n

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The Preview is offered as an ISO file<\/strong>, which you can burn to a DVD or mount as a drive in Virtualbox<\/a>. Bear in mind though that some machines may have serious hardware compatibility issues – which, on the other hand, will allow you to enjoy the new Windows 8 blue screen of death<\/strong>. Now it’s a much more humane error message!<\/p>\n

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If you manage to install the preview, you’ll get a first preview of some of the new features included in Windows 8, including the new Ribbon-ed Windows Manager<\/a><\/strong> we mentioned on the blog earlier on, and the Windows Live syncing feature.<\/p>\n

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Another interesting element to try out is the Metro user interface<\/strong>, first seen in Windows Phone 7<\/a>, which requires a minimum screen resolution of 1024×768. Though it’s better experienced on a touchscreen, Metro is definitely one of the most outstanding features in Windows 8 – a totally revamped way to browse files, access your favorite programs and manage the system in general.<\/p>\n

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While still quite limited<\/strong> and very unstable<\/strong>, the Windows 8 Developer Preview is a great chance to have a quick first look at Microsoft’s upcoming operating system. If you’re feeling adventurous, grab the ISO file and give it a go in Virtualbox<\/a> – probably the safest way to test it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Windows 8 Developer Preview, a very early testing version of Windows 8 mainly addressed at software developers, is already available for download. You can choose between the 32-bit, 64-bit and 64-bit with development tools, and test it as much as you like until November 3rd, 2012 – the preview’s expiration date. Hardware requirements are the … Continue reading “How to: Download and install Windows 8”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2011,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":1},"categories":[2441],"tags":[2564],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-19756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-how-to","tag-app-subdomain-redirectionwindows-8"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2011"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19756"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":334096,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19756\/revisions\/334096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19756"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=19756"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=19756"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=19756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}