Painful Experience: Windows 8 CP Dual-Boot

Today is the 3rd day I'm trying to install Windows 8 Consumer Preview as a dual-boot with my Windows 7. The dual-boot seems success but Windows 8 still cannot start properly today. Last night it was running properly and it was shut down properly. But today, it does not start properly again. After selecting Windows 8 on the boot menu, what does appear was just blue screen and a cursor. I think I've tried to install more than 10 times.

Before I continue to the list of issues I encountered during the installation, below are the specifications:

• Machine: DELL Latitude E6420
• Processor: Intel Core i7
• RAM: 4GB
• Current OS: Windows 7 Professional 32-bit
• Intent to Install: Windows 8 Consumer Preview 64-bit

List of useful tools involved:
Windows Storage Management: Run > diskmgmt.msc
EASEUS Partition Master: Download here

Below are the list of issues:

1. Installer cannot update boot record.

The installer (boot from the DVD) is running ok until the last stage. The error was cannot update the boot record to add the entry for Windows 8. I'm not sure how did I solve this. But upon converting to basic disk, the installer completed properly and Windows 8 can start properly. However, there is another problem in issue number 4 below.

2. Cannot install into additional partition in dynamic disk.

The installer cannot install on addition partition in dynamics disk. The solution was to convert the dynamic disk to basic disk. I used EASEUS Partition Master to losslessly convert the dynamic disk to basic disk.

3. Unable to create additional primary partition in basic disk.

I was trying to create additional partition in basic disk. However, I already have 3 primary partitions and Windows is not allowing me to add another primary partition. Thus, I've tried to convert to logical partition using EASEUS Partition Master.

4. Blue screen and not responding during start-up.

At first, I thought that the not responding during start-up is due to the changes I made on the partitions (either resize, rename) or because I ran the Windows auto-update.Last night, I did a clean dual-boot install and I made sure that Windows 8 started properly. Before I go to sleep, I shut down Windows 8. However, when I woke up this morning the same Windows 8 could not be started. I'm not sure what is the problem. Maybe it does not really happy with the dual-boot setting.

Although it was a painful reality, but in the bright side, Windows 8 new features really make many people waiting for it. I hope Microsoft does looking into these kind of issues right now. My next step would be installing Windows 8 Consumer Preview into a Virtual Machine.

Thanks for reading!

:: aerobrainTech ::