WZOR: Microsoft has just signed-off Windows 8 RTM, Build 8888.16384

By FaiKee
in The Fast Ring (Insider Previews)

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Darrian

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Yes,I have read that Windows 8 is going to be released on 26th October 2012. But the other day I was talking to a shopkeeper in a computer store. After I bought yet another copy of Windows 7. And I asked him about Windows 8.

And he told me that from what he read Microsoft will only be selling upgrade CDs not full installation CDs like with Windows 7, and the other versions of Windows. Although he said it has not been confirmed.

I hope this is not true because from reading the Windows Forums. All of which advise you to do a clean install NOT an upgrade install. And so I want to do a clean install of Windows 8 on one of my laptops,when the time comes.

But if we can only buy Windows 8 as an upgrade CD,we won't be able to. And this will cause a lot of problems. As say for example,you could not boot into Windows and the computer could not find any OS? Or if something else went wrong with Windows? The only way out is a clean install of Windows to re-install it from scratch. And we won't be able to do that with an upgrade install CD. You would need a full install CD.

So what we would have to do In a situation like that, is to first do a clean install of Windows 7 our old OS. And then once Windows 7 is installed, use the Windows 8 upgrade CD to upgrade to Windows 8. But this is very time consuming and inconvenient for us and me.

Because what I and other Windows 8 users want to do is install Windows 8 in the first place. But if this plan does ahead,I and other users will be faced with the inconvenience of having to first install Windows 7 and get that OS up to date.Before we can go ahead and install Windows 8 by doing an upgrade. This is not practical at all.

And Microsoft say we can upgrade to the final version also from Windows 8 RP. But if our OS crashes after January 2013,Windows 8 RP will no longer be valid then. So we will have to first install Windows 7 or Windows Vista,and then upgrade back to Windows 8.

This is not right. As with every other version of Windows,you have the choice of doing an upgrade install or a clean,custom install. And you have a full installation CD. It should be the same with Windows 8.

But I suppose the good news is that they cannot take Windows 7 CDs off the shelves.Because people who do not have Windows 7,will need to buy a Windows 7 full install CD first. To install the full version of Windows 7.So that they can then install Windows 8 by doing the upgrade install. But still the whole idea is stupid. Andrea Borman.

Wait, you've changed your mind about using Windows 8? I thought you were going to be sticking with Windows 3.11 for eternity! :rofl:

There will be a "system builder" version of Windows 8, as well. The big news about the upgrade install is that it will only initially cost $40 USD, but it shouldn't be the only option available, just the cheapest.

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Andrea Borman

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From what I know: 1. With a win8 upgrade CD you can still do a clean install, but firstly you need to have a windows XP~win8 on the drive, it doesn't have to be legit, 2ndly you have to do it with a media, after booting from the media, on the choose drive screen there is an option "Drive Options", click on it and you can choose to format, after which you can make a clean install; running the ISO within a windows OS doesn't show this option. 2. From what's told by Thurrott/Mary Jo, MS will provide a "System Builder Series", which are actually OEM(COEM)DVD's that allows you to install on clean drive/VHD/virtual machine/ ; both method had been mentioned in Mr. LeBlanc's blog.

Well I don't have any Windows XP installation DVDs. I bought my Windows XP netbooks with Windows XP pre-installed. And if I need to re-install I use the restore to factory condition. And use the system recovery provided by the makers,Acer.

But I do have several full installation DVDs.So I could first do a clean install of Windows 7 on the laptop I want to install Windows 8 on. Then use the Windows 8 upgrade install CD to upgrade to Windows 8. But it is such a lot of messing about. As you are going out of your way just to install Windows 8.

Instead they should just let us buy a Windows 8 full installation DVD, like we can do if we want to install Windows 7. And some people won't have Windows 7,Windows Vista or any other version of Windows to upgrade from.If they have only Linux on their computer for example.

But this is not a problem if you want to install Windows 7.Or in the past Windows Vista or Windows XP. Because you just bought the full installation DVD. But according to what we read so far,we won't be able to do that if we want to install Windows 8.

The whole thing is wrong. And all of the experts on the Windows forums advise you to do a clean install.Not an upgrade install. Andrea Borman.

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AJerman

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Well I don't have any Windows XP installation DVDs. I bought my Windows XP netbooks with Windows XP pre-installed. And if I need to re-install I use the restore to factory condition. And use the system recovery provided by the makers,Acer.

But I do have several full installation DVDs.So I could first do a clean install of Windows 7 on the laptop I want to install Windows 8 on. Then use the Windows 8 upgrade install CD to upgrade to Windows 8. But it is such a lot of messing about. As you are going out of your way just to install Windows 8.

Instead they should just let us buy a Windows 8 full installation DVD, like we can do if we want to install Windows 7. And some people won't have Windows 7,Windows Vista or any other version of Windows to upgrade from.If they have only Linux on their computer for example.

