Windows 8.1: You can boot to desktop now

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > Windows 8.1: You can boot to desktop now

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

Need to make an ISO or bootable flash drive? :siren:

Here's a handy page: Create installation media for Windows 8.1. Pick your language, edition, and 32 or 64 bit and it'll download an ISO for you, or prep a flash drive.

Windows 8.1 is here! Released to the public on October 17, 2013, Windows 8.1 is the first major update for the latest Microsoft Windows operating system. It is available for free to anyone already running Windows 8.

Info + questions about Windows 8/8.1: You are here! You made it! Good job!
For posterity, The last Windows 8 thread which was very well behaved and had lots of useful info! Good job everyone!
The New Windows tablets thread in IYG!
Windows 8 Apps thread in IYG seems mostly dead, so I guess we can just talk about apps here?
microsoft is bad windows is bad

Microsoft Upgrade FAQ :siren:

Microsoft Step By Step Upgrade Tutorial :siren:

If you're coming from Windows 7 or prior, watch this first:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BSmmSU-UZU

And then watch this to get up to date for 8.1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmZj45XXQNM

Getting Windows 8.1, if you're already up and running with Windows 8
It's free via the Windows Store app, which is a tile on the start screen. If it's not showing up in the store app, make sure your Windows Updates are all installed, then check again. If it's still not showing up, it could be:

quote:

Some editions of Windows 8 don�t support the free update to Windows 8.1. These include:

* Windows 8 Enterprise

* Editions of Windows 8 Pro that are installed by enterprises using KMS activation

* Editions of Windows 8 that are installed using an MSDN ISO, and activated using multiple activation keys

If you�re running one of these editions, you can't install the free update to Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1 from the Store.

If you installed Windows 8 using an MSDN ISO, you might be able to install Windows 8.1 using a similar ISO from MSDN.

Getting Windows 8.1 if you're running the 8.1 PREVIEW
You can apparently continue to 8.1 (final) from the preview via the Windows Store upgrade but it won't keep any of your Windows Store (metro) apps installed, or any of your normal desktop programs. So you have to reinstall everything from scratch, basically. I very strongly recommend having backups prepared ahead of time to restore from, as the 8.1 PREVIEW to 8.1 final path was repeatedly and explicitly not a supported automatic upgrade path.

Getting Windows 8.1 if you're running an older version of Windows
(Starting 2013/10/18) Windows 8.1 Pro is $199, Windows 8.1 (standard) is $119 online, directly from Microsoft here. This is the same as the post-special-offer Windows 8.0 pricing. There are no cheaper upgrade editions anymore, just the full version (of course if you upgrade to 8.0, the 8.0 => 8.1 upgrade is free).

If you're coming from Windows 7, you can do an in-place upgrade which keeps your installed programs. If you're coming from older Windows, then it'll be a clean install.

Getting Windows 8.1 if you're running an older version of Windows AND you're a student
If you qualify as a student, as of 2013/10/17 the Windows 8.0 Upgrade is still in their online store for $70, which would certainly be cheaper than purchasing a retail copy outright at full price, if you're already running some version of Windows.

It may also be available on MSDNAA -- If someone can confirm that, I'll write it down here.

I want an ISO
ISO's are on Technet/MSDN for those subscribers. Consumers get the Windows Store-based upgrade. However, it's trivial to seek out and download a leaked RTM ISO and do your own upgrade that way as well -- just confirm the SHA1 hash of your downloaded ISO matches the official ones. I'm not going to link any of that here, but it's not hard to verify. Currently we've noticed that Windows 8.0 keys won't validate (but WILL activate Windows post-installation) but this can by bypassed with a dummy key. YMMV/Not An Official Recommendation From Me/You Are Responsible For Your Own Self Here Is What I Am Saying.

BUT: you can use your license key with this Microsoft tool to download an ISO for the same version as the key (8.0 or 8.1), and the same architecture you're on when you run the program (32 or 64 bit). You can't use it to get an 8.1 ISO with an 8.0 key, but it's something.

WattsvilleBlues posted:

Also:

Windows Weekly tip posted:
Tip of the week: Create Windows 8.1 (or 8.0) install media

Microsoft says you have to upgrade from Windows 8 to 8.1 from the web. But if you previously purchased Windows 8, or purchased Windows 8.1 electronically, you can use your product key to make install media and do a clean install. Here's the secret page.

When doing this, click through as if you were going to install, but then choose the option "Install by creating media" which will give the option to copy to a USB Drive or to save as an ISO file.

Also, if you used the Upgrade Assistant to upgrade to Windows 8.0, you have a link to that ISO in your receipt email. The Upgrade Assistant is still in use for moving to Windows 8.1, so presumably the ISO can be downloaded with it as well (To Be Confirmed).

Windows 8.1 Installation Tips

Here is a step by step tutorial from Microsoft
Can I update from a 32-bit version of Windows to a 64-bit version of Windows 8.1?

