Create A Pseudo Start Menu In Windows 8 Developer
Preview
|
|
|
|
A (very) brief bit of history to start. Windows 8
Developer Preview is released. The Metro user interface is
'the' hot topic among users whose focus is content creation
rather than content consumption. Microsoft chose not to
include a kill switch for the Metro user interface, although a registry hack is
available that brings back the Windows 7 Start Menu. The
problem is, implementing the registry edit effectively
cripples a lot of the new features in Windows 8.
I'm among the 'content creator' group that uses a
personal computer for work and am quite interested in the
changes in Windows 8 on the desktop side, while truthfully I
could care less about Metro and the consumption side. So, I
decided to make my own 'Start Menu' for Windows 8 so I could
ignore the registry hack and still have the majority of the
Start Menu functions available - and still be able to flip
over to the Metro side when desired. The
article is here.
|
|
|
|
Windows 8 Developer Preview Released
Version:
|
|
If you're a Windows operating
system fan or pay even the slightest bit of attention to
tech websites and blogs, you're likely aware the Microsoft
BUILD Windows conference kicked off Tuesday (09/13/2011)
with the Windows 8 Developer Preview version as the
focus and hot topic. Over the past months Microsoft has put
forth dribs and drabs of information regarding the future of
the Windows operating system, but that changed yesterday as
media and developers were handed tablets with the Windows 8
Developer Preview installed and ready for inspection.
I'm sure you probably want to know where you can download a
copy of the Developer Preview. I'll get to that in a minute,
but first let me address a point or two that are causing
some confusion. First and foremost, the Developer Preview is
not what is commonly called a 'beta' version of upcoming
operating system or application software. This release is
intended for developers and is far from being a completed
operating system or even a beta which companies use to get
feedback from users.
Again, this is not a ready for prime time release and under
no circumstances should you try and use it as your primary
operating system. Unless you are extremely knowledgeable and
have 100% bulletproof images and backups of your system,
don't even consider installing this on your primary system
unless it's in a virtual machine program like Virtual Box or
VMware Workstation.
|
| |
Obtaining the Windows 8 Developer
Preview
|
|
The Developer Preview is
available for download from the
Windows Development Center site where there are
currently three different downloads available. You can get
the Windows Developer Preview with developer tools English,
64-bit (x64), the Windows Developer Preview English, 64-bit
(x64), and the Windows Developer Preview English, 32-bit
(x86).
|
| |
System Requirements
|
|
This information is taken
directly from the site I mentioned above, the
Windows Development Center. All in all, the
requirements aren't all that stiff when you consider the
hardware that's out in the marketplace and in the majority
of homes today.
|
- 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64)
processor
- 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
- 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB
(64-bit)
- DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver
- Taking advantage of touch input requires a screen that
supports multi-touch input.
|
Notes and Cautions
|
|
There is also a section on the
page about Installation Notes. It's obvious from reading it
Microsoft would prefer you install the Developer Preview
from inside a current windows installation, be it XP, Vista,
or 7. What that actually means is you're doing an Upgrade
Installation rather than a clean installation. What will be carried over to the new installation
varies by what Windows version is in place at the time of
installation. There is also a note that while a clean
installation is supported on all builds, you only receive
the full set of installation options when setup is launched
from inside Windows.
Finally - and this is important - once you install the
Developer Preview, it's there for good - or at least until
you reformat the drive and wipe it clean. There is no option
to uninstall the Developer Preview. Once the drive has been
wiped you'll have to do a clean install of whatever
operating system was in place previously using either a
backup image or original installation or recovery media.
|
|
Create A Bootable Windows 8 Developer Preview DVD or USB
Key
|
|
The easiest and fastest way to
install Windows 8 Developer Preview is directly from the .iso
file, but depending on the devices involved that may not be
possible and you'll have to create a bootable DVD or USB
drive as the installation medium. Using the Microsoft Windows 7
USB/DVD Download Tool you can create either a bootable DVD
or USB key from an .iso file.
The tutorial is here.
|
|
Install Windows 8 Developer
Preview in VirtualBox Virtual Machine
|
|
The safest way to get a taste
of the Windows 8 Developer Preview is to install it in a
virtual machine program. This is especially true if you only
have one computer available and don't want to have to
reimage it with your current setup after you are done
playing with the Developer Preview.
The tutorial is here.
|
|
Install Windows 8 Developer
Preview in VMware Workstation Virtual Machine
|
|
The safest way to get a taste
of the Windows 8 Developer Preview is to install it in a
virtual machine program. This is especially true if you only
have one computer available and don't want to have to
reimage it with your current setup after you are done
playing with the Developer Preview.
The tutorial is here.
|
|
Install Windows 8 Developer
Preview On A System Running Windows 7
|
|
This is a walkthrough of what
you can expect if you install Windows 8 Developer Preview
from inside an existing Windows 7 installation. In this case
I installed on a clean, bare installation of Windows 7
Ultimate x86 in a VMware virtual machine, but the results
are exactly the same if the installation is done on a
standalone Windows 7 system.
The tutorial is here.
|
|
Dual Boot Windows 7 and
Windows 8 In VirtualBox Virtual Machine
|
|
This tutorial is designed to
walk you through the steps necessary to set up a dual boot
system with Windows 7 and Windows 8 Developer Preview in a
VirtualBox virtual machine.
The tutorial is here.
|
|
Dual Boot Windows 7 and
Windows 8 In VMware Virtual Machine
|
|
This tutorial is designed to
walk you through the steps necessary to set up a dual boot
system with Windows 7 and Windows 8 Developer Preview in a
VirtualBox virtual machine.
The tutorial is here.
|
|
Disable Windows 8 Metro User Interface
|
|
It would appear one of the
most requested 'tweaks'
regarding Windows 8 Developer Preview is how to get rid of,
or disable, the new Metro user interface and return to
something similar to what is found in Windows 7. It's easy
enough to do. All that's required is a single registry edit.
Before you go ahead and make the edit, bear in mind that
making the change will also impact a few other items as well
such as removing the ribbon from the new Windows Explorer
and eliminating all access to the Metro interface. Besides,
isn't the point of installing one of the previews to work
with the new interface and see what, if any, improvements it
offers? If you want to make the change
the
instructions are here - and the registry edit can be
reversed at any time.
|
|
|
Open Command Prompt via Metro User Interface
- It wasn't long after the
Developer Preview was released that users wanted to start
monkeying around with the registry. The question was, how do
you actually get to the registry, or a command prompt, or
anything else that was readily available in previous
versions from the start menu. Actually, it's easy - if you
know at least part of the name of the name of the executable
or at least the first one or two letters.
Instructions are here. |
|
| Windows 8 Metro Nutshell Overview |
| My intent for this
article was to share my 'get acquainted experience'
with Windows 8 Metro user interface. Knowing it supported touch I
installed it on both a touch capable desktop and
laptop so I could enjoy the full Windows 8
Developer Preview experience. It only took a few
minutes to tell the Developer Preview was a very
rough, unpolished release, but that was expected at
this point in the cycle.
The article continues here --- |
|
| |
