Windows 8 Professional for $67

[John Doe]

Obviously, demand has nothing to do with the price of Windows...

Does the Windows 8 upgrade version include both bit versions, 32
and 64?

Is there any way for Microsoft to depart from Windows 8 without
more-so departing from Windows 7?

I have read that Microsoft discourages using Windows in Windows 8.
That sounds funny. Is that for real? The interface requires "a few
more clicks" and windowing Windows is discouraged. Beam me up,
Scotty...

 

[John Doe]

Are there any downsides to the downloadable $40 version of Windows
8?

Question: Can I upgrade from a 32-bit version of Windows to a
64-bit version of Windows 8?

Answer: Yes, but you can't do this using Upgrade Assistant. If
your PC has a 64-bit capable processor (CPU) but is currently
running a 32-bit version of Windows, you can install a 64-bit
version of Windows 8, but you'll need to buy Windows 8 as a DVD.

Is that just talking about some low skilled user who is upgrading
over their current version? In other words... Does that mean that
the downloadable version cannot be used at all as a 64 bit
version?

Does the downloadable version include both 32 and 64-bit Windows
8?

Thanks.

 

[Paul]

Are there any downsides to the downloadable $40 version of Windows
8?

Question: Can I upgrade from a 32-bit version of Windows to a
64-bit version of Windows 8?

Answer: Yes, but you can't do this using Upgrade Assistant. If
your PC has a 64-bit capable processor (CPU) but is currently
running a 32-bit version of Windows, you can install a 64-bit
version of Windows 8, but you'll need to buy Windows 8 as a DVD.

Is that just talking about some low skilled user who is upgrading
over their current version? In other words... Does that mean that
the downloadable version cannot be used at all as a 64 bit
version?

Does the downloadable version include both 32 and 64-bit Windows
8?

Thanks.

Apparently the Upgrade Advisor (electronic upgrade) path,
doesn't support 32 bit to 64 bit changes.

http://www.winsupersite.com/article/windows8/windows-8-upgrade-32bit-64bit-144649

http://www.winsupersite.com/article/windows8/clean-install-windows-8-upgrade-media-144648

What you'd need to do, is run the Upgrade Advisor from a
system that is 64 bit, save as ISO, make a DVD, then cart
that back to your machine and do a clean install. The
history is, you can't go from 32 bit to 64 bit via
upgrade, keeping all your programs. You have to do a
clean install, to get to 64 bit.

You could try the test version of Windows 7, long enough
to run a browser from there and place your order. The test
version gets cranky right away, but maybe you can manage to
complete the download. I doubt running the test version
of Windows 8 would work (because then, it's not the
same kind of upgrade any more).

There's a bit more info on options here.

http://www.windows7hacker.com/index.php/2012/06/microsoft-reveals-windows-8-upgrade-path-chart/#!

And the newsgroup alt.comp.os.windows-8 is available
as well (just not on Google Groups )

Paul

 

[John Doe]

John Doe wrote:

Apparently the Upgrade Advisor (electronic upgrade) path,
doesn't support 32 bit to 64 bit changes.

http://www.winsupersite.com/article/windows8/windows-8-upgrade-32
bit-64bit-144649

Yeah, that appears to be the answer in black and white, right or
wrong. I would have included mention of whether you could get
different media on a subsequent download, whether the CD Key is
specific to the bit version of Windows used with Upgrade Advisor.
There is a possibility that you can do the upgrade advisor more
than once, to get the media again. Or that you can get the media
someplace else, if it will work with the CD key.

http://www.winsupersite.com/article/windows8/clean-install-window
s-8-upgrade-media-144648

What you'd need to do, is run the Upgrade Advisor from a system
that is 64 bit, save as ISO, make a DVD, then cart that back to
your machine and do a clean install. The history is, you can't
go from 32 bit to 64 bit via upgrade, keeping all your programs.
You have to do a clean install, to get to 64 bit.

You could try the test version of Windows 7, long enough to run
a browser from there and place your order. The test version gets
cranky right away, but maybe you can manage to complete the
download. I doubt running the test version of Windows 8 would
work (because then, it's not the same kind of upgrade any more).

