Windows 8 available on Technet and MSDN

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As per title, various versions of Windows 8 are now available for download on Technet and MSDN.

On my Technet account, there are x86 and x64 versions of Windows 8, Windows 8 N & Windows 8 Enterprise, but Windows 8 Pro and Windows 8 Pro N are listed as VL (volume licence?) SKU’s, so not available to this lowly subscriber…..but when I grab the key for Windows 8 it’s shown as Windows 8 Pro. Confusing!

So, I’m off to grab the Windows 8 x64. The servers are being hammered: it’s as slow as treacle right now.

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It’s terribly slow, indeed.

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I guess I’ll just have to be patient and wait until Oct. 26th with the rest of us average Joes.

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I couldn’t do my job without Technet Ted.

Server 2008 / R2 / SBS, Windows 7 Pro, XP Pro, Office, plus many others….allow me to simulate or model an environment.

The Technet licence has recently been revamped to make it much clearer, and for me it fits the bill nicely:

31740-Technet-licence

The subscription renewal is only £160 in the UK, which is a fairly small business cost: equivalent to two tanks of petrol at the pumps. The key thing though is that Technet Downloads are only for evaluation and not for production use, so if I want to install a real world copy of Win 8 later in the year, I’ll have to join the queue again.

For background info, there are other genuine methods to access various MS software (varies country to country): Join the Microsoft Partner Network and subscribe to the Action Pack Subscriptions or Empower Subscriptions to gain access to full copies of various OS’s for a small yearly subscription. Those who have an academic presence could look at Dreamspark for free. Finally, there’s MSDN, but those subscriptions tend to be rather more expensive – for good reason, MSDN gives access to much more liberal licencing than Technet.

[Edit]
Re the Technet Download: 1.3GB and counting….2 hours to go. Will be one to look at in the morning me thinks!

[/Edit]

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I am presently downloading an evaluation copy of Win 8 Ent. I may put in a 3rd partition and install it for testing purposes. This may not be a great idea. I am not sure about the Enterprise edition. Anyone have any opinions?

My wife works in the IT department in a local University. Perhaps Dreamspark would be a possibility. I am just not sure if downloading another evaluation copy is in the cards for me.

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My wife works in the IT department in a local University. Perhaps Dreamspark would be a possibility. I am just not sure if downloading another evaluation copy is in the cards for me.

Unfortunately, I doubt Win8 will be available on Dreamspark: it’s mainly server OS’s and developer suites, but they are free with an accredited academic account.

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Unfortunately, I doubt Win8 will be available on Dreamspark: it’s mainly server OS’s and developer suites, but they are free with an accredited academic account.

Sorry Tinto, all Windows desktop versions are available in DreamSpark premium, from 8 RP down to XP. Windows 8 will be available in DreamSpark too, probably not immediately, but it will.

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Enterprise will be Pro with a few tidbits more, it usually is. Should be good as a test edition, Ted, but I fear you may not be able to put a Pro key and use it as Pro, later on, when you obtain the key.

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I expected to have to download the Win 8 Pro edition after I buy my 2 copies in October. That would not be a problem. I just saw the change to grab an evaluation copy of the RTM code and thought “Why Not”

Plus it will give me a little more experience in setting up another OS. I just created new Images for both Win 7 and Win 8 RP. I might just overwrite the Win 8 RP partition.

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The evaluation copy of the 64 Bit version of Win 8 Pro Ent. finished in less than half hour. Approx. 3.5 Gb in size.

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That’s odd, Rui, my Dreamspark account only has Server OS’s and Apps. Perhaps my membership is not a Premium account which may give a wider choice? To be honest I’ve only used it in the past when on some distance learning Server OS courses, and didn’t look to see if I could change the membership. It would be excellent if accredited students could access client OS’s on Dreamspark too.

@Ted, can I borrow some bandwidth please? I have to admit my location is not the best for DSL speeds, we are a bit off the beaten track here…..1.8GB and counting.

Arghh….we have a storm blowing through right now and the lights just flickered. My UPS’s clicked in but the DSL connection to the exchange dropped momentarily…..:(

Note to self: Don’t try download it with Chrome – use the Download Manager in IE and enjoy the ability to resume from a network error…..

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Sorry about the power outage, maybe you didn’t lose it all. Technet used to have a decent downloader, that now seems to be gone (or maybe it is because I am using Chrome).

There are different types of Dreamspark accounts, I guess. Another one I have access to, only has Windows XP.

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I have started the download of 9200.16384.WIN8_RTM.120725-1247_X64FRE_ENTERPRISE_EVAL_EN-US-HRM_CENA_X64FREE_EN-US_DV5.ISO, I had over 10 hours to go, but as I started typing this, it changed first to 1 hour, and then changed to paused. I right clicked and selected resume, and now it says 54 minutes remaining.now 33 minutes, now 22 minutes, now 19 minutes, it may have stabilized at 18 minutes.

