VPCZ Windows 8 Developer Preview Question

Hi Guys:
So currently, I own the second generation VPCZ1, running W7 Professional. I have a 250GB Hard Drive, which I have not modified since the day I purchased the laptop (1 single 250GB C:\\ Partition)

I would like to keep my current Windows 7 OS on my C drive, but make another partition, which I will install Windows 8 on. The Problem is, due to the Vaio Z being RAID, I cannot simply use standard partition methods I am assuming.

Will I have to use "RAID Controller Setup - Option 1 - Create/rebuild one or more RAID 0 (Stripe) Volume(s)" as outlined in this post: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/467519-how-configure-raid-jbod-new-vpcz1-series-ssd.html
and if I do, does it mean by C drive Windows 7 Partition will be wiped out?

Sorry..not so familiar with partitioning yet..but all in all i just want to make another drive that I can install W8 in.
-Thanks

 

Just run it as a Virtual Machine using VirtualBox (Windows 8 doesn't like VM Player for some reason).

It's just a Developer Preview (not even a Beta build) so I wouldn't wast time partitioning space, just wait for the public beta.

 

It's really good if you have a true tablet (or a convert.), but otherwise... it's a Metro UI dev preview .

 

Actually that is not true.

I am running the windows 8 preview as my main OS on my VPC-Z right now and it (apart from a random ticks) runs just as well and in some cases faster than windows 7.

All your apps and drivers from windows7 runs fine too.

 

I have a TX2 that says it runs a LOT better on a tablet

Just IMO.

 

If you have Windows 7 Pro or better, you should be able to use Virtual PC and run Windows 8 on that. Sadly, only 32 bit guest OS is supported.

 

What you can do is just install Windows 8 on a .vhd file. I've done it on my Z1, and it works perfectly!

Just follow the steps here, they still work for Windows 8!
Windows 7 ? VHD Boot ? Setup Guideline - knom's developer corner - Site Home - MSDN Blogs

It just installs it to a .vhd on your normal system drive. Done testing Windows 8? Delete the .vhd and you're done

 

Nice. Does this support 64 bit guest OS?

 

It only supports 64bit as far as I know

 

Great. The 3% performance hit might turn out to be a bit more than that with an HDD instead of an SSD, but I'll give it a shot anyway.

 

VirtualBox supports 64-bit guests.

 

Win8 runs ok in VirtualBox, it gets a little lagged up sometimes

 

Well I can only recommend people to run it on a VHD and not in Virtualbox or VMWare. A VHD is completely native, so you have full 3D support and everything.

One thing: I couldn't get switchable graphics to work properly. I didn't install all Sony tools yet, but by default the Intel card works perfectly. After installing the drivers from Sony (the newer ones from the forums here didn't work at all) only the nVidia card wanted to work...

In any case, I ditched it. Windows 8 is horrible to use with a mouse and keyboard, and extremely annoying when using the touchpad, on the border of unusable. If Microsoft doesn't seriously change the way Windows 8 works I'm sticking with Windows 7.

 

It's a developer preview aimed at exploiting the Metro UI (more specifically, the Metro UI is slick to use on tablets )... it's not even a beta. Not only is it nowhere near release, it's not meant for general users. There isn't even a system (that I could find) to report bugs, like the Win7 Beta+RC had.

 

jeremyshaw is absolutely right. This preview is for developers, so they can get familiar with the underlying structure and how to write code for it. Don't worry too much about drivers just yet - this preview is what will help the guys who develop the drivers. I expect that when Windows 8 is finally released, it will have very good driver support, just like Windows 7.

I'm optimistic about our Z1 hybrids too. No way will M$ allow a situation where it will not be possible to run Windows 8 properly on a VAIO that is otherwise capable of running it, so we should get at least one compatible driver. Fingers crossed it is a darn good one.

