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The final build of Windows 8 is now available on MSDN/TechNet, and will be released to the public on October 26th. We want to hit the ground running when Windows 8 arrives, and already have some of the most important questions answered, so that Super User can be a resource for people as soon as they get Windows 8 installed.

If you already have access to the final release, then we'd like your help in writing some Community FAQ's about Windows 8. Around the time of the general launch, we will be having a special promotion for Windows 8. I can't share all of the details yet, but we want to make sure there's already some good examples when that starts. We'll also be looking at who helps out with these early questions, and there might be a little something special for those who help out now.

Here's how it's going to work. We've come up with a list of some questions about Windows 8 that we think will be asked a lot. They're listed below. I'll be giving out some generous bounties on those questions, and hopefully some other users will join me. If you have a suggestion for other common questions to add, leave a comment below and we might add it.

This is a long-term project, which we can start on now, and continue with as more people get access to Windows 8 up to and through the general release in October. There's no need to rush out and answer all of these right now, but it's a good time to start experimenting, and report back on what you find.

Some questions to target:

  • Virtualization: How can I virtualize Windows 8?
    What I'm looking for here is a comprehensive overview of VM software that supports and doesn't support Windows 8. If there are tricks to getting particular ones to work, then that would be good to include as well.

  • Multiple booting: How can I dual-boot Windows 8?
    Windows 8 has a new bootloader, and there will be people wondering how to get that working with double, triple, maybe even quadruple boot systems. A good guide on how to set up multi-boot with Windows 8 would be very useful. Perhaps one answer each for Windows 8/7, Windows 8/OS X, and Windows 8/Linux.

  • Coping with not-Metro: How can I turn off Metro?
    Some people don't like The UI Formerly Known As Metro. A frequently searched question is going to be, "how do I turn off metro?" As of right now, it appears to be impossible, but we should answer the question anyhow, perhaps including some information on third-party workaround solutions. Note that the state of this has changed since the Release Preview, so this will need to be checked on a system running the final release.

  • Touchpad gestures: I don't have a touchscreen. How can I do gestures on my laptop's touchpad?
    Windows 8 will have support for special gestures on multitouch trackpads. Right now there isn't a lot of information about a) what the gestures are/how they work, and b) how to get them working. This would be a very useful thing to write about.

  • Microsoft Office integration: Will my version of Windows come with Microsoft Office?
    Windows 8 RT (the version for ARM tablets) will come with Office built-in, but x86 editions won't. This might be confusing for some people, so a post explaining which versions come with Office may be popular.

  • Installation/upgrade FAQs: Can I upgrade from <current OS> to Windows 8 <version>?
    Many people will be upgrading to Windows 8 from older computers. An upgrade FAQ will help people to determine whether they can upgrade, and if so, how they should back up their files, etc.

That's just a start of some of the questions I expect to be commonly asked, and think we should start trying to answer now. Please suggest additions in the comments!

If you start one of these, please edit this post with a link to the question. You can just link the first line/question title. Thanks.

We also need to update the tag wikis for , , and , if you're looking for some more stuff to do.

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  • 1
    Do you mean blog posts on this, or FAQ questions, or a dedicated section of the site or something for this (or some combination)?
    – soandos
    Commented Aug 16, 2012 at 22:07
  • 2
    @soandos I was thinking to follow the same format as other community-faq's in the past. Ask a question, post an answer (self-answer if you so desire). Some of them could be made into blog posts if we wanted to. There is no system for specific "FAQ" posts or special sections on the main portion of the site though.
    – nhinkle Mod
    Commented Aug 16, 2012 at 22:14
  • I've made a 'get rid of metro' post (superuser.com/questions/462687/…), but it's mostly just a copy of my answer to superuser.com/questions/456571/…. Would you rather leave both posts, delete my new post, or delete the old one?
    – MatthewSot
    Commented Aug 17, 2012 at 3:24
  • I'm assuming that questions of the type "How do I upgrade my existing ARM tablet to Windows 8 RT?" will be considered off-topic. Is this worth mentioning somewhere/somehow?
    – Mokubai Mod
    Commented Aug 17, 2012 at 10:13
  • @Mokubai that would actually be a rather interesting post, although I'm not sure it can be done. I don't see why it should have to be specifically off-topic.
    – nhinkle Mod
    Commented Aug 17, 2012 at 13:49
  • +1 Here you go I made the copied answer a Community Wiki. Can you please add a Windows-8 Tag to the system and edit my question. Cheers
    – Jeremy Thompson
    Commented Aug 18, 2012 at 22:56
  • 1
    I'd have thought "how can i downgrade windows 8" to be asked often.
    – Sirex
    Commented Aug 19, 2012 at 23:57
  • @Sirex you mean like "my computer came with Windows 8, but I want Windows 7; how can I do that?" I suppose some people might want to know about that. If you'd like to start one on that topic, go for it!
    – nhinkle Mod
    Commented Aug 20, 2012 at 2:33
  • Windows 8 is basically just a layer on the Windows 7 OS (well, atleast for laptops). They've just upgraded some default programs like Task Manager and Explorer and, of course, replaced the start button functionality.
    – Yatharth Agarwal
    Commented Aug 20, 2012 at 5:42
  • 3
    So as long as you don't hit Start, it's pretty much Windows 7...
    – Yatharth Agarwal
    Commented Aug 20, 2012 at 5:43
  • @YatharthROCK regardless of whether you view it as a "layer" or not, the point remains that there are a lot of new UIs, and thus a lot of questions will stem from that. How different it is from Windows 7 is merely a technicality, and not really relevant in this context.
    – nhinkle Mod
    Commented Aug 20, 2012 at 6:41
  • @nhinkle What about on tablets? Will the base Windows 7 platform be there, or just the stripped-down version with only Windows 8? I fit does include Windows 7, it'll be a major deal-breaker (in favour of it)...
    – Yatharth Agarwal
    Commented Aug 20, 2012 at 8:36
  • @YatharthROCK it depends on what device it is on. Tablets with an x86 processor will run legacy apps, tablets with an ARM processor won't. See "what's the difference between Windows 8 Pro and Windows RT" for more info.
    – nhinkle Mod
    Commented Aug 20, 2012 at 14:35
  • @nhinkle So, the Surface tablets (the small ones) that Microsoft is making and hyping will have less functionality than it's competitor OEM tablets?
    – Yatharth Agarwal
    Commented Aug 20, 2012 at 15:21
  • @YatharthROCK there's two different versions of the Surface tablets. One of them with an x86 proc and the other with an ARM. The "Pro" version will run the full Windows 8, including the desktop mode. The "RT" version will not. OEMs will also be developing both types of tablets.
    – nhinkle Mod
    Commented Aug 20, 2012 at 15:29

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As we move along, I'm going to be adding some of these questions to a blog post. This will hopefully be a centralized place to direct friends/fellow Super Users for an all you need to know about Windows 8.

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  • The Windows 8 tag wiki is also a place we can use to link some of the more important ones.
    – nhinkle Mod
    Commented Aug 27, 2012 at 7:19

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