I had to go away for a little while, and when I came back it was downloaded

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That filename suggests it’s the 90 day trial version of the Enterprise product, which is a free, but time limited trial.

You may or may not be aware of the following restrictions on that particular version:

[INDENT]Things to Know Before You Start

[*]The evaluation edition will expire and cannot be upgraded.
[*]To upgrade, the evaluation must be uninstalled and a non-evaluation version of Windows must be re-installed from your original installation media.
[*]Consider running the evaluation edition in a virtual environment or installing on a separate hard drive or partition. The will allow you to upgrade your original Windows installation to Windows 8.
[*]During registration (required) you must login with a Microsoft account and provide your name, e-mail address and country.
[*]You are required to activate the product online within 10 days after installing.
[*]Once the evaluation is installed, you cannot upgrade. To revert to a previous version of Windows, you must do a clean install from your original installation media.

Activation and Usage Guidelines

[*]Back up your files and settings before installing this evaluation and again prior to the 90-day expiration.
[*]Upon installation, you will have 10 days to activate this evaluation online. Windows will prompt you to activate. A product key is not required for this software.
[*]You must complete activation before August 15, 2013, to use this evaluation.
[*]Once you activate, you have up to 90 days to use the software. You can track the amount of time you have left by referring to the “watermark” in the lower right corner of the Windows desktop.
[*]If you fail to activate this evaluation within the 10-day grace period, or if your evaluation period expires, the desktop background will turn black, you will see a persistent desktop notification indicating that the system is not genuine, and the PC will shut down every hour losing unsaved work.
[*]Following the evaluation period, you will need to replace the operating system on your test computer and reinstall all your programs and data. It is not possible to upgrade the evaluation to a licensed working version of Windows 8. A clean installation is required.

[/INDENT]

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My total download of the Ent. Evaluation copy took about half hour. That’s it. About 1 1/2 hour later I’m posting from Win 8 Pro Ent. RTM. I am in process of adding all the apps I wish to use. I should finish this and all customizations tonight (Most customizations are already done)

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Windows 8 Release Preview cannot be upgraded to Windows 8 Enterprise Evaluation. You can choose to install a new copy of Windows 8 Enterprise Evaluation instead, but this is different from an upgrade, and does not keep your files, settings, and programs. You’ll need to reinstall any programs using the original installation discs or files. To save your files before installing Windows, back them up to an external location such as a CD, DVD, or external hard drive. To install a new copy of Windows 8 Enterprise Evaluation, click the Back button in the upper left-hand corner, and select “Custom (advanced)”.

When you get to the screen that gives you the choice of Upgrade or Custom, it turns out the Upgrade isn’t really an option if you currently have The Release Preview installed.

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I think there’s possibly one of three reasons why that’s the case:

1. it may be that the MSDN Time-Limited Evaluation version installation is slightly different, or,
2. it may relate to the question we have debated here previously: to upgrade to the RTM from Win8RP (at a discounted cost), one must have a previously qualifying OS, or,
3. it is possible the RP cannot be upgraded to Enterprise, but could be upgraded to the Pro version.

Either way the MSDN time-limited eval is just that (time limited) and, assuming you installed it yesterday, on or around November 13th it will switch into non-genuine mode. You cannot upgrade from the MSDN time-limted eval to any other version, so it’s a blind alley too. A useful 90-day evaluation period however.

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When you install in either method a windows.old folder is created. This holds the old OS.

Upgrade paths: (I have read elsewhere the path from Win 8 RP to Win 8 Pro will be similar to the XP path.

Win XP SP3 – Win 8 – Users files only

Win Vista w/o SP1 – Win 8 – Personal Files (data) only

Win Vista w/ SP1 – Win 8 – System settings and Data

Win 7 Starter, Basic, HP – Win 8 – System settings, data, applications

Win 7 (All Versions) – Win 8 Pro – System settings, data, applications

Win 8 RP – Win 8 Pro – I believe just data, but I could find the info, sorry

I wish I could find the actual article to show what is included in the upgrade path from Win 8 RP to Win 8 Pro.

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Ted, I don’t know if this is what you are looking for but Ed Bott’s article
http://www.zdnet.com/surprise-what-y…p2-7000002679/
states that
“It’s worth noting that upgrading from the Windows 8 Release Preview migrates files and settings but does not preserve installed apps.”

Jerry

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That is most likely what I was looking for. I know the upgrade from Win 8 RP requires an underlying licensed Windows OS, and will not do a complete upgrade including apps.

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