Microsoft FAQ posted:
If your PC has a 64-bit capable processor (CPU) but is currently running a 32-bit version of Windows, you can install a 64-bit version of Windows 8.1, but you'll need to buy it as a DVD and perform a clean installation. You won't be able to keep any files, settings, or apps when you update from a 32-bit to a 64-bit version.

Please note that the Windows 8.1 Pro Pack is used to upgrade from Windows 8.1 to Windows 8.1 Pro, and isn't for cross-architecture installs and doesn't include any media. If you want to change architectures, buy Windows 8.1 Pro.
You CAN skip the Microsoft Account tie-in when doing the upgrade. Check the tutorial link. Short version: choose Create a new account, and then on the new account page, choose Continue using my existing account
A word from Microsoft about your Windows Store (metro) apps:

quote:
Your desktop apps come with you when you update to Windows 8.1, but you'll need to reinstall your Windows Store apps. You can see all of the Windows Store apps you own in the Your apps section of the Store. From here, you can choose the ones you want to install on your updated PC, and install them all at once.

What is changed?
Overall, impressions from both the Preview and the pre-release RTM are positive. If you are already on Windows 8.0 you should probably go ahead and upgrade.

Good/Interesting Stuff:

If you missed the low-impact of Windows 7 start search, try out Win+S search (also Win+Q, Win+W for Settings, Win+F for Files). It'll open a sidebar for results without kicking you over to the Start Screen, so it's much less annoying. It's also the search you get if you're on the Start Screen and just being typing letters.
Search results also include Bing results. If you Win+S (or begin typing a search from the Start Screen) for something and click the top of the suggested search results (lower half of the search pane) you get a special search results view. If it's a common term ("katy perry" is an example) then you'll get a kind of mixed-content preview with pictures and links to wikipedia and stuff. You can turn off the web integration in PC Settings, which makes search results entirely local again
Several new options in "Taskbar and Navigation Properties" (right click the taskbar -> Properties, Navigation tab such as When I sign in or close all apps on a screen, go to the desktop instead of Start, and Show my desktop background on Start. These two in particular make Windows 8.1 A LOT less jarring of an experience. You can also turn off the mouse gesture for the Charms bar here, and make pressing the Win key go to the full apps list instead of the Start screen.
The Apps screen is more easily accessible: click the down arrow from the Start Screen. You can change the grouping by clicking the selector in the top left.
There's more personalization options for the Start Screen (Win+I, Personalize) including animated backgrounds and being able to use your desktop wallpaper. There's also more Tile size options: Double-Sized ("Large") and Quarter-Sized ("Small"). Also, Tile colors for regular desktop programs are now generated from the icon (like the Win7/8 taskbar button shading)
PC Settings sucks a lot less -- there's a lot more configuration options and less of a need to bounce out to the desktop Control Panel (Win+I, Enter from the normal desktop).
Multi Monitor Metro: FINALLY. You can now have Windows Store ("metro") apps on more than one monitor at a time, and use the Start Screen from a different monitor than an app is on. Other improvements to apps usability include being able to have more than 2 open on a screen at once and being able to resize the proportions yourself.
Charms: The mouse gesture to activate can be disabled (still available with keyboard shortcuts), but the buttons appear closer to whichever corner you activated it from. Also, the Share Charm (Win+H) is now marginally useful from the regular desktop, as it allows you to share a screenshot to any Share-enabled app (such as Dropbox, OneNote, Mail, Twitter, etc). Don't forget that the Settings, Share, and Devices charms are context-specific for an app.
Most/all of the first part Windows Store apps have gotten some kind of update. Mail in particular has been identified by reviewers as substantially improved. Music is also quite a bit better and can put take you right to your own local collection now (but still isn't as good as Zune software, never forget ).

Factor Mystic fucked around with this message at 21:35 on Nov 8, 2014

# ¿ Oct 18, 2013 02:46

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 14:56

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

Windows 8/8.1 Editions
Windows 8.1 is available for consumers in two editions:

Windows 8.1 - the standard edition (roughly corresponds with Windows 7 Home Premium)
Windows 8.1 Pro - the professional edition (roughly corresponds with Windows 7 Professional)

There is also Windows 8.1 Enterprise available for volume licensing, and through MSDN and Technet. It is similar to Windows 8.1 Pro but following the enterprise upgrade track from previous versions. The Windows Media Center add-on is not available for this edition.

Comparison Chart of Windows 8 edition features on Wikipedia

Notable edition-locked features

Regular desktop & Windows 7 desktop applications - All (Limited on Windows RT -- see below)
Remote desktop client - All editions
Remote desktop host - Pro, Enterprise
Storage spaces - All (except Windows RT)
Domain join - Pro, Enterprise
Group policy - Pro, Enterprise
Windows Media Center - Pro only, via extra add-in (see below)
Hyper-V - Pro, Enterprise (64-bit versions only with SLAT capable CPU)

More info:
Windows 8 edition comparison
Windows 8 editions on Wikipedia

What about Windows RT?
Windows RT is a separate, reduced edition of Windows that is only available pre-installed on ARM tablets or convertibles, such as the Microsoft Surface. It is not available separately and does not have the capability to run regular desktop applications from Windows 7 or prior, with select pre-installed exceptions (namely, Microsoft Office). It is also upgraded to 8.1.

