Windows 8 Installation

[raman4434]

Hello,
I have been attempting to upgrade to Windows 8 for the past couple of days and I'm getting tired of it failing time and time again. I would really like to keep all of my setting and files and I really don't want to have to re-install all of my games and programs. At the moment I am running Windows 7 64-bit installed on my SSD. Most of my important stuff is installed on my 2TB HDD so I mainly just use the SSD to boot Windows and store a few programs here and there. Would it be possible to do a clean install on the SSD with Windows 8 and still retain the functionality and programs of my HDD? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ss202sl]

In order to have all you programs still work like they do now, you have to do an upgrade.

If you do a clean install you will have to install all your applications again.

 

[unksol]

All programs must be installed under the OS. It doesn't matter if they are on the hard drive, you still have to install them or windows 8 wont be able to run then.

I dont get why people make such a big deal about a clean install. Its easy and quick, especially on an SSD. And it makes more sense to start fresh if you are switching the OS

 

[madduckets]

I for one have many programs I can't live without which I installed long ago and don't still have the discs. I bet a lot of people have enough programs to make re-installing everything inconvenient at the least.

Any suggestions with the actual problem of windows 8 getting al the way to the end of install and then failing?

 

[johnbl]

I for one have many programs I can't live without which I installed long ago and don't still have the discs. I bet a lot of people have enough programs to make re-installing everything inconvenient at the least.

Any suggestions with the actual problem of windows 8 getting al the way to the end of install and then failing?

if the setup fails you can look at the log and see why.
c:\users\YourUserName\appdata\locl\microsoft\webstorn\panther\setupact.txt

appdata is a hidden directory.

It is comon for some device not to play nice with OS upgrades. I think some realtek sound cards drivers have been causing some problems and have to be uninstalled or upgraded before the setup

 

[Alfheim]

Check the Logs, as a technician myself let me guide you through how Windows 8 actually installs via that web setup.

1.)Websetup.exe creates this directory %appdata%\local\microsoft\websetup

2.) Once download has finished you will see on drive C:\ that there is now an ESD folder (it's hidden) that's where the download went.

3.) Once you try and upgrade Win 8 take note of 4 important things.
Windows has to be Updated.
Drivers have to be updated (Win 7 Drivers)
Remove your Antivirus
Remove external drives, USBs, and anything else that isn't a mouse, keyboard or monitor.
4.) The Installation Screen before the first reboot is where Win 8 takes note of all the files to save and archive's them to be transferred later and creates its own boot record.
->this can hang due to some programs you have running so perform a clean boot first before installing.
5.) Once first reboot finishes Windows creates the $Windows folder
->not much problems here
6.) Installation takes place
->most issues don't take place here
7.) Another reboot then Migration takes place
->this is where most installations halt, it could literally be anything but most of the time it's files that won't migrate
8.) Another reboot then it goes to the part where it reconfigures your settings and it removes Win 7 boot entries.
->havent found out what causes it to stop here yet, most of it is due to blue screen though.
Viola Windows 8 is installed.

Here are where logs are located
If it stops before first reboot
%appdata%\local\microsoft\websetup\Panther\setuperr.log (setupact is way too lengthy all you need are the errors anyway)

If it stops/rolls back after the first reboot

C:\$Windows~BT\Sources\Panther\setuperr.log (if it did a blue screen with the unhappy smiley the dmp file should be located in C:\$Windows~BT\Sources\Rollback)

Setuperr is the most useful of the bunch it's where you get to identify what's caused it to halt most of the time. There are just some errors that I know nothing about though. And don't worry about failed to createshortcut errors I've never seen any sort of problem with having them there.

 

[raman4434]

Best answer selected by Raman4434.