Windows 8 first impressions - Day 1
Upgrade from Window 7 64 bit: Downloaded the upgrade package and after an hour of uninstalling little things like the drivers for my 3rd monitor, received “Sorry, were unable to figure out if your high end 6 month old laptop is compatible” messages too many time times to count.
Screw it, I have a backup of my laptop.
Fresh installation. Booted from DVD, smooth as can be.
What? I have to login to my Hotmail/Xbox/Windows Live account? OK... what about the enterprise?
Joined the domain manually since the SBS wizard failed.
The jury is out on Metro…
Installed Office and started installing various apps: just the essentials, Putty, Pandora, our LoB, etc. After a few customizations, I then began installing drivers. The first was the Windows 8 version of the display software for my USB video card for my 3rd monitor. Reboot required.
Then the fun started…
After the reboot, all screens are black.
OK, boot to “Last known good”. Wait, how do you get to the boot options?
Two hours, many Google searches, and numerous instances of battery removal (as per research) later, I finally managed to bring up the boot menu: no last known good.
Basic video mode: same issue, black screen.
Safe mode: login successful!
Attempted to uninstall USB video drivers: failed, Windows installer not available in safe mode. Seriously?! That has been one of the most annoying issues with Windows NT through Windows 7.
Start the Windows Installer service manually? Not allowed in safe mode.
OK…
Fine, System Restore. Oh, the only restore point was prior to installing anything?
…
Two hours later, I went home and my laptop was still doing the system restore.
We’ll see how it goes tomorrow.