 

I know it's a preview, but I just can't see the Metro UI working for keyboards and mice in general. The problem is that with all the big things (that are pretty nice for touch) you have to scroll a lot. Microsoft themselves said that there isn't anything better for precise use than a mouse and keyboard. Problem is that precise use is just totally useless in Metro.

The amount of scrolling you have to do to get to everything is extremely annoying on a touchpad. And the distance you have to travel between buttons, for example the button to go back in most Metro apps is all the way across the display, it's just annoying.

I think Microsoft is making a big mistake forcing the new Immersive interface onto everyone, even business users. Hardly any companies will be making the switch if it stays this annoying to use, and if the multitasking support remains this bad. They could make some improvements to the Windows 7 interface, Metro it up if they want, but they just need to keep desktop users in mind as their main users for Windows 8 instead of developing everything for touch and then trying to find a way to make it work on a desktop.

 

I'm not sure that MS is expecting many enterprise users to give much weight to W8. MS desperately needed a tablet product and now they have one (or at least are working on it). As far as I can tell, W8 is pretty much Win7 with a tablet-friendly interface. Desktop users will probably not be upgrading much until the next iteration and don't be surprised to see desktops (and non-touchscreen notebooks) to sold with Win7 "downgrades." W8 not being essential for desktop users provide MS with additional time to integrate desktop and touchscreen interfaces. As the split between handheld and other devices becomes more profound, it will become a progressively more difficult (or decreasingly significant) exercise.

 

again.... it's a developer preview for the Metro UI. Whatever asthetics in desktop users want, it's for later. TBH, I haven't found any issues in my use, both on a borrowed TX2 and on my Sony SC (I'm about to see if the GPU drivers work - everything else has, so far, even some of the crazier Sony "semi-bloat" like the remote KB for PS3).
It's just a new GUI in the testing grounds. I'm more than sure MS has plenty of developers using desktops, and they are considering such things. But if you really feel that way, and believe it's prudent for MS to know your implicit urgency, then tell them, not us, .

btw, IE10 preview now has spellcheck It hasn't given a single smiley an error, either.

 

A lot of people use touch screens with both hands, hence what seems cumbersome with a mouse might actually work in that scenario. Besides, people quickly develop shortcuts - keyboard shortcuts, for instance, or a multi button mouse. As with any unfamiliar UI, you have to give it a fair chance - with everything new, you necessarily start at the bottom of the learning curve.

I'm just pontificating in general terms - I'm still downloading the iso. Will have a crack at installing it early tomorrow, and only then will I have any first-hand knowledge - until then I'm just flapping my gums.

 

With VMware Workstation 8 the developer preview is running fine and stable on my Z11! Use google for installation guides


My first impressions are:

1) Metro design -> looking nice but for me looking too boyisch.
2) New stark menu -> I liked the one from Win7 and hope that in the RC the "old" menu is in. Also the new button is looking awful
3) I don´t like the "Tabmenu" of Office 2010. I don´t like the transfer of that to all Windows menus...
4) Windows 8 is in my userexperience like a tuned up Windows 7 with improved touchinput.

What I like:

The very very fast boot. For the RC I hope an overall faster OS than my 7 is!

 

er. anyone know where the shutdown button went??? Also, My Computer? Start menu?

 

^
I found the shutdown button after logging off.

 

I just gave up and used the shutdown alt+f4 keycombo from the main screen.


I'd imagine MS just wants us to go use standby. In which case, Intel's Haswell arch would work well with that

 

If you press ctrl+alt+del there is a power button in the lower right hand corner with shutdown and standby options.

Well, this being a gadget-friendly OS, I suppose we'll have to do with a shutdown gadget.

 

This is a preview build to show off the metro UI, Win 8 final desktop would look different.

 

Put the mouse cursor in the lower left corner (while in Start menu), another menu appears. Press Settings, and you'll be able to adjust sound, brightness, and shut down/restart/stand by from there.

 

its the same if you hover over it in desktop mode.

 

Thanks guys.

