[How To] Install Windows 8 Release Preview On VirtualBox
As you know, Microsoft announced Windows 8 Release Preview last week, and has made it available for free download. You can download and try out Windows 8 Release Preview, however, before you go ahead and download, check if your system is compatible or not. (Download Windows 8 Release Preview)
Minimum System Requirements to Install Windows 8 Release Preview
- Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster
- RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit)
- Hard disk space: 16 GB (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
- Graphics card: Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM driver
Prerequisites:
Installing Windows 8 Release Preview on VirtualBox
Step 1: Launch VirtualBox program after the installation. If this is your first time, you will see a welcome screen with an empty list of virtual machines on the left side.
Step 2: Click on the “New” icon on the toolbar. This will guide you through the process of creating a new virtual machine to install Windows 8 Release Preview on the Oracle VM VirtualBox. Click “Next” on the new virtual machine welcome screen.
Step 3: Give a name for the new virtual machine you are creating. You may choose names like “Windows 8 Test”. (If you are installing 64-bit Windows 8 OS, remember to choose the 64-bit version in the OS version list).
Step 4: In the next screen, choose the RAM for your new virtual machine. Windows 8 Release Preview requires 1GB RAM for 32-bit OS and 2GB RAM for 64-bit OS. I recommend you to choose higher amount of RAM than the minimum requirements for better performance.
Step 5: Next, choose the hard disk. Select “Create New Disk” option in the screen and click “Next” to proceed.
Step 6: The Oracle VM VirtualBox wizard will now guide you through the process of creating a new virtual disk. In the first step, choose the disk type. You may choose the default options and proceed to next step.
Step 7: Next, you will be asked to choose a fixed size disk or dynamically growing disk. It is recommended that you choose a dynamically growing disk since you are not aware of how much space you will be using in future.
Step 8: Now, you need to assign some virtual disk space to your new virtual machine. Though Windows 8 Release Preview requires only 20 GB space, I recommend you choose allot extra space so that you can easily install some apps without having to expand your virtual hard drive.
Step 9: The last screen is a summary screen where the Oracle VM VirtualBox will show a summary of the configuration you selected to install Windows 8 Release Preview in the VirtualBox. Click “Create” to create the virtual machine for Windows 8 Release Preview.
Step 10: You are now taken back to the main screen of VirtualBox. In the above steps, you have only created a blank virtual machine, in which you now need to install Windows 8 Release Preview from the ISO image file that you have downloaded.
To install Windows 8 Release Preview, right-click on the created virtual machine and click “Settings”. In the “Storage” tab assign the Windows 8 ISO file to the CD/DVD drive in “Attributes”. Click “OK”, and now double-click on the Windows 8 virtual machine. The installation screen will open up.
Enter the product key – TK8TP-9JN6P-7X7WW-RFFTV-B7QPF to continue install Windows 8.
Existing Windows 7 users can upgrade to Windows 8 for just Rs. 699/- For more details on this, click here.