I used the Upgrade Advisor with my 32-bit Windows XP, for the $40
version. I would think that the question is whether or not the CD
key will work with a different Windows 8 download. And I guess
that depends on whether Microsoft keeps a record of your system,
or whether the CD keys are specific to either 32-bit or 64-bit
versions. I'm sure the CD key is the question, and I don't doubt
that it is specific to 32-bit. Obviously Microsoft won't be
handing out multiple CD keys without multiple payments. My guess
is that I'm stuck, but we'll see.

--

 

[John Doe]

And in my usual method of learning by experience... I probably
should've disabled my RAM drive before using the Upgrade Advisor.
Now I get to experience re-downloading the media.

 

[John Doe]

Having some trouble figuring out how to make a Windows 8 installation
CD. I saw nothing before the download. Don't see anything after the
download either.

 

[John Doe]

According to what I have put together...

Apparently Microsoft didn't have the forethought to consider the fact
that Windows XP does not burn ISO images. So there is no option for
burning the downloaded software to a CD/DVD from within Windows XP.

One has to do something like this...

 

[Paul]

According to what I have put together...

Apparently Microsoft didn't have the forethought to consider the fact
that Windows XP does not burn ISO images. So there is no option for
burning the downloaded software to a CD/DVD from within Windows XP.

One has to do something like this...

There was some IMAPI V2 package (Image Mastering API) for WinXP.

Do you have that installed ?

I have no idea what this does, because if I have an ISO9660 in
hand, I can usually burn it with Imgburn.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17073

Paul

 

[John Doe]

John Doe wrote:

There was some IMAPI V2 package (Image Mastering API) for WinXP.

Do you have that installed ?

I have no idea what this does, because if I have an ISO9660 in
hand, I can usually burn it with Imgburn.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17073

If I had an ISO file, I could use a third-party CD burner.

Apparently, the problem is that Windows XP does not have a
built-in CD burner, therefore (thanks to lack of foresight on
Microsoft's part) the "Install Windows" program does not present
the option to "Install by creating media".

You pay your money. You download over 2 GB worth of files. Then
you run a program on the desktop called Install Windows". And it
doesn't provide the option for burning the image to CD.

Maybe if I install an ISO burner and associate ISO files with it,
that might work. Nope, that didn't work.

It's easy to find on the Internet, searching for "Windows XP"
"Windows 8" "Install by creating media". Those three phrases in
quotes.

Anybody using Windows XP, purchasing the digital download copy of
Windows 8, wanting to burn the files to a CD to do a clean
install, is going to have the same problem.

I could try workaround like the one mentioned above, but I'm not
sure how to re-download the files without paying again.

There are a zillion copies of Windows 8 that can be freely
downloaded from the Internet. Would be nice if Microsoft would
provide one that would work with legitimate CD keys. I might try
that. Download the most recent pirated copy, and use my legitimate
CD key.

--

 

[John Doe]

How do you spell Microsoft... P I T A

Windows XP users have to get into Windows Vista or Windows 7 in
order to download Windows 8 and then generate an ISO file from the
download.

And Microsoft tech support acts like they have no idea how to
solve the problem. But of course, providing a download link to an
ISO file is the easy solution. Another easy solution would be to
make their setup program function properly in Windows XP. I
suppose there could be a reason, but they should be able to
produce the ISO file from within Windows XP.

 

[John Doe]

Paul <nospam needed.com> wrote:

Yeah, that appears to be the answer in black and white, right or
wrong. I would have included mention of whether you could get
different media on a subsequent download, whether the CD Key is
specific to the bit version of Windows used with Upgrade
Advisor.

I have to test that theory. So I'm going to use a 64-bit version
of Windows 7 to download again. To see if I get a 64-bit version
of Windows 8.






--
In case it wasn't clear in my prior post, Windows XP users must
complete the Windows 8 download installation over Windows XP
before making a bootable Windows 8 DVD to do a clean insulation.
Either that, or re-download the software from a separate Windows
Vista or Windows 7 computer, or do the OS gymnastics on your
current machine.

 

[John Doe]

Nope. All you have to do is re-download using a 64-bit version of
Windows 7 or Vista. But make sure it's English, or you'll get a
foreign-language version.