Install Windows 8 Consumer Preview on a VHD

In a previous blog post, I explained how to install Windows 8 Developer Preview on a VHD and boot from it. A few things have changed for Windows 8 Consumer Preview, so here's an updated walkthrough. The installation takes about 30 minutes.

Step 0

Make sure you're running Windows 7 and have at least 40Gb of free disk space for your VHD.

Step 1

Download the Windows 8 Consumer Preview.

Download the Windows 7 USB/DVD tool to create a bootable USB drive.

Use the tool to write the ISO to your USB drive. You can find screenshots in Scott's post if you need them.

Step 2

Now you're ready to reboot. Make sure the USB drive you created in the previous step is plugged into your computer, and boot from it!

In the setup, click Install and use the following key to install your copy of Windows 8 Consumer Preview: DNJXJ-7XBW8-2378T-X22TX-BKG7J.

Proceed to the step where you choose a hard drive, then immediately stop and read the following carefully.

First, we need to create a VHD. Press shift+F10 to open the command prompt.

Enter the following commands. Feel free to choose another file location, but make sure there's enough space on your hard drive.

X:Sources> diskpart
DISKPART> create vdisk file="c:VHDWin8.vhd" type=expandable maximum=40000
DISKPART> select vdisk file="c:VHDWin8.vhd"
DISKPART> attach vdisk
DISKPART> create partition primary

TIP:

If you have multiple drives and aren't sure which drive letter to use for your VHD, type dir to list the files and folders on a drive. If you're already in DISKPART, type exit first. Once you've found the location for your VHD, type diskpart again and continue with the commands above.

X:Sources> dir c:

Now you're ready to continue the installation. Press alt+tab and click Refresh. Your VHD should appear in the dialog. Select it and continue. You may get a warning that your system doesn't support installing to the VHD. Ignore this warning, click Next, and finish the installation.

Note: Because we're creating an expandable VHD, it doesn't immediately take up 40 GB. Mine was only 7.68 GB after installation. The VHD can grow to a maximum of 40 GB.

Step 3

When your system reboots, you'll see a graphical boot loader screen with two options: Windows 8 consumer preview and Windows 7. Select Windows 8 consumer preview. Setup will finish a few installation steps and reboot one last time. When it comes back, select Windows 8 consumer preview again and continue with the following steps.

First, give your computer a nice name, for example: Windows8Developement. You can also choose a color theme. Of course, we're picking pink :p.

Next, configure your network. Pick your wireless network, enter your password, and continue.

You can then choose express settings, which I did, or custom settings.

Enter your email address, which should be a Windows Live ID. I used my Gmail address, which is also my Live account. If your email address is valid, you can enter the password for your Live ID in the next step. Finally, configure your password recovery options in the 'Security verification info' step. Click Next one last time, and Windows will prepare itself with the settings you specified.

Now you're ready to go. The first thing I noticed was that the Start button had completely disappeared. To learn your way around Windows 8, I recommend reading this guide. Let me know if anything is missing from this walkthrough and, as always, share it with your colleagues and friends if you find it useful.