What about WinRT?
WinRT (Windows Runtime) is a new application platform for windows, which powers the start screen environment and a new set of full screen, touch-oriented apps. WinRT-based apps run on both Windows RT devices such as Microsoft Surface, as well as normal editions of Windows 8 on laptops and desktops. Apps based on the WinRT platform are officially called "Windows Store apps" but are also referred to as "Metro apps", which was the name for the new start screen environment during Windows 8's development.

Microsoft Account
In addition to a regular local user account, Windows 8 makes it possible to sign in with a Microsoft account. This is the same account as Xbox Live, Windows Live ID, Windows Phone account, Hotmail, and Outlook.com email (it's had many names in the past). If you don't have one, or you don't want to reuse xxMyFirstEmail99xx@hotmail.com for your Windows identity, the installation process will prompt you to create a new account. By signing in to Windows 8 with a Microsoft account, PC settings and Windows Store apps can sync between devices. Many Windows Store apps, especially the first-party ones like Mail, Calendar, Skydrive, and Xbox Music take advantage of this account to automatically sign you in.

If you want to keep your same Xbox Live account but not use the crappy Hotmail account you registered it with, you can rename your Hotmail account.

Rename your Hotmail account - Thanks to Karthe for the info!

Karthe posted:

Log into Outlook.com using your Hotmail account. Once you're in, click the Gear icon in the upper right, select More mail settings, then click on Rename your email address under Managing your account. Then, enter your desired e-mail address and click Save.

From that point on, your entire Microsoft account will be associated with that new e-mail address. Whenever you need to enter your Live ID, you'll enter your new address. Your old @hotmail.com address will still be around, but only as an alias - you'll still receive e-mail to that address, and can send e-mail from it, but it will no longer work to log you into anything Live related. You won't lose any of your existing e-mail, though! And if you qualified for the 25GB Skydrive upgrade, you'll be happy to know that you'll retain that too.

And your Xbox Live account will remain untouched. In fact the next time you turn on your 360 it'll update to show your new @outlook.com address under Account.

I did this last week and can confirm that I lost nothing by renaming it and ditching my old @hotmail.com address for a shiny new @outlook.com.

Karthe posted:

[ Your ] old @hotmail.com account will still be around, just as an alias. An alias (in Outlook parlance) is a second (or third or fourth or fifth) e-mail address that is attached to one's Outlook account. He'll still receive e-mail sent to that address, and he can still send e-mail from it. The only reason he'd need to notify anyone of the change of e-mail is if he wanted to get rid of the @hotmail.com alias completely; otherwise it's completely transparent to everyone else.

Factor Mystic fucked around with this message at 02:51 on Oct 18, 2013

# ¿ Oct 18, 2013 02:46

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

Stuff that has come up in the thread that I will try and keep updating

Can I disable my account requiring a password to login?

Lance Streetman posted:
You can turn that off under PC settings/account/sign-in options.

or,

sether01 posted:
Run -> netplwiz, select your account, then click off the check box that says "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer."
Windows is using MY RAMZ
It's supposed to work like that, keeping as much in ram as possible... unused ram means it's, ya know, not being used when it could be.

thebigcow posted:
http://www.linuxatemyram.com/ I know I know, wrong OS for this thread, but the concepts are the same.
How do I get multiple Google calendars in the Calendar app?

WebDog posted:
Found out a way to allow multiple Google calenders in the Calender app.
You have to run this through Chrome to work.

Download User Agent Switcher from the Chrome Webstore
Deactivate Javascript in Settings (Show advanced settings, Content settings)
Select iPad or iPhone
Go to http://m.google.com/sync
Click your Windows Mail device
In the URL change supportMultipleCalendars=false to supportMultipleCalendars=true
Submit URL (Press Enter)
Tick off calenders
Save
Reload your Google Account to your Windows Calendar app.
Another Google calendar tip:

benitocereno posted:
I did discover something that I thought other people would like to know! This is semi-related to the "multiple google calendars" in the OP; but in my case, I couldn't even get my primary calendar to work.

I work at a place that uses Google Apps for Education and have been frustrated that the new calendar client doesn't support Google calendars, regardless of the fact that GAFE provides an Exchange interface. However, you can do the following and it works perfectly:

Open Calendar and add a new account, select "Exchange" and "Show More." Under server, use "m.google.com/". Use your full credentials for the rest of the fields - "username@org.com", etc. Leave domain blank.

All of the references I found left off the slash on m.google.com. If you leave the slash off, it will deny your request before it even tries to connect, probably because Microsoft doesn't want people working around the known Exchange end of life with Google. Add the slash and voil�, your Calendar works! I imagine this fix will work as long as you're on GAFE or Google for Business.
How to get rid of that sent from Windows Live signature mail uses?

