Windows 8 RTM Issues

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
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Nickhamm
Posts: 1
Joined: 16. Aug 2012, 08:40

Windows 8 RTM Issues

Post by Nickhamm »

I know there is a Windows 8 topic, but I thought it would be good to start anew since the official release is out on MSDN now (and Software Assurance later today.)

The prerelease versions worked fine, although sluggish, but the RTM version however has a few major issues on my machine (using x64):
  • Very slow with lots of hangups/freezes in the post install process before you Personalize. I sat at several black screens for 10 minutes waiting on the installer, this is not the case on a native PC of similar specs.

    Once installed, Virtualbox additions install flawlessly, but...

    Once rebooted with additions installed, the desktop flips out. For me, it loads the start screen, then the desktop bar with blank start background, then crashes back to start. Clicking on Desktop will reveal it for a short time until it crashes back to the start screen. Sometimes this sparks Windows Error Reporting dialogs, sometimes it does not.

    Once the machine is booted for several minutes, the desktop stops crashing, and bringing up the task manager reveals 99% CPU usage for the Desktop Window Management and several other services eating much of the CPU, making the machine very sluggish.

    Switching to fullscreen mode causes the start menu and desktop bar to resize, but the desktop wallpaper glitches for about 5 minutes until it fixes itself. Machine is very unresponsive during this time.I didn't dare try seamless mode.

    Upon running a few apps, Virtualbox itself froze and I had to Force Quit due to unresponsiveness. This seemed to worsen with Internet Explorer of any variety open.
My machine is a MacBookPro 3,1 (Mid 2007) with 500gb HDD, 4GB Memory, nVidia 8600M GT 512MB, 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, running OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion.
VirtualBox specs were Virtualbox 4.1.18, Windows 8 x64 VM, 2GB memory, 3D enabled 128mb vRAM, 80GB Virtual Disk, all other settings default and untouched. Vbox Extensions installed.

EDIT: If you need to run a copy and dont' have MSDN/SA/DreamSpark, you can get a 30 day trial of Windows 8 Enterprise legally from the MSDN Evaluation Center. I would post a link, but I don't have the privileges yet.
michaln
Oracle Corporation
Posts: 2973
Joined: 19. Dec 2007, 15:45
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Any and all
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Re: Windows 8 RTM Issues

Post by michaln »

Nickhamm wrote:I know there is a Windows 8 topic, but I thought it would be good to start anew since the official release is out on MSDN now (and Software Assurance later today.)
No, it wouldn't be good.

We were only able to start downloading the RTM images yesterday after working hours (due to MS's servers being a bit overwhelmed). No one has had a chance to even look at Windows 8 RTM yet. At this point, reporting issues with Windows 8 RTM is simply a waste of time, both yours and ours.

At this point, Windows 8 RTM is totally unsupported, so you're welcome to try, but expect problems, problems, and more problems. We wish Microsoft wasn't making so many significant changes between the various previews and again in the RTM, but they did, so please bear with us.
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