Anyone else having trouble getting that menu to show up? For me it is a bit of a hit and miss - switch to desktop, move the mouse over the Windows icon, click the desktop, move the mouse back... sometimes the menu appears, sometimes it doesn't. Currently running in VirtualBox with no network connectivity and no drivers installed.

Will try later using vhd method. That should let me install some drivers.

 

Thanks for the tip about VHDs. Repped. Installed W8 using that method and it works fine. I was able to install Andrew08's hybrid drivers; switching works as before. Many Sony utilities needed compatibility mode (Windows 7). Could not get TPM Infineon to install - it wanted additional permissions beyond the usual administrator, which I was unable to provide.

I really, really miss the start menu. :cry:

 

I found a way to bring back the start menu. I propose using the classic Win 7 start menu while I'm setting up the computer - installing drivers and apps, etc. Once everything is set up. I'll go back the Win 8 start screen and give it another chance.

How to get a Windows 7 start menu in Windows 8 | Geek.com

 

Here's an app that will do the same thing:
Windows 8 Start Menu Toggle by ~Solo-Dev on deviantART

 

BTW, mightily impressed by the new Task Manager. And little things, like the file copy dialog has a transfer rate graph. Sweet.

 

I am also impress by what they have done so far. I started running 8 in Virtual Box when the Dev version came out, I liked it so much that it is now my main OS on the Z1. I love the multi monitor taskbar. The only thing I don't like is that it seems that you can only use the metro version of RDC. I haven't tried turning off metro yet to see if the normal RDC will show up. I hope I don't hit any show stoppers here because I am hooked. I love the ribbon menu in explorer. The copy dialog is so much better. I am happy. I think I'll put this on my P

 

That start menu toggle app I linked to earlier is great - makes the Metro UI bearable as I'm able to switch back and forth at will. Haven't tried RDC yet, so I'll be interested in how that works for you.

Were you able to get the fingerprint software working? The TPMInfineon package is refusing to install (probably failing an OS version check, or I might need to install the driver manually), and as a result, the Protector Suite crashes with an overflow error.

 

Battery care issue fixed by setting VAIO Control Center to run as administrator.

Fingerprint app is still crashing with the error " Arithmetic operation resulted in overflow". TPM module seems to be installed properly in device manager. Driver seems OK too, and yet the error persists.

VAIO Update cannot get past the initial agreement and settings dialog. You make your selections and proceed, and it brings you right back to the same agreement screen. Endless loop.

BTW. changing to classic start menu changes the task manager back to classic as well. Microsoft is officially nuts.

 

If you disable Metro you can't use RDC at all. That is ok, I am starting to like metro in conjunction with multi monitor and the expanded taskbar.

 

Does changing the menu from Metro UI disconnect a running RDC session?

BTW, will someone please help me fix the fingerprint thingy? :cry:

 

Do you really need drivers for the fingerprint sensor? I didn't install any Sony drivers at all on Windows 7, it just pulled the TPM and Fingerprint drivers from Windows Update and it all works perfectly?

 

Thanks for the tip. What functionality is built into Windows? Just the login?

 

I am wanting my UPEK also, I will dig into this when I don't have to work

Regular old remote desktop

FWIW I am liking the Metro Remote desktop ok, now that I figured out that you can switch metro back and forth between screens, check attached photo


EDIT: found more updated UPEK info

ok so UPEK is now authentec...
http://www.upek.com/support/downloads/windows7/learnmorew7.asp

guess what, the authentec software is on the Z2 download page http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-home.pl?mdl=VPCZ2190X&LOC=3#/downloadTab

time to play, I'll let you know how it works out


EDIT 2: struck out on the above ideas
trying this now http://store.authentec.com/en-us/download.aspx


EDIT 3: I found fingerprint software that doesn't blow up! It is a 60 day trial, the one for the Z2 is the same but it won't recognize the sensor
http://store.authentec.com/en-us/download.aspx

This one is a little different than UPEK, it works by assigning different things to each finger. I'd like to know how to get it to work on regular system dialog boxes like my VPN login. It will log you on the computer from the lock screen with any enrolled finger. I like the UPEK Protector suite better but at least this one works.