Kazy posted:
It's in the Account options. You have to turn it off for ever account, though I'm glad it has a per-account signature option.
Windows wakes up from sleep every morning at 3AM

Karthe posted:
Windows 8 is set up to perform "system maintenance" (update applications, update Windows, defrag, etc...) at 3am by default and will wake up your computer to do so. If you go into System Settings you'll find an option to change the time maintenance is performed and a toggle that will control whether or not your PC will come out of sleep at that time to do so.
Windows wakes up from sleep, and it's not System Maintenance, and Media Center is installed. Follow these directions to turn off the Media Center Update task
Is there a way to make it start up in the "classic", Windows 7ish interface?
Various third party start menu replacements offer this functionality: StartIsBack, Start8, Classic Shell, and Pokki for Windows 8 seem to all be debated.
Is there a means to allow automatic updates of Windows Defender types updates (that don't require a reboot) while also preventing the automatic rebooting process if whatever update requires it?

YES. Copy/paste the following text to a script file named update-mse.vbs and put it somewhere handy, like your user folder (c:\users\<username>). Then set up a scheduled task to run it automatically in the background.
code:
```
Dim WshShell
Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.Run "cmd /c ""C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\MpCmdRun.exe"" -SignatureUpdate", 0, true
```
1) Open the Task Scheduler (Win + W, search for "Schedule tasks")
2) Create a new task (Action menu -> Create Task)
3) Put in something sensible for the task name, like "MSE Auto Update"
4) "Triggers" tab, "New..." button, "Begin the task" -> "At log on", Check "Repeat task every", and change "for a duration of" to "Indefinitely". Make sure "Enabled" is checked and hit "OK"
5) "Actions" tab, "New..." button, "Action" -> "Start a program", "Program/script" box should have wscript.exe. "Add arguments" should have "C:\Users\<You>\update-mse.vbs", and hit "OK"
6) Hit "OK" to save the task.
7) Make sure it's working: Click into "Task Scheduler Library" and find the task you just made. Right click, "Run". Nothing should appear to happen. After a few seconds, hit F5 to refresh. Your task should say "Ready" in the status column and "The operation completed successfully" over in the "Last Run Result" column. If not, post about it and someone will help you.

Factor Mystic fucked around with this message at 19:55 on Oct 27, 2013

# ¿ Oct 18, 2013 02:46

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

Phoenixan posted:

I updated to Windows 8.1 and haven't really encountered any issues; however, I do have an annoying watermark in the bottom right corner of my desktop.

"Windows 8.1 Pro
Secureboot isn't configured correctly
Build 9600"

Now, I don't have SecureBoot as an option in my BIOS at all. I have the latest BIOS for my laptop. Is there any way to just get rid of the watermark?

Assuming your key is legit, then it'll go away automatically when Windows activates. The first time I installed 8.1 it took a couple minutes.

# ¿ Oct 18, 2013 04:18

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

thebigcow posted:

http://www.linuxatemyram.com/ I know I know, wrong OS for this thread, but the concepts are the same.

soapgish posted:

A number of people swear by http://www.pokki.com/windows-8-start-menu

WattsvilleBlues posted:

Also: (ISO downloader)

benitocereno posted:

google calendar tip

OP updated with all this good stuff

# ¿ Oct 19, 2013 02:46

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

Terpfen posted:

However, I'm a little confused about the licensing for 8.1. I bought 8 back when it was $40, and received an installation DVD. I installed off that DVD and then downloaded 8.1 from the Windows Store. What happens when I want to replace my boot drive? Do I have to install 8 and then download 8.1 again? Is there a way I can directly install 8.1? How does the licensing work?

Create backup image on the old machine, restore backup image on new machine.

Lum posted:

Officially yes. In my case I'd also have to go from 7 -> 8 -> 8.1 and in one case XP MCE -> 8 -> 8.1.

Unofficially, torrent it from somewhere, install disconnected from the network using a different product key then once booted connect to the network and change it to the one you paid for by running SLUI.EXE 0x3 from an admin command prompt.

Don't do this, it's way less of a headache to just use backup image software.

# ¿ Oct 19, 2013 20:22

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

CapnBry posted:

I jumped right from Windows 7 to 8.1 so maybe I'm missing the secret gesture to required to find things. In the Music app:
-- Is there a way to "Shuffle all music in My Collection"?
-- What about a playlist of recently added things?
-- Any sort of graphic equalizer?
-- Can I browse by genere?
... and why does the first song of any album that it doesn't have in their database not have any album art despite it being embedded in the mp3. The other tracks from the same album have art. explorer.exe shows it has having album art. Windows Media Player shows album art too.

First question: Click on "Collection" (left side), then the "Songs" section (middle section). Make sure shuffle is turned on (elipsis looking button in the bottom right) and hit play on any song.

Second question: No autoplaylists like there were with Zune ( :argh:

), but by default the "Songs" section is sorted by date added, so you're newest songs are at the top.

