Creating a Multi-Boot System on a Windows 8 (Release Preview) PC

A lot has changed in the developer preview, consumer preview and the release preview of Windows 8 (which was released towards the end of May this year). It has been said that new PCs shipping with Windows 8 pre-installed, will not be able to dual-boot out-of-the-box (meaning with secure boot enabled). However, this will not apply to existing PCs upgrading to (or for that matter doing a fresh install of) Windows 8.

In any case, with the most current public test release of Windows 8, the release preview, it is possible to create a multi-boot system. We will set up Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 8 release preview as a possible scenario. It is also possible to extend this to include Linux distributions as well, especially those Linux distributions which make entries into the Windows' native BCD boot loader

Windows XP

We need to install all Windows' operating systems

first, starting from the earliest. Hence, we will take up Windows XP now. For this we will use a tool called WinToFlash, since our test system(a netbook) does not have any optical drive. Use the tool to create a bootable USB Flash drive which you can use to install Windows XP. You can download the tool from http://ld2.in/48e . Refer the screenshot.

The partitioning setup has been decided as follows, with the first 3 partitions being primary, NTFS-formatted:

1. Windows XP: 15 GBs

2. Windows Vista: 85 GBs

3. Windows 8 release preview: 100 GBs

4. Linux/Data/Unallocated: Remaining

Windows Vista

Now install Windows Vista (and make sure after installation that it is able to boot into Windows XP as well). For this step, you can again use WinToFlash (although in this case the USB Flash drive must be large enough to hold Vista's installation files).

Windows 8 release preview

Microsoft has released a tool called Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool using which you can create bootable flash drives to install Windows 8 release preview without using optical media. You can download the tool from http://ld2.in/48f. Please refer the screenshot.

After the Flash drive has been prepared, boot from the same and install Windows 8 release preview. After the installation finishes, make sure it includes choices to boot into Windows XP (which might be listed as Earlier Version of Windows) and Vista (which might be labeled as Microsoft Windows Vista)

At this point, you are free to extend this to include the latest versions of Linux distributions (which should be able to detect all of the above 3 Windows OS), provided a way exists to boot into them using BCD.

Actually multi-booting

Windows 8 release preview boots lightning fast. In the process, several changes have been made to the boot-up process compared to even Windows 8's consumer preview itself, let alone earlier releases of Windows.

Hence, what you will now notice is that if you choose to boot into Windows 8, it will boot almost instantaneously, as if it had already finished booting by that time. Subsequently, if you choose to `Shut down` Windows 8 release preview after using it, you will notice that you might not be able to go into the system BIOS at the immediate next reboot, especially if your system makes use of EFI(eXtensible Firmware Interface) instead of BIOS. This is because of changes made to the Windows 8 release preview's boot system. However, if you choose the `Restart` option, you won't be under this limitation and will be able to access the BIOS at the next reboot. This choice of `Shutdown`/`Restart` also has an observable impact on the boot-up time at the next reboot, should you chose to again use Windows 8 release preview. If you had selected `Shutdown`, Windows 8 will boot up pretty fast. However, if you had chosen to Restart, it will take slightly longer.

The scene becomes further complicated when you choose to boot into other operating systems —be it earlier versions of Windows or Linux. When you choose any of them, Windows 8 will AGAIN reboot and go directly to the chosen OS WITHOUT offering you a chance to change your choice, similar to the case where your system would boot had the target OS would be the sole installed OS. This does not actually limit you from multi-booting , and also is as per what exists in the release preview, which may change in RTM. However, it does make the process complicated and lengthy, not to mention frustrating by making un-anticipated one-time changes to the bootloader configuration.

Upgrading to Windows 8 RTM

As per a post on the official Windows' blog named `Blogging Windows`, upgrade information was released recently. The upgrade pricing as given in the said post is surprisingly low compared to earlier upgrades between versions of Windows. However, even though the said prices (for both downloading the upgrade as well as for buying a physical copy off the shelf) are said to be applicable to 131 markets, they are given in US dollars, so not much can be currently said about what the end-user will finally pay in Indian Rupees. The following table describes what you would be able to retain while upgrading from previous releases of Windows to Windows 8.

What's in the upgrade?

It may be noted that Windows 8 is far more different than what is described here. We will just have a look at some of the notable changes (except those that are specific to the enterprise edition) that will make an impact to Indian users, as enough has been talked about other changes (such as the faster boot-up) and such issues make no difference based on geography.

Reset and Refresh: Most local (third-party) system assemblers in India (as well as techies helping people with their computer issues) often suggest to do a clean reinstall of Windows (which should ideally be the last resort) right in the beginning as the first possible resolution alternative(a quick and dirty fix) when they come across an unusable Windows system. This is especially true for home systems, where the average consumer prefers to take the more familiar route of clean reinstall and reinstalling all applications, restoring any backups made, etc. instead of taking the time to repair / recover using other, more intensive methods which often require assistance from an expert or a qualified professional. This is set to change with Windows 8. Win 8 includes (among other features) a couple of self-help options, namely, Reset and Refresh, that can help you do a better job at the recovery of an apparently unusable PC. Reset allows you return to the factory state of the installation(i.e. Clean reinstall), but in a much more user-friendly way, using a step-by-step wizard. As with any clean reinstall,this means that you WILL lose ALL your files and program. This is the same radical approach which most Indian home users apply whenever their Windows systems are infected due to malware attacks. These situations are likely cases of needing to use refresh/reset when users would have tried different disinfection/cleaning alternatives to remove threats from their system. Refresh on the other hand is more innovative, as well as conservative. Refreshing a Windows 8 installation reverts all settings to their default(let's say fail-safe defaults), although preserving your files and programs.

.

Businesses can set policies on this. For example, let users be able to do a Refresh themselves but let only administrators and such other authorised staff members be able to do a Reset. This is even applicable while decommissioning systems when a user stops using a given system for good.

Task Manager improvements: Continuing on the topic of troubleshooting, end-users(especially home users) in India often terminate (read kill) applications by means of repeated clicks on the `End Task` button in the Windows' Task Manager whenever the system appears to be unresponsive or hung. Windows 8 improves the task manager. It now offers a choice over the level of detail that you want to see when you invoke the task manager. It also gives you a better idea of the different kinds of resource usage of each process (including their child processes), such as CPU, network, memory(both RAM as well as disk) and so on, complete with colored graphs and more legible fonts.

With Windows Server 2012

There are several scenarios where Windows 8 will work at it's best when used with Windows Server 2012. For example, DirectAccess, which is seen as a hassle-free alternative to VPN, will now be tightly integrated into the networking experience, the results of which will be noticeable in the networking pane whenever it is accessed. Similarly, given the undoubtedly rising trend of virtualization, Windows 8, as well as it's server counter-part, are said to be fine-tuned according to Microsoft's Virtual Desktop Infrastructure solution, designed to offer you a default set of settings and parameters that lead to a working infrastructure with minimum effort. Such changes include (but are not limited to) supporting USB redirection, preventing overload of the server which may be caused by simultaneous boot-up of thin clients,removal of the graphic card requirement in RemoteFX (leaving servers free to use software-based rendering in that case),etc. The performance difference in comparison to Windows 7 is easily noticable.