Windows 8 installation for ThinkPads

This post will tell you about my Windows 8 setup experience onto a ThinkPad X201i.

I installed Windows 8 Pro (from MSDN)

I used a USB stick instead of a DVD drive. If you need help how to install Windows from an USB stick, follow these instructions. They are for Vista, but they work for Windows 7 and Windows 8 as well.

The installation was completed in under 15 minutes (sorry, did not measure exactly). Post installation, most of the drivers were installed and the computer worked. And now the longer version

While most drivers were installed, you might want to get some fresh drivers from Lenovo. These are still BETA drivers!. That means there might be some unforeseen issues.
Beta drivers for Windows 8 @ Lenovo.

Owners of newer machines (the current x30 series) will find many drivers there. For earlier models, not all drivers are present, and you might want to use drivers that are for Windows 7.

My installation installed almost all drivers, device manager only showed 3 unrecognized devices. I wanted to investigate further, but after I did some updates, there were no more unidentified devices. So currently I cannot tell you what action made them have their drivers installed.

Driver installation
I downloaded and installed the following Lenovo utilities and drivers in the following order.

• ThinkPad Power Management Driver, v1.66 beta, download (Windows 8 x86, x64)
• ThinkPad Power Manager, v6.32, download (Windows 7)
• Hotkey Features Integration, v3.80, download (Windows 7)
• Communications Utility, v2.09, download (Windows 7) - this one is needed to have Fn+F6 bring up properties for webcam, etc.

If you have the x30 series, instead of the Hotkey Features Integration package download the Base Utility Package for Windows 8, from Lenovo.

After this, my hotkeys are working, power manager is also working, and shows up on the taskbar, just like in Windows 7.

I also noticed that the Ultranav driver got installed automatically - I never got to installing it myself. Must be something Windows 8 did automatically (?), I am unsure, but now it is installed. Have to investigate further if I install Windows 8 onto another ThinkPad.

Share your own experience if you install Windows 8 onto your ThinkPad!

Some things not yet working
There are some things that are not yet fully functional, and will need to be figured out.

• Power usage is higher than in Windows 7. With light usage my 6 cell battery usually lasts about 6 hours. In Windows 8 this dropped at least a good one hour.
• Lenovo OSD does not display brightness, and brightness can be adjusted with 10 steps, instead of the usual 15. Probably because there is no Lenovo released graphics driver available. Note: a brightness OSD is displayed, but it is that of Windows 8, not the Lenovo one

 

A small observation.

After installing the Hotkey Features Integration package, some OSD controls (volume, brightness) are duplicated on the screen, as both Windows 8 and the Lenovo OSD displays them. I would guess when the Hotkey package arrives for Windows 8 this will be fixed.

 

Lenovo just updated Windows 8 Beta drivers - Windows 8 Beta Drivers

 

Yup, I just updated to the latest Win8 beta power management driver. Will update initial post soon.

 

Just installed Windows 8 Pro on my X230, and used the Lenovo Windows 8 beta drivers, which require bcdedit - .... to install. Got everything working, and from Power Manager, I can see the lowest possible wattage of my X230 is 5.40w. This is with display turned to lowest brightness, airplane mode and ethernet disconnected. Does anyone have a Windows 7 reading to compare?

 

Curious, have they updated the trackpad drivers on systems equipped with multitouch so they can take advantage of "indirect gestures" that activate different windows 8 ui components?

For example, swiping in from the right with (I assume 2 fingers) brings up the charms menu, and so on...

 

That's nice, thanks for sharing. Yes they have implemented a swipe from right edge of the touchpad to bring up the charms menu, and swipe from the left, to change between Metro apps and desktop. Maybe there are even more swipes, that I don't know of

 

Leave it to Lenovo to actually do it right and support legacy systems. Microsoft is only requiring this on machines preloaded with windows 8 but is recommending that OEM's update drivers for existing hardware.

Let's see if other makers follow suit. As of right now, between this, the X1 Carbon, and their "enhanced experience" efforts they've done for a while, I'm becoming less of a Latitude faithful guy.

 

I got down to 4,9W with my X220i. It's Sandy-Bridge, so the Power Consumption is actually slightly higher than Ivy.

 

So much for improved power consumption of Windows 8

I guess we just have to wait for Lenovo to sort out their drivers and power management for Windows 8.

 

I installed the Windows 8 Enterprise Final (the 90-days demo) on my L520. Works very fast, no undetected devices. I like the System very much. It is a pleasure to use.

