Duffer's guide for windows 8 installation

Oops, I used "Duffer" instead of "Dummy" because I am one of them.

I installed the OS nearly 8 times to get what I wanted from Windows 8. I brought a new Dell Ultrabook and the first thing I did was install the consumer preview, the second thing was installing VS2012. And I met my first issue—it is not allowed, so I needed to use the trial version. So another format and a new OS installation.

Here, I made another mistake by installing it on the SSD. I thought I would put the OS there and all other things on another drive. At that point in time, I really did not know why on earth that 32 GB SSD was there. It is fast, but what do I do with that? And it was not showing at the time when the default Windows 7 was there. OK, it goes as planned and my system got better and better, but my drive got screwed big time. Always I need to watch whether it is full or not.

Then I got an email that the Pro version is available. Wow, I just loved that news. So, first thing first—learn about SSDs. I got a wonderful article written by Sean. OK, now I know that an SSD is for caching only. Here, an issue again—I need to order first as a direct download of the ISO is not available. Damn, I seriously do not like this.

To do that, I need to reinstall Windows 7, and then I started the process using the upgrade wizard. I ordered my brand new Windows 8 Pro and started downloading. Then a wizard came that gave me the option to create an ISO for that. I selected that. And then I created my boot USB.

OK, things seem good up till now. But when I changed my mode from SATA AHCI to RAID, the drive was not showing up. I installed in AHCI and tried to change again, but it gave me an error that the drive where Windows is installed is locked. I felt like I was at a dead end. Then I did some Googling, but sadly could not find any perfect solution. That kept me thinking about how to give them the driver even before installing Windows.

Now, the time came where one should trust books and basics instead of Google God. Drivers are system files which allow you to load hardware—they are not exe or out files; they are below that and contain definitions of the hardware. So I went to the Dell site and downloaded drivers. I extracted them on my other machine and put them on a USB from where I was installing the OS. At the time of installation, I clicked load drivers, unchecked the "signed drivers only" checkbox, and I got the list of available drivers. I selected the RAID one and magic works. The drive list appears to complete the installation. After that, things were kids' stuff—next, next, and Windows 8 is up and running. [NOTE: You need a key to do the installation. I did not find a trial option there.]

Now, time to use the SSD. Just install all the applications from Dell [in case of other vendors, use your respective site or the Intel site], and you will get the Rapid Storage software running. Just enable caching there for your hard disk using the SSD. It is done. A cool OS is ready to use.

Download apps, Visual Studio, and it is running. It is done. Enjoy the change.