Upgrading to Windows 8.1 - your experience?

  • Thread starter Thread starter kingrob
  • Start date Start date
My work notebook feels a bit nippier after the update & live tiles work much better.

How can I get my Earth theme back? The new themes look horrible. :(
 
lamkelvin said:
Can Windows 8 activated by KMS channel upgrades to Windows 8.1 without format the harddisk or lose any data and setting?
Click to expand...

Our experience with the enterprise version has been no, we had to wipe and re-install, we also had to upgrade/patch SCCM 2012 SP1 to cumulative upgrade 3, before it worked properly and allowed endpoint protection to be installed.
 
How long does the install take? I just ran it and have been met with the windows logo and spinning wheel for half an hour. Thinking of hitting reset.
 
I also had so many issues when upgrading.

I tried four times and every time I got a blue screen, then it reverts back to 8.
The problem was the steelseries drivers for my mouse. Uninstall and first time it work!

Then during some gaming, playing Dota 2 I also got four BSOD's... Then I saw there was an update and now everything seems fine.
 
Krol said:
Main thing for me is that I am forced to use my windows live acc, and they have all sorts of stupid rules WRT passwords there, which annoy the hell out of me. I also dislike the start button (waste of screen space imo). Other than that I don't really notice the upgrade.
Click to expand...

You can downgrade to a Local Account.
Start
Type: Your account settings
Poke around and you'll find the Disconnect option there. ;)
 
My experience?
It was pretty damn awful!
Hours and hours waisted waiting for this update!

Not everyone in the world has 20Mb or even 10Mb lines like most houses in Umericah! Idots!
 
raind33r said:
My experience?
It was pretty damn awful!
Hours and hours waisted waiting for this update!

Not everyone in the world has 20Mb or even 10Mb lines like most houses in Umericah! Idots!
Click to expand...

Calm down, raind33r! :D

It's worth it and you can do it with your nightsurfer data.

Very nice and stable for me.
 
Just did the upgrade now, so far I have noticed that the following was changed:

The location of my documents, videos, music, ect was reset to default. (the redirect links from my SSD to a hard drive we set to default)
Start8 doesn't work :mad: hope they update it soon to work.
The Apps that came with Windows 8 were reinstalled.
There's new irritating Apps now, like Skydrive.
My sound driver needed to be reinstalled.
The columns in Windows media player were reset.
The link to your personal folder and Internet Explorer were put back on the taskbar.
8gadget Pack doesn't work, had to reinstall it to work again.
Customized settings for audio and recording devices were reset.
Your personal folders (documents, music, videos, downloads and desktop now show in the Computer window.
"Computer" has been renamed to "This Computer"
New Skydrive link on the left navigation plane, which I am still yet to try and remove... ah yes fantastic: http://lifehacker.com/how-to-get-rid-of-skydrive-in-windows-8-1-explorer-1447031829
Windows Experience Index is gone, from what I can tell.
Taskmanager customized settings have been reset.
The Pc Settings App has been changed around.
The Wordwrap option in Notepad was unticked.
 
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Installed Windows 8.1 on my Rig. Running smoother than a dream. Way snappier than Windows 7 and Windows 8.
 
Been running Windows 8.1 since launch now and its much smoother overall. Got one blue screen last night for the first time but might have been a broken driver still.

So how do I go about reinstalling Windows 8.1 to fresh windows? as in deleting EVERYTHING?
 
Click on Settings > Change PC Settings > Update & Recovery > Recovery > Remove everything and reinstall Windows.
 
Windows 8.1 Running smooth, much better than 8.

No complaints....Yet :whistle:
 
louispires said:
Been running Windows 8.1 since launch now and its much smoother overall. Got one blue screen last night for the first time but might have been a broken driver still.

So how do I go about reinstalling Windows 8.1 to fresh windows? as in deleting EVERYTHING?
Click to expand...

Go here and follow the guide to get the 8.1 ISO and put it on a USB.

Boot from the USB, format the drive from the installer, start the setup using the generic Windows 8 key and then after it's installed, activate Windows with your Windows 8 key.
 
I just wish there was a way to upgrade to 8.1 without having to go through the store.

I have 2 Windows 8 keys, and one Windows 8.1 key.

Installing 8.1 was a breeze with the 8.1 key, as I have an 8.1 ISO.

But OMW, for windows 8 keys I have to install windows 8, then update through the store. Doing that twice wasn't fun :/
 
I tried 8 1st. This gave me issues, both driver and game support and the OS lasted about a week before I dropped back to 7. Also tried using it with Metro and did not fancy the new "Start Screen".

Windows 8.1 preview came out about the same time I decided to change my drives around using the 500 gig for OS. Installed ViStart with it and found it livable. For one my older games seemd to start working again. Don't know what they did with 8 but it broke a lot of applications for me, lucky this was not an issue in preview. Ran the set-up till 8.1 retail came out on MSDN and again formatted with a clean install, but this time I opted for Classic shell

All I can say is I am in heaven. I have a lightning fast system and better yet with Classic shell I don't miss 7's UI as I have it all. My system boots to desktop in 12 seconds and I have none of the ModernUI crap, even turned off the popup's on the sides.

TL;DR Happy as you can get with 8.1, just as long as I get to keep Classic shell.
 
UPGRADE TO WIN 8.1 EXPERIENCE

I am also really enjoying Windows 8.1 after having XP for the last decade or so - (I had MS Flight Simulator 2004 on it - 50 Gigs worth) - so added a 1 TB drive and installed Win 8.0 on that at the beginning of October, leaving the XP drive in so I can dual boot to it if needed.

I did the upgrade to Win 8.1 the day after it was released - it went smoothly except for two issues.

I had to re-install the latest versions of both Classic Shell & 8GadgetPack to get my conventional desktop working correctly, and Win 8.1 BSOD'd with a 'Bugcode NDIS Driver' issue, whenever i plugged in my ZyXel NWD2205 USB Wi-Fi Adaptor I use as an access point for my smartphones.

I solved that by un-installing the drivers (which worked perfectly in Win 8.0) and then got a TP-Link 3/4G Wireless Access Point which sorted that issue out, and now I have a PC that is hyper fast on 8.1, compared to being a slug on XP.

As long as you use the normal desktop - for anyone upgrading from XP or Win 7 to 8.1, it is virtually seamless and there is no need to use the 'Modern UI' touch screen orientated tiled interface at all - I merely use it as an alternative to a screensaver nowadays.
 
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