Windows 8 Release Preview Now Available for Download

[Larry-G]

Microsoft till now released Developer Preview and Consumer Preview for Windows 8 which are alpha and beta, with accidentally published blog post from in their hardware blog it is confirmed that download links for Windows 8 Release Preview aka Windows 8 RC to go live today, we’re not sure about that till now, surprise! surprise! Windows 8 RP is now available for download, you can download from the links below.

What’s new in Windows 8 Release Preview (in brief)

Aero has been ditched to save battery and memory consumption.
Windows 8 boots so quickly that you can not even interrupt the booting with F2 or F8 that’s why Microsoft provided “Startup Options” dialog which appears when you restart your Computer, these options can be used for troubleshooting purposes like entering safe mode and disabling driver signing etc..
Few new metro apps have been added in this release.
Windows 8 RP sports new cursors, boot screen and wallpapers.
Metro IE 10 now supports Flash.
Multi-Monitor support has been added.
New Family Safety features have been added as parents gets weekly “activity reports” of their kids.
Though Media Player doesn’t playback DVDs, but Windows Media Center not included in Windows 8 supports playback of DVDs.
Windows 8 RP to be available in five SKUs: Windows 8 for home users, Windows RT, Windows 8 Pro, Windows 8 Enterprise and, Windows 8 for Chinese.
Microsoft blocking all hacks to restore Classic Start Menu in Release Preview, so software giant wants you to live with Metro start menu and they’re not going to allow you to boot directly to desktop also.
Windows 8 Release Preview (32 & 64 bit) ISO Direct Download links

Download Windows 8 RP Web installer from here.

Download Windows 8 Release Preview ISOs

32 bit

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=251533

64 bit

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=251532

You can download the above ISO image and convert it to a DVD using built-in Disk Image burner in Windows 7. You can also download and use USB/DVD Download tool provided by Microsoft store to boot from USB drive, then Windows 8 RP will be installed much more quicker than when you installed from DVD.

[Larry-G]

Yesterday Microsoft has released Windows 8 Release Preview if you’ve not downloaded ISO image(s) till now you can download now from here. If you try to install it on your Computer with “Web Installer” provided by Microsoft then setup automatically provides the key, we don’t think all users have enough bandwidth and internet connection speed to install Windows 8 RP online, online setup is a long process, if something fails in the middle due to power failure we need to restart it from the beginning, avoid this and its better to download ISO image and burn it to DVD and boot it as first device and run the setup.

During the Windows 8 RP setup, you’ll asked to enter the product key, if you don’t type it the installation won’t continue and further more this product key is necessary in future as setup asks you again when you reinstall Release Preview, so it’s better for to you note down the key on paper or on installation media such as DVD.

But where is the key? has Microsoft provided it? yes Microsoft published Win8 Release Preview’s Product key on RP FAQ’s page as well as on ISO images download page.

Here is the Product key of Windows 8 Release Preview

TK8TP-9JN6P-7X7WW-RFFTV-B7QPF

[Sicilian]

Anyone tried this? How is it compared to Windows 7?

[gramps]

some further keys that may be of interwst

The Product Key For Build 8400 Is:
TK8TP-9JN6P-7X7WW-RFFTV-B7QPF

The Product Key For Build 8400 Server Is:
D87P2-FNXP8-9CWH2-HGVG8-78KXV

The Media Center Key For Build 8400 Is:
MBFBV-W3DP2-2MVKN-PJCQD-KKTF7

The Product Keys For Build (WCP) 8250 Are:
DNJXJ-7XBW8-2378T-X22TX-BKG7J
RGMGV-NVC78-HVV8M-2H2Y8-PJ73W
TVK6N-GBBK4-M4KB4-PTQYG-HFMQW

[Sicilian]

Anyone tried w8? If so whats your view on it?

[gramps]

How To Install Media Center In Release Preview

NOTE: There is no way to reverse this once done!

1. Open the Control Panel
2. Go to System and Security
3. Click Add Windows Features
4. In the popup enter the following key: MBFBV-W3DP2-2MVKN-PJCQD-KKTF7
5. Click Continue, When finished click Done and Windows will restart.
6. Done! Go and open Media Center and enjoy.

[Larry-G]

not tried it yet my self but i will do as and when i get the time, and i'll upgrading when the full retail version hits the shelves.

[nanor2012]

i tried windows 8 and to be totally honest i dont like it.

[pspmixer]

if any one has tried this please post screen shots and how it compares to win 7 thanks

[sivhead]

Its not that difference from windows 7 visually, (if you exclude the metro interface). It does however support Hyper V out of the box, something that could only be previously done on windows 2008 server so for me this is a big point of installing it.