But this is not a problem if you want to install Windows 7.Or in the past Windows Vista or Windows XP. Because you just bought the full installation DVD. But according to what we read so far,we won't be able to do that if we want to install Windows 8.

The whole thing is wrong. And all of the experts on the Windows forums advise you to do a clean install.Not an upgrade install. Andrea Borman.

Microsoft has already said that the upgrades will still have the ability to fully wipe the system prior to install.

For those who want a little something extra, users on the consumer edition of Windows 7 can upgrade to Pro and bring along all files, settings, and apps. Those upgrading from Vista can bring along settings and personal files, but those on XP can only bring files.

"Of course, if you want to start fresh, you can choose to bring nothing along," LeBlanc wrote. "Or if you prefer to format your hard drive as part of your upgrade experience, you can do so as long as you boot from media and then format your hard drive from within the setup experience for installing Windows 8, not prior to it."

Edit: Whoops, this was already mentioned above. I seriously doubt that MS is going to not sell a full retail version as well. That would probably be one of the stupidest things they could do to Windows 8, even more so than Metro already is. Regardless, for $40 vs who knows what for a full retail version, I can take 20 minutes to install Windows 7, then use my Windows 8 upgrade disc, format the drive, and have a clean install of Windows 8.

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Andrea Borman

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Microsoft has already said that the upgrades will still have the ability to fully wipe the system prior to install.

But I don't want to buy an upgrade install CD of Windows 8 like they have for Windows 7. That's Windows 7 anytime upgrade or upgrade CD. No,I want to buy a Windows 8 full installation CD,not upgrade.

So I can clean install,even if there is no OS on the laptop.Like you can if you want to install Windows 7. True,the Windows 7 full install CDs cost more money. But who cares? You get what you pay for.

Which is the option to do a full install of Windows 7,which is a custom install.And you can format the drive,or you can choose an upgrade install.

Which most experts don't do as they always go wrong. And you also get a product key with the full install,to activate Windows with.

And even now with all of the Beta versions of Windows 8,DP,CP and RP,you can at least do a clean install. Which I did do,when I installed Windows 8 DP,CP and now Windows 8 RP. That is the best way to install a new version of Windows.

And if you have to re-install Windows you MUST do a clean install. Andrea Borman.

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FaiKee

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But I don't want to buy an upgrade install CD of Windows 8 like they have for Windows 7. That's Windows 7 anytime upgrade or upgrade CD. No,I want to buy a Windows 8 full installation CD,not upgrade.

So I can clean install,even if there is no OS on the laptop.Like you can if you want to install Windows 7. True,the Windows 7 full install CDs cost more money. But who cares? You get what you pay for.

Which is the option to do a full install of Windows 7,which is a custom install.And you can format the drive,or you can choose an upgrade install.

Which most experts don't do as they always go wrong. And you also get a product key with the full install,to activate Windows with.

And even now with all of the Beta versions of Windows 8,DP,CP and RP,you can at least do a clean install. Which I did do,when I installed Windows 8 DP,CP and now Windows 8 RP. That is the best way to install a new version of Windows.

And if you have to re-install Windows you MUST do a clean install. Andrea Borman.

http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/bloggingwindows/archive/2012/07/02/upgrade-to-windows-8-pro-for-39-99.aspx

Oh, and by the way - if you?re not upgrading from a prior version of Windows and are building your own PC or installing Windows 8 in a virtual machine or a separate partition, you will be able to purchase and install the Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro System Builder product.

Rising Star

Andrea Borman

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But most Windows users know that sometimes,things go wrong with Windows,viruses,blue screen of death or the OS disappears from your hard drive. Leaving only a black screen with no data on there, and so no OS is detected. In which case you have to do a clean install of Windows from scratch.

So an upgrade CD is no good to us in that situation.

Two days ago I got rid of Linux that I had on one netbook. And put Windows 7 back on that netbook.

But first I had to boot to live CD in Linux Mint.Then format my whole C drive to an NTFS partition with G Parted. Because the Linux install changed my hard drive to a type not recognized by Windows. And Windows must be installed on an NTFS partition or drive.

So G Parted formatted my whole C drive to NTFS,but of course if wiped off my whole Linux Mint install. So there was no data at all on the hard drive afterwards. But I did a clean install with my Windows 7 full installation CD and it installed Windows 7.And I activated Windows with the product key. And now Windows 7 is back on that netbook.

But I could not have done that with an upgrade CD. Now do you see what I mean? Andrea Borman.

Grand Master

Knife Party

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But I don't want to buy an upgrade install CD of Windows 8 like they have for Windows 7. That's Windows 7 anytime upgrade or upgrade CD. No,I want to buy a Windows 8 full installation CD,not upgrade.

