Install Windows 8 on virtualbox

Microsoft Windows 8 provide a modernized interface for the generation long operating system. I liked the consumer preview (CP) version. And so when the release preview (RP) is available, I tried it on the VirtualBox VM.  It was beautiful with some improvements from CP.

Overall, it is a pleasant, and provide us a sneak peek into Microsoft's mobile strategy.



Issues and work around.

• PAE/NX issue with 32 bit Windows 8.

This is required due to the RP rely on hardware support to access address space larger than 4GB. perform the following on the VM you created to enable this:

1. issue the command from windows prompt: VBoxManage modifyvm win8vm --pae on
2. or if you prefer, right click the VM from within virtualbox VM manager GUI and update the settings under processor.

• 0x0000005D error code during installation

This error could occur when the AMD-v or VT-x was not available to the VM. For my Thinkpad T420, this was disabled by default in the BIOS. So I have to go to the BIOS and enable the Intel vitualization support. After that, retry the installation and it worked.

Here are the steps that I follwed to get it through:

Fig1. Windows 8 RP running as VirtualBox VM

1. Upgraded my VirtualBox to the latest release 4.1.20###, as well as the optional pack for proprietory stuff.
2. Create VirtualBox VM  for windows 8  (64bit)
3. Modify the VM settings to disable PAE/NX,  and enable AMD-V support
4. Note: for 32bit, you need to enable PAE/NX.
5. Download the Windows 8 RP 64bit and add it to the VM as the virtual storage device
6. Start up the VM
7. Follwing the installation steps for windows 8
8. Note the licence key: TK8TP-9JN6P-7X7WW-RFFTV-B7QPF
9. Here is the screenshot of the VM running