Third question: No equalizer

Fourth question: Albums are grouped by genre by default. Click on the genre name to zoom out to the list of album genres. Same thing goes for the songs section as well.

# ¿ Oct 24, 2013 01:15

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

AxeManiac posted:

Can I disable my account requiring a password to login? It kind of kills the speed of my SSD if I gotta type a password and click a start screen.

I tried to put in a blank password, but it says a password is needed

Interesting that this was disallowed in the UI. Are you running enterprise edition?

Avalanche posted:

Can that netplzwiz thing go in the OP?

Done.

# ¿ Oct 27, 2013 19:56

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

whiskas posted:

I have a clean install of Windows 8.1

The only software I have installed on it is firefox and VLC.

When I want to turn the computer off I put it to sleep.

I have double checked that wake on LAN, and mouse/keyboard wake is disabled.

My computer will randomly turn itself on at night, 1-2 times a week.

Any idea what may be turning it on? I don't see any scheduled tasks or weird processes running. Windows event log shows nothing.

Check the tips in the OP

Boner Slam posted:

I often get bumped into Metro apps. Is there a way to close them at all except for pressing Alt-F4? I have disabled all the edge stuff because it is extremely annoying in the regular desktop view.

You can also middle click the thumbnails when you use Win+Tab, or right click -> close, the same way you can do with taskbar window thumbnails. There's also

Boner Slam posted:

Additionally, is Microsoft seriously setting the standard resolution to 125% (extremely blurry) or is this some kind of bug in my Windows?

You can set this yourself by going to the desktop Control Panel, Display settings.

Boner Slam posted:

Is there a way to disable the "Lock Screen"? For a regular laptop, this seems extremely unecessary.. I lock the thing by closing the lid. I want to open the lid and then go, not go through two separate "lock screens" plus the lid. There's probably an option for this somehwere, hidden in one of the several different setting dialogues somewhere...

Try this: http://www.askvg.com/how-to-disable-lock-screen-in-windows-8/

Boner Slam posted:

Everything else about 8.1 is good, but the user interface, as a whole and in detail, is seriously the worst thing I have ever seen released by a major company.

Haha

# ¿ Oct 29, 2013 15:06

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

Verizian posted:

Anyone tried using a Leap Motion with windows 8.1? Primarily for photoshop/Sketchup work with a side of fancy hand-wavy controls for video, music and web browsing.

I have a Leap Motion and unfortunately it kind of sucks. It's not very sensitive to fine finger movements and it gets very confused when fingers are close together. The free Touchless app that makes your finger work like a mouse is bad, mainly because the gesture they decided to use for click is "move your finger closer to the screen without drifting in any other dimension" which is hard to do precisely. There are other mouse replacement apps like AirInput that look better but I haven't tried them.

# ¿ Nov 10, 2013 21:20

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

Sri.Theo posted:

Is it possible to download the desktop version of skydrive if you're on windows 8.1? And if so can someone point me to the link, I can't find it anywhere its supposed to be.

I think I know what you're asking, and no you can't do what you're asking in 8.1 due to the deeper system integration. You can't just use it like Dropbox and log in separately, you MUST link your user account to a Microsoft account to use it. I only use Dropbox now as a result of this change.

# ¿ Nov 15, 2013 01:26

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

Cardboard Box A posted:

I need to return this laptop for defective hardware HOW THE HELL DO I REMOVE MY MICROSOFT ACCOUNT FROM THIS COMPUTER AND REFORMAT/RESET/WHATEVER IT?

Nothing I can find on the internet SOLVES this PROBLEM! I can't delete the User Account from the regular Windows Control Panel, and there is no Reset/Refresh whatever option at all in the fancy new Metro Computer Settings whatever panel!

What is WRONG with MICROSOFT? Why do they make this so HARD? On iPhone or Android this takes like 5 seconds to get to!

Press the Win key to go to the start screen. Type the word "reset" or the word "refresh" or the word "reinstall". Observe that "Remove everything and reinstall Windows" is now available to click. Click it.

MrSaturn posted:

voted 5

Factor Mystic fucked around with this message at 01:58 on Nov 26, 2013

# ¿ Nov 26, 2013 01:53

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

It's trivial to get an official ISO from Microsoft, unless you meant as a home user. In that case it's basically up to whoever you bought your computer from, which is why Dell/etc often provide installation discs. With Windows 8 it's even simpler to grab an ISO using the official downloader linked in the OP.

# ¿ Dec 2, 2013 20:53

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

Martytoof posted:

Unless your OEM gives you some poo poo hacked together restore disc that automatically installs an image with all their bloatware preinstalled. I'm looking at you, LENOVO.

And Win8 should be that easy, unless your Windows 8 OEM key "can't be used to install a retail version of Windows" using the Installer. Except it works fine when you plug in some dummy key into the downloader and then try to use your OEM key with the USB key that the downloader makes.

I've never had so much trouble installing a legitimate copy of Windows.

