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Windows 8.1 - how to install it now


Steve

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Windows 8.1 leaked on the web a few days ago. The first 8.1 RTM leak was in Chinese, then a version leaked that has US English as well. Now, official language packs have leaked for 36 other languages including British English. Here's how to install it.

 

Before you install it.

 

The leak is the official RTM (i.e. final version given out to PC makers) of 8.1, but it's released on October 18th as a free download for everyone who already has Windows 8, so you could just wait until then. If you do want to install it, here's the steps I recommend you take: -

 

1. Make a system image of your Windows 8 drive/partition. While you don't have to do this, installing any major update to an OS carries a small risk of something going wrong.

 

2. Make sure you have your legit Windows 8 license key. If you don't have it, you can retrieve it using the free version of Belarc Advisor.

 

3. You will need the RTM license key and ISO. These are easily found with a web search. Make sure you check the SHA-1 hash of the ISO to be sure it's legit and hasn't been tampered with.

 

4. If you want Windows 8.1 to use a language other than Chinese or US English, download the ISO that contains 36 language packs. Again, it's easily found with a Google search.

 

How to install it.

 

You can choose to either do a fresh install and keep nothing, or you can keep all of your settings, files and software. I chose the latter option and it worked fine.

 

1. If you are using a language pack, extract the folder containing your chosen language from the language pack ISO to the desktop, for example, if you want British English, extract the folder called "en-gb".

 

2. Burn the 8.1 RTM ISO to a DVD. I recommend that you verify the burned disc to make sure the burn is good before continuing. Run setup and choose whether you want to do a fresh install or keep your files/settings/software. When asked for the license key, use the one that came with the RTM download, not your own legit Windows 8 key. The install process will begin.

 

3. When the install is complete, if you want to install a language pack, now is the time to do it. Go to the Metro screen and type "lpksetup" without quotes, run that app, then follow the simple instructions.

 

4. Next you need to activate Windows. To do this, open up File Explorer, right-click on My PC and choose Properties. You'll see that Windows is not activated. Click the option to activate it and enter in your key. If it doesn't work, or if it says that your key is already being used on another computer, you will have to use the phone activation. This is an automated process, so you don't actually have to speak to anyone at MS. Go to the Metro screen and type "slui.exe 4" without quotes and hit Enter. Select your country from the drop-down list, then follow the instructions to activate Windows by phone.

 

5. Assuming everything goes to plan, you'll now have Windows 8.1 installed and activated. The final thing to do is to delete the Windows.old folder that's on your C drive (or wherever you installed Windows), which contains your old Windows 8 install. To do this, run Disk Cleanup, select the appropriate drive, then hit the "Clean up system files" button. The option to delete old Windows installs is there.

 

Job done!

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There's loads of changes and new features. I'd say the most obvious things you'll notice are: -

 

The Start button is back, but it doesn't open a Start menu. Clicking it either takes you to the Metro screen or the All Apps screen (you can choose). There's a down arrow icon on the Metro screen that takes you to All Apps when you click it, then that icon turns into an up arrow to take you back to the Metro screen. If you're using a touch screen you can just swipe up and down. You can sort the All Apps screen in different ways.

 

There's new tile sizes and colours on the Metro screen, so you can have a tile that's twice as big as the biggest one in Windows 8, or a quarter of the size of the smallest one.

 

SkyDrive is now baked into the system.

 

There's an option to shut down, restart etc. when you right-click the Start button.

 

Libraries are hidden by default, although you can re-enable them if you want to and your existing libraries will still be there.

 

There's new customisation options, so you can, for example, use your desktop wallpaper on the Metro screen as well.

 

Search is improved and also includes web searches.

 

Lots of the apps have been updated. The Windows Store looks loads better.

 

You can boot to desktop if you want to and you can disable the hot corners.

 

If you're using a mouse, the icons on the Charm Bar will be offset depending on which hot corner you use to open it, for instance, if you open it by moving your mouse pointer to the upper-right, the icons will be close to the top of the bar so you don't have to move the mouse pointer very far to click them.

 

There's tons more stuff. It's a really nice update IMO.

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Guest rasteri

For me the standout annoyances are the file explorer (cluttered interface, no preview/details pane simultaneously), lack of classic interface, lack of wireless network configuration options, lack of recent documents/unified search in the start menu, and most importantly no minesweeper/solitaire by default.

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I don't think the File Explorer interface is cluttered: -

 

Clipboard02.jpg

 

Or do you mean the ribbon?

 

As for searching from the Metro screen, in 8.1 it's better than ever IMO. Searching for "Public Enemy", for example, gives me all of the files on my computer that contain that term (even inside PDFs and stuff), as well as web results, YouTube videos etc.: -

 

Clipboard01.jpg

 

If you have linked social media accounts such as Facebook and Twitter, it will also include your friends in search results. The only thing not included, as far as I can tell, is email, but that's coming at a later date.

 

If you install Start 8, you can have recent documents back in the Start menu, but there is a Recent Documents folder in Windows 8 that you can pin to the taskbar or Metro screen.

 

I dunno, I guess I don't really know what people are doing with their computers, but I don't really understand most of the gripes.

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Guest rasteri

You're right the file explorer looks fine in your screenshot, is that new with 8.1 or was there a way to make it look like that in 8.0? I hate the ribbon style interface.

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That's the 8.1 File Explorer. If you click the little chevron next to the question mark in the blue circle, top-right, you can hide the ribbon so it looks like my screenshot. You can do that in 8 as well. The only differences between File Explorer in 8 and 8.1, the way I have it set up, are that "Computer" is now "This PC", SkyDrive is baked into the OS and appears by default on the left, and Libraries appear below "This PC", rather than above "Computer".

 

The only thing I dislike about File Explorer in 8.1 is that it adds Folders above your list of drives. The 6 folders are Desktop, plus 5 other folders from the My Documents folder (music, videos etc.). There is no way to customise those folders, nor is there a regular way to remove them, but they can be removed (and restored) with a registry tweak. Here's the files to both remove and restore them: -

 

Folders.zip

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