Can I install Windows 8 preview on an XP machine?

[JMorton6]

This is for someone else, and they only have XP 32bit. They want to try Win 8. Is it possible to upgrade from that to Win 8? If not, can you please tell me how to install Win 8 separately - perhaps on a different partition. But I'd prefer to just upgrade if possible. Thanks!

 

[JMorton6]

Guys?

 

[lxskllr]

You can't upgrade from XP to 8. I'd strongly discourage that anyway, unless it was a PC just for playing. My first choice would be running Win8 in a VM, if you don't want to do that, create a new partition, boot to the Win8 DVD/USB, and install to that. When you uninstall 8, your bootloader will get hosed, and you'll have to repair your XP install to get back the XP loader.

 

[KeypoX]

I think you could boot into the windows 8 install shift f10 and create a vhd file then delete the vhd file when your done, but you will be stuck with windows 8 bootloader until you reverted the bootloader to xp if wanted.

 

[jjsbasmt]

JMorton6, Seems like everyone forgot to ask about the specs of the proposed computer.....so I will. There are still some pretty adequate systems out there running XP that would be OK with Win 8. Can we get the specs and go from there?
Just for info, I have been running Win 8 Dev, and now Win 8 CP, since Sept on a P4 3 GHZ Socket 478, w/4 GB RAM without any slowdowns.

 

[JMorton6]

JMorton6, Seems like everyone forgot to ask about the specs of the proposed computer.....so I will. There are still some pretty adequate systems out there running XP that would be OK with Win 8. Can we get the specs and go from there?
Just for info, I have been running Win 8 Dev, and now Win 8 CP, since Sept on a P4 3 GHZ Socket 478, w/4 GB RAM without any slowdowns.

I think this person's rig is like a 2400xp with a gig of ram. Nothing special, but should run Win 8 ok, no?

So what do I do guys, just create a new partition and install there? Do I just run the Win 8 setup in XP and point to the new partition to install, and then set it as the boot device in BIOS?

 

[lxskllr]

Boot to Win8, don't install from within XP.

 

[Kathi201]

I don't think this should be happen easily,,,,try to install window 8 separatly

 

[Anteaus]

I think this person's rig is like a 2400xp with a gig of ram. Nothing special, but should run Win 8 ok, no?

A single core processor with 1 gig ram? Your scrapping the bottom of the system requirements with that. I wouldn't even attempt it myself.

 

[hdfxst]

you can install over the top of xp,32bit xp-32bit win8.just put the disc in when your at the desktop.but expect some issues,i could not get my onboard sound to work but after a clean install everything worked

 

[corkyg]

Consider using a second HDD or "Mule Drive." Putting Beta 8 over XP is not good. You may end up with garbage from both. A second choice for me would be to set up a dual boot. Personally I would not waste my time doing any of this with betaware. Especially since an upgrade from XP will not be possible unless you cycle through Vista first.

 

[JMorton6]

I don't have any blank DVD's laying around, so please tell me if this will work for me tomorrow:

1. On my computer, use the Microsoft USB Download Tool to put Win 8 on external USB hard disk.
2. On the other computer (the one that's to receive Win 8), boot from the USB drive with Win 8 on it, format the main hard disk, and install fresh copy of Win 8.

I think it should be ok, but does anyone see why this wouldn't work?