You got what Lenovo sold you. In an OEM context it really only makes sense to be re-installing in the same hardware, so why not make a full disc image backup without the preinstalled crap, or make a reset snapshot? Then you're good to go in the future.

# ¿ Dec 3, 2013 06:30

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

HalloKitty posted:

I want Aero Glass back, for what it's worth. The shadows and transparencies made it look way better.

Well there's this. I'm running it, and it mostly works. I have a custom Release Preview-era theme atlas loaded, which looks pretty neat.

# ¿ Dec 10, 2013 16:22

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

GreenNight posted:

Oh I guess you can boot straight to desktop without installing a 3rd party tool with 8.1.

It's right in the thread title
:ughh:

# ¿ Dec 10, 2013 23:36

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

WattsvilleBlues posted:

Here's a scenario: I have a laptop that came with Windows 8 Core, and now has 8.1 Core on it.

I want to format and reinstall directly to 8.1 on this machine. I only have a Windows 8.1 Pro ISO. How can I get the Core ISO? Can I run the WindowsSetupBox.exe thing in the OP (that I posted about, heh) on the 8.1 Core machine?

I can't try this out directly right now as it's actually my mum's laptop, but I hope to do this in the next month or so.

Scroll up a few posts and do the same thing to get an ISO, or just run the Reset process from PC Settings.

# ¿ Dec 23, 2013 00:56

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

Combat Pretzel posted:

Or just hold on a little more and pray that 8.2 will also be a free update, on the notion that it's scheduled that soon, because it'll supposedly come with the return of a full-blown start menu.

That and apparently enabling windowed Metro apps, which I hope will rekindle the Windows Store and free-/shareware ecosystem.

All of this is speculation...

# ¿ Dec 24, 2013 04:47

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

compton rear end terry posted:

I'm coming from Vista to 8.1 and I have a few questions

I have some software that starts when windows starts, and every time windows launches a security notice. Is there any way to ignore that specific program? Better yet, what's the easiest way to keep the program but stop it from launching upon bootup?

Do what Lum said to turn it off, or use the Task Scheduler to run the startup program with admin privliges at logon. Doing it that way, it wont prompt you when you start up.

compton rear end terry posted:

I have an issue where after bootup my USB keyboard (and anything else plugged into USB) is not recognized. Once I unplug it and then plug it back in it works fine. A simple work around but annoying to have to plug and unplug a keyboard every time I turn my computer on. This same keyboard worked fine when installing windows so I can't tell if it's hardware related or not.

Do you have any kind of helper program or 3rd party control panel, perhaps that isnt starting up immediately?

Dominoes posted:

My laptop's windows install poo poo the bed after installing Windows 8.1 a few months ago. I ended up reverting to normal 8, where most of my programs were broken.

I just got my desktop set up again, and decided to try 8.1 on it. Can't get post the login screen now. Looks like it'll be easier to do a clean install and not touch 8.1 again.

If you don't post details, we can't help you, dude.

# ¿ Dec 25, 2013 22:49

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

Scott Hanselman's guide is pretty clear and decent:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BSmmSU-UZU

It's for 8.0, though.

# ¿ Jan 9, 2014 03:15

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

kiwid posted:

Thanks, I think that'll work.

Here's one for 8.1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmZj45XXQNM

E: you know what, added both of these to the OP

Factor Mystic fucked around with this message at 21:36 on Jan 11, 2014

# ¿ Jan 11, 2014 21:32

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

Sebastian Flyte posted:

I find most full screen apps pretty annoying on my large desktop display, when all the app does is display some text and a few interface elements that could easily fit in a small window that would take up less than a quarter of my desktop space.

There's a solution to this, it is app snapping. All metro apps can be gripped with the mouse and docked to a side of the screen (you can also drag them out of the active apps sidebar when you mouse down from the top left corner). You can also run several of them side by side. You can run them side by side with the normal desktop. It looks like this:

teagone posted:

The Windows 8 Twitter App should always be run snapped to the side on the desktop, like so:

Otherwise, yeah, it's a huge loving waste of space.

Ignoarints posted:

I really wish there was a way to have the start button back, in particular the very good search capability of the Windows 7 search bar. Classicshell isn't cutting it (search wise)

You can search directly from the start screen, so the muscle memory of tapping Winkey, then typing to search is preserved. It's somewhat different in Windows 8 that the search categories are now separate (Apps/Settings/Files) rather than combined as it was in Windows 7. There are also shortcut keys to bring up just the search sidebar, which you can use from the normal desktop if you don't want to bounce over to the Start Screen. Win+Q, Win+W, Win+F, and Win+S all do this.

# ¿ Jan 16, 2014 17:36

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

Vegetable posted:

You're right, thanks! I couldn't find it in the Start menu so I thought it was gone. Sure wish they'd change the lovely font though.

If you want to feel like a hacker, this looks like it'd probably work: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/212323-sticky-notes-change-default-font.html

# ¿ Jan 25, 2014 05:21

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

I'm kinda surprised to learn that people shut down their PC's at all, to be honest. Or maybe when people say "shut down" they just are being inarticulate about sleep functionality.

