Install the new Windows 8.1 Update 1 on a virtual machine
Yesterday we released the news that the new Windows 8.1 update has leaked across the networks. This release is not yet final, but it does give users an idea of how the new and expected Windows 8.1 update works. As this is a development release, it is not. not recommended to install it on production machines. those who want to try this new operating system will be able to do so without problem from a virtual machine like VirtualBox completely free of charge.
VirtualBox is an application, owned by Oracle, which allows us to install operating systems without affecting our current system to be able to perform virtually any action as we would on a real machine. VirtualBox is free and can be downloaded from its main website .
Once VirtualBox is installed, we proceed to the installation of the new update 1 of Windows 8.1.
The first thing to do is to create a new virtual machine. To do this, we will click on the “New” button to open the wizard.
In this window we have to enter the type of operating system. In our case, we're going to call it Windows 8.1 Update 1 and select that we're going to install a 8.1-bit Windows 64. This last aspect is important because, otherwise, it will not allow us to install it (unless we are using a 32-bit version).
You press next to continue and you will find the configuration of the RAM memory. We need to set an appropriate value, for example 2 GB, when 1 GB would be sufficient for testing.
We continue with the wizard and we will have to create a virtual hard drive.
The defaults will create a problem-free one of around 25 GB which will serve us well for installing Windows 8.1.
Once the hard drive is created, the virtual machine will be created. Next, we need to mount the ISO image with Windows 8.1 Update 1 and start our virtual machine with the “Start” button. Windows 8.1 Update 1 automatically starts loading.
After a few minutes of loading, we will be able to see the start of the Windows 8.1 Update 1 installer. Being a preview version, the only language we will have available is English. We click on Next to continue.
Then we click on “Install Now” to start the installation.
During the installation process, it will ask us about the system we want to install, whether normal Windows 8.1 or Windows 8.1 Pro. Depending on our license, we will choose one system or another.
We will accept the terms of the license.
In the installation options below, we will choose "Custom" to perform a new custom installation.
We are going to create a new partition that will occupy our entire disk.
And the installation will finally begin.
The installation takes a while and will restart the virtual machine several times. Once the initial data copy is complete, we will see a window similar to the following one.
We will wait for Windows 8.1 Update 1 to ask us for the license.
We can use a genuine Windows 8.1 license to test or select "skip" to skip this step. Then the system customization settings begin.
We will select the name of our PC for the local network, then select Express Settings.
The installer will configure our account below.
We need to sign in with our Outlook account so that all of our accounts (Windows Store, Skype, etc.) are linked to our PC.
With these steps, our Windows 8.1 Update 1 will be installed and ready to use. You have to wait a few moments for the end of the configuration before you can use it.
And finally, we will see the ModernUI interface, ready to use.
As we can see, finally the rumors that Windows 8.1 Update 1 would start by default on the desktop were false. The first leaked version continues to connect to ModernUI, despite user requests for the company to change this. However, once the installation is complete, we can manually configure the interface we want to connect to by default, like in Windows 8.1.
With this we will have our system installed in a virtual machine and ready for anyone who wants to get their hands on it in advance can do so without the risk of damaging our system.