 

Nice work digging this out, ComputerCowboy.

I guess I'll use the trial to check things out, then go back to just the Windows logon native fingerprint support. I'd rep you, but the board tells me I have to rep a few other people before doing that again, so maybe later.

Thinking about it overnight, I suspect the problem to be the TPM driver that Windows installed on its own which might be incompatible with the Protector Suite 2009 that we paid for. Might have to get rid of it before the original Sony stock driver will take.

 

It is a 60 day trial, hopefully we will have a new test build within that time and we can just start the trial over. If I end up having to pay $30 to keep my fingerprint working in eight then so be it.

 

Are you guys doing a complete clean install of 8, or are you installing over 7?

 

to answer your question, microsoft makes it crystal clear than you cannot upgrade from win7 to win8, clean install is necessary, at least for current pre-beta

 

The developer preview without tools can upgrade over 7. The one with tools must be a clean install.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/br229516

 

Please don't upgrade to non retail builds - it can have bugs and glitches from which it can be very hard to recover, maybe impossible.

If you have a separate partition on your HDD/SDD, fine, otherwise go for the VHD booting method suggested by Ambroos on the first page of this thread.

 

Totally effed up my Win 8 installation. Was trying to get the fingerprint app to work. Uninstalled the TPM driver in device manager and rebooted. Win 8 refused to load after that. Black screen after the OS selection screen. Tried all the recovery options - no success. Fortunately, Win 7 is still working - for a moment there I thought I had bricked the laptop.

Deleting the VHD; starting over from scratch.

Set 1 score: Win 8 - 1, anytimer - 0
Set 2: Love all.

 

I have formatted my entire drive and install Windows 8, I backed up my stuff first. I know I shouldn't be using pre-release software for production, blah blah blah. The way I look at it we have Windows 7 R2, they are just making stuff better and messing with the UI. Kind of like XP was to Windows 2000. I don't know how Vista fits into this picture, I am really quite amazed that they were able to take Vista and fix it up into 7. Anyway, I used XP all the way through the Alpha, Beta and RC with no issues. I don't really see Windows 8 being a problem, it is not like it has stability issues, just some of the new UI is a little half baked.

 

Uninstalling the TPM thingy turned out to be an unrecoverable error, at least for me. I couldn't see any safe mode. The few recovery options in the boot menu didn't work.

The UI issues are bad, but fixable. If you add the desktop as a toolbar, you can potentially access lots of stuff, but a lot of control panel items there showed 'empty'.

Anyway. Reinstalled Win 8 on new vhd. This time for some reason the dual boot option did not happen. No problem, I downloaded EasyBCD. Then it wanted the dotnet framework 3.51. I tried installing dotnet 3.5 which I had lying around, but no, it insisted on downloading 3.51, which on my slow connection took forever.

EasyBCD did not pick the other OS out of the box - I had to edit the path to the parent HDD manually.

Anyway, done, and Win 7 is back on the boot menu. Going back now to finish setting up Win 8.

 

@anytimer, I am really liking TrueSuite for the fingerprint management, at first it was not what I expected, but now I like it better than Protector Suite QL. It works in more programs. I still haven't figured out how to get it to save passwords for windows dialogs and my VPN.

I haven't seen any empty control panel items yet, where do you see those?

My solution to using Windows 8 with Metro is just to pin any programs I use frequently to the task-bar so that they are always there.

Have you used the "Snap" feature yet? You can go split screen with a metro app and the windows desktop. I like to have Remote Desktop on the side and the desktop on the other side, I can switch back and forth between the remote system and my desktop quickly.

Open your favorite metro app the go back to the desktop, move the cursor to the left edge of the screen and a little box comes up, now you can right click and snap that app.