# ¿ Jan 26, 2014 21:24

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

Mescal posted:

How about not requiring a login to download a free program? It's the simplest thing in the world. I just wanted to download the Facebook app to see if it looked good in the new windows interface. I bought the new OS and I should be able to use all of its features without going through a "store" at all.

You're gonna be really disappointed if you ever pick up an iPad, or any modern smartphone. However, you can choose to login in ONLY to the Store, if you want, you do not have to convert your local account to a Microsoft account.

# ¿ Jan 31, 2014 02:26

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

redeyes posted:

The default page file for a system with 16GB of ram is about 16GB and on a SSD this is wasteful. Might as well turn that down to 2-4GB.

The "System managed" page file size on my fresh Windows 8.1 Pro install here is 2.4 GB on a 500 GB ssd, with 16 GB ram. It's a configuration worth double checking, but not worth micro-managing. Here's an interesting technical post about not turning off your page file, though: http://serverfault.com/a/23684/893

# ¿ Feb 10, 2014 17:39

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

kiwid posted:

Is there a way to make startup items start faster on boot?

I have a Razor keyboard and mouse which rely on the synapse driver software and the poo poo takes like a good 30 seconds after login to start before my keyboard/mouse profiles load.

Check autoruns, the Task Scheduler, and the Local Services start configuration to disable as much non-core Microsoft stuff as possible EXCEPT your synapse/razor stuff. If it's still too slow, then your answer is "no". Otherwise, perhaps you can reconfigure the order and timing of the other items to make your keyboard/mouse profiles load sooner.

# ¿ Feb 17, 2014 04:05

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

JoeMB posted:

Has Backup option been removed in 8.1? I can't seem to find it and File History is useless for my needs unless there's a way to choose what files to backup.
I just need some software that will back up specific folders to another hard drive and do it weekly.

Go to Control Panel\System and Security\File History, and click "System Image Backup" in the lower left hand corner. Also it sounds like you actually DO want File History...?

# ¿ Feb 28, 2014 16:54

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

Chard posted:

Ugh. I can't find the folder where the "Colors and Lines" default background images are stored in 8.1. I want to put more images in there so I can add them to my background slideshow but I can't seem to locate where the defaults are stored. Can someone help me with this please, I feel like this should be simple but I've been poking for like half an hour and I still can't find the drat source for these images.

ne: I know this is a stupid question but I've tried googling and all I get is junk

C:\Windows\Web\Wallpaper

# ¿ Mar 9, 2014 03:07

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

Chard posted:

This is Greek to me, what should I be looking for?

Process ID 4 is a system process, so probably not a torrent client or whatever. I don't know what Reason 7 is, though. In the event viewer there's a link to view the event online, sometimes there's more info there.

# ¿ Mar 22, 2014 18:48

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

Jewmanji posted:

I just got a new ultrabook with a high DPI screen. In trying to adjust things, I seem to have made everything wonky.

1) Within windows explorer, all of the fonts are bolded for some reason. How do I undo this?
2) The taskbar is vanishingly small, when everything else on the desktop is readable (small, but readable). Is there a way to adjust only the size of the taskbar?

I've wandered through the regular screen resolution options available through control panel/right click, and I can change plenty of fonts, but there doesn't seem to be a way to adjust the in-menu fonts or the size of the taskbar. It wasn't like this out of the box, so I'm sure it's not impossible to fix. The resolution I'm using is 3200x1800. When I downscale that, all text appears noticeably blurry. Any suggestions?

I'm not even sure how to attach a screenshot of this since the max file limit within a thread is about half the resolution of my desktop...

Don't downscale your monitor resolution. Jack up the DPI scaling to 200% if it isn't already. Most programs will render at 100% then Windows will scale the program area up 2x. Typically this looks pretty terrible. The solution is often to check the box that says "Disable display scaling on high DPI settings". A lot of programs look better this way but with occasional glitches, but overall not fuzzy like 2x scaling is.

# ¿ Mar 26, 2014 03:11

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

ILikeVoltron posted:

Right now on my Retina display running a vmware fusion win8.1 I've got the scaling set to 205% and most of the text boxes look like rear end.

The critical point here is to go to compatibility settings and check the box that I said. Then things will be crisp instead of fuzzy.

Also: there's no way to get to these settings for some built-in Windows tools, like mmc.exe (the host app for things like Event Viewer, Local Services, Disk Management, etc). But you can manually set compatibility settings in the registry. For example, I added this rule:

code:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers]
"C:\\Windows\\System32\\mmc.exe"="^ HIGHDPIAWARE"

And now text in the Event Viewer is nice and crisp instead of 2x fuzzy scaled. That I should even have to do this myself is part of the fundamental problem, but at least there's something that CAN be done.

ljw1004 posted:

(caveat: I now work at Microsoft, in a part of the company that has nothing to do with DPI or Windows or font-scaling.)