 

Guys
I have a clean install of win 8 on my x230t as my only operating system and I would like to set my battery thresholds but when I download the power manager (Win 8 beta driver and windows 7 l tried both) it doesn't give me the option to set them. Any help would be much appreciated

 

That's because you did a clean install. If you woulda done an upgrade you'd have no problems. You're missing crucial patches and installations such as

• Registry Patch to enable maximum power savings for WiFi adaptor
• Lenovo Path Utility

and there's also more. You cannot get these on a clean installation.

DO NOT CLEAN INSTALL.
USE THE FACTORY IMAGE FOR BEST BATTERY LIFE.

 

Actually, that is not the reason to hold off on a clean install. The reason to hold off is to wait for Lenovo to ship RTM quality drivers. Windows 8 isn't even GA yet so you need to give the OEMs more time.

 

According to Lenovo after October 15.

My question:

Answer:

 

So I didn't see the warning to not do a clean install. I'm having all sorts of issues with Windows 8 on my Thinkpad T410s. System Update only installs like 4 drivers. I'm sure there are a host of others. My bluetooth is a mess, my power manager isn't there, etc. I even tried to restore Windows 7 from my recovery partition but the Thinkvantage button doesn't register on the computer at startup! Anyone have any update as to what the deal is?

Thanks

 

I don't see the danger in doing a clean Win8 install. I did just that on Friday, installed a few updates from the driver support page, installed System update 5, ran it, it found some drivers, and I installed the rest from the Win8 driver page (for my T520). Most everything works fine and I expect System Update to continue to update as new drivers are being released.

 

Has anyone installed the Power Management driver for Win 8 from the Lenovo website? I love Win 8, but my battery life has taken a hit by about 15%. Hence, I installed the Power Management driver. However, I honestly can't tell whether it is making a difference or not.

 

I have an older T400 and my impression is that Lenovo and AMD are not supporting W8 for the model. My T400 runs fine but I cannot get the switchable graphics option to appear when I right-click on the battery icon. AMD's site does not show any drivers for the older 3000 series (mine is HD3470). I wonder if they simply do not plan on updating the drivers for my graphics to comply with W8? I am not sure if I am even running a driver for the Intel graphics as I do not see any indicator (for the intel graphics) nor icon in the control panel. My power manager does seem to work fine. For that I simply downloaded the W7 64-bit and went to the files properties and checked the box for it to run in W7 compatibility mode. I have the battery icon and more importantly I can set thresholds for charging.

 

^^^ I don't think Microsoft was thinking of your T400 when designing Windows 8.

In any event, I resist jumping through hoops to get Windows 8 running on any of my computers just to satisfy my craving for novelty. I'm happily productive with Windows 7 -- with Aero and without colorful tiles.

 

Have you tried Leshcats drivers:

Homepage: leshcatlabs.net ← Keeping it simple
Blog for latest drivers: Blog ← leshcatlabs.net ← Keeping it simple

 

It won´t help him, because the T400 has neither the Intel GMA HD or Intel HD 2000-4000. It has in fact the older Intel GMA 4500MHD. Intel won´t support the Core 2 Duo Generation with drivers for Windows 8 anymore, so there is no way to get Windows 8 with the T400 AMD switchable-graphics working.

 

Welp, I'm back on Win7 and it feels like home.

My Win8 install just didn't feel right. Was missing Lenovo drivers and didn't particularly care for the workflow. Maybe one day, but for now, Win7 is best for me. I may re-visit the idea after Lenovo get's it's driver situation squared away (onscreen controls, proper video drivers that don't fight with Windows update, and fingerprint reader software). It just didn't feel right to me.

 

How did you go back to Windows 7?

I have a recovery partition with Windows 7 but can't find a way to get it to take over and install. My Thinkvantage button doesn't even register at startup so I can't go into that menu. Any other ways?

Thanks

 

Put in a stock Windows 7 disk, reformatted the drive, inserted the Lenovo recovery discs and installed fresh.

Lost everything, but was no big deal since I did the same clean install method with Win8 two days prior. Just be sure to deactivate Photoshop and stuff before wiping.

I don't think the recovery partition will install over Win8. Hope you made restore DVDs on day one...If you don't have the discs, call up Lenovo, complain about Win8 drivers and tell them your recovery partition isn't working. They will most likely overnight you recovery discs for free.

 

Ask Steve Ballmer.

Better yet, ask yourself before you begin to muck around with Windows 8.

1. Try pressing F11 at boot.

2. Try this.

3. Boot from the Factory Recovery discs (1 boot disc + 3 data discs) that you have created right after you took ownership of the new ThinkPad.

4. Best of all: restore from your most recent backup image (by using Acronis, for example). This should bring your Windows 7 notebook back to the last working state, including your applications and settings.

5. Most desperate of all: Clean Windows 7 installation, using the COA key pasted in the battery bay.