So I can clean install,even if there is no OS on the laptop.Like you can if you want to install Windows 7. True,the Windows 7 full install CDs cost more money. But who cares? You get what you pay for.

Which is the option to do a full install of Windows 7,which is a custom install.And you can format the drive,or you can choose an upgrade install.

Which most experts don't do as they always go wrong. And you also get a product key with the full install,to activate Windows with.

And even now with all of the Beta versions of Windows 8,DP,CP and RP,you can at least do a clean install. Which I did do,when I installed Windows 8 DP,CP and now Windows 8 RP. That is the best way to install a new version of Windows.

And if you have to re-install Windows you MUST do a clean install. Andrea Borman.

"Oh, and by the way - if you?re not upgrading from a prior version of Windows and are building your own PC or installing Windows 8 in a virtual machine or a separate partition, you will be able to purchase and install the Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro System Builder product."

Windows Customer Info Blog

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FaiKee

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A MS guy told me that "The Redmond idiots made a big joke, they found out that if RTM was 8888, then it would impose a huge problem for Windows Updates and OS Maintenence".

So 8888 is history, its 9200.

When I made this post on WinUnleaked in June, nobody gave it a damn, guess they all thought that I was out of my head.

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Andrea Borman

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"Oh, and by the way - if you?re not upgrading from a prior version of Windows and are building your own PC or installing Windows 8 in a virtual machine or a separate partition, you will be able to purchase and install the Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro System Builder product."

What do they mean by system builder product? Is that a Windows 8 full installation CD like the Windows 7 full installation CD?Andrea Borman.

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FiB3R

Posted
Posted

What do they mean by system builder product? Is that a Windows 8 full installation CD like the Windows 7 full installation CD?Andrea Borman.

The System Builder edition is what has traditionally been referred to as an OEM edition with past versions of Windows. However, OEM editions were only supposed to be sold to system manufacturers or to customers along with hardware, making a full retail release necessary.

With Windows 8, Microsoft plans to change that by making the System Builder edition available at retail, negating the need for an additional retail SKU.

So, yes.

Grand Master

Ambroos

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I still don't understand. Is a system builder product the same as buying a full installation CD of Windows 7? Except it will be Windows 8? Andrea Borman.

Let's answer your question once and forever. Usually the upgrade disks and regular retail disks are the same, it is the license code that is different. If you're upgrading from Windows 7 with an upgrade license, should you wipe your complete hard drive I suspect you will have to first install Windows 7 again, to then do a clean install of 8 over that. But on the installation method I could be wrong, I suspect you can just install Windows 8 right away, even with an upgrade license. Microsoft is usually very lenient with those.

Grand Master

George P Global Moderator

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Why and how does the build being 8888 mess with Windows Update? I can't see why a number like that would, Win98se was build 2222 and that seemed to work fine.

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Andrea Borman

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Ambroos wrote-

Let's answer your question once and forever. Usually the upgrade disks and regular retail disks are the same, it is the license code that is different. If you're upgrading from Windows 7 with an upgrade license, should you wipe your complete hard drive I suspect you will have to first install Windows 7 again, to then do a clean install of 8 over that.

That's what I thought. if you wanted to install Windows 8 on a computer that has no operating system on it. You would have to first install Windows 7 as a full clean install.From a Windows 7 full installation CD.Not from an upgrade CD.

And then once that is done you could then do an upgrade install of Windows 8 from Windows 7.With the Windows 8 upgrade CD. That would be your only option if Microsoft only sell Windows 8 as an upgrade CD.

Ambroos wrote-

But on the installation method I could be wrong, I suspect you can just install Windows 8 right away, even with an upgrade license. Microsoft is usually very lenient with those.

But if Microsoft sells Windows 8 as a full installation CD like with Windows 7.Then you would not have to install Windows 7 first.You could just install Windows 8 right away as a clean install. Just like we did with Windows 7 and Windows 8 RP. Andrea Borman.

Grand Master

Chris123NT

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Why and how does the build being 8888 mess with Windows Update? I can't see why a number like that would, Win98se was build 2222 and that seemed to work fine.

Starting with Vista they did some work with the way the servicing stack works and for whatever reason, the RTM build number needs to be divisible by 10 and 16 for the stack to work. 8888 is not so there would be a problem there, but 9200 is. I know it sounds stupid but that's the way it is. That is also the reason that the .1638x thing started with Vista and carried over to 7 and now 8. 16384 is the new .0, 385 = .1 etc....

Edit: here is an accurate (although very poorly written) explanation of the reasonings for build number selection:

http://www.windows7tech.com/win7-version-of-the-origin-of-why-not-7777-7600-16385/

also note in that link they talk about technical issues once they hit build 10,000, so I wonder what they have planned for Windows 9 lol.

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