Can you please reach out to someone on the shell team and tell them to make 8.1 on a retina macbook pro their daily driver? It will really crystallize the pain points better than anyone just talking about it here. I'm sure 8.1 on a PC laptop with similar screen PPI would also be sufficient.

ILikeVoltron posted:

After I login, everything looks scaled but it's all just weird. The whole metro interface actually doesn't look like it's using the DPI scaling at all.

From the start screen, Win+I => Tiles => "Show more tiles". Turn this on.

Factor Mystic fucked around with this message at 19:20 on Mar 30, 2014

# ¿ Mar 30, 2014 19:15

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

HalloKitty posted:

That's cute. Not bad at all. Have to see it in action, but first impressions are decent.

Metro software in windows, live tiles in your Windows Vista/Windows 8 mashup start menu. Like it. Although it's fair to say Stardock has been doing this kind of thing with ModernMix and Start8 for a while.

I do wish Aero was an option still, though. I have to say I still have no love for the no-shadows, flat and square look of 8.

Check it: http://glass8.berlios.de/

I use this to bring back glass. It's quite stable, but occasionally glitches Chrome. That's solved by closing and re-opening the window, though

# ¿ Apr 3, 2014 02:47

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

Femur posted:

Also, 8.1 has not really impressed me, the Metro snap thing now takes up 1/4 of my screen, thus unusable for what I was using it for, Netflix. I don't understand why MS just won't let you size it however you want.

Drag and drop the vertical partition on the edge of the metro window.

# ¿ Apr 5, 2014 18:12

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

~Coxy posted:

Just installed Windows 8 on my Mac.
I assume the new hibernate restart system is leading to filesystem issues. eg. Copy something to the Windows disk from Mac OS then reboot into Windows and it isn't there.
Is there any way to turn that off completely? I'd rather not have to Shut Down all the time and can live with longer boot times.

That's probably not what would be causing something like that to happen.

# ¿ Apr 26, 2014 05:01

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

Lum posted:

So it turns out that when you copy an app store URL to the clipboard (in this case from IRC as we were mocking this app's unfortunate name), win 8.1.1 will immediately switch to the full screen windows store app and start loading the page.

How do I get rid of that behaviour?

I don't think it has anything to do with copy/pasting, it has to do with loading up that page on the windows store website. It's redirecting you to a ms-windows-store: url, which the Windows Store app has registered to itself. The app itself doesn't seem to have any options about this behavior, but you can disable it manually by going to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\ms-windows-store\Shell\Open\Command and renaming or deleting the DelegateExecute key (I renamed it to start with a dash so I could restore the behavior and also to remind me that I made a change, if I look at it later). You may need to take ownership of the parent key before you can rename it.

# ¿ May 3, 2014 23:34

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

Jerk McJerkface posted:

I figure an image as a backup is the best option.

I have used Acronis True Image for many years to do regularly scheduled online imaging. I recommend it. There are also free programs that can generate backups, including one built into Windows- it's called "System Image Backup" and there's a link to it in the lower left section of Control Panel\System and Security\File History. I am not aware if this can be automated, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was possible to set up a scheduled task to automatically run sdclt.exe or something.

# ¿ May 19, 2014 18:17

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

WastedJoker posted:

Got a weird intermittent-but-often-enough-to-piss-me-0ff issue on my Windows 8.1 desktop.

If I have closed a Windows Explorer window, the desktop becomes unresponsive. I can still interact with taskbar to bring up a program/launch start menu etc but icons on the desktop don't respond to clicks straightaway. They'll suddenly trigger several seconds after I've clicked them (after closing the Windows Explorer window).

Any ideas where to start looking for the issue behind it?

There's nothing in Event Viewer and it doesn't happen on my laptop with virtually identical software installed.

Use something like autoruns to see what shell extensions are loaded. Do this on the machine that doesn't have the problem as well and spot the difference. If you can't spot a difference, start disabling 3rd party extensions until the problem goes away.

# ¿ May 30, 2014 21:21

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

hirvox posted:

Default programs have been user-specific settings for a long time. They're in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts. Setting reasonable defaults in a custom image or via group policy is preferable when you're dealing with multiple machines, though.

It's actually even simpler than that. You can override any of the system default file associations in the parallel HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes key. FileExts is also for user preferences but via the Set Program Access and Defaults mechanism. You also don't need to hack the registry for this, just got to "Default Programs" in the desktop Control Panel. It's been this way to configure user level file associations for years and years.

You can also use an app like this one that I wrote to point and click your way into file association bliss

Factor Mystic fucked around with this message at 00:14 on Jun 3, 2014

# ¿ Jun 3, 2014 00:11

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 14:56

Factor Mystic: Mar 20, 2006; Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

beejay posted:

What am I missing here?

"Boot to desktop" is listed as a feature of Windows 8.1 Update. That behavior has been the norm for Windows until Windows 8. Listing a long standing, now restored behavior as a new feature is humorous.

# ¿ Jun 5, 2014 01:00

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > Windows 8.1: You can boot to desktop now

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