Microsoft shrinks Windows 8 install time

[Brink]

Microsoft has made Windows 8 adoption easier by cutting down the install time of the new operating system, according to Microsoft Windows deployment marketing manager Michael Niehaus.

He was speaking at the Tech.Ed 2012 Deploying Windows 8 session in the Gold Coast, Queensland.

Windows 8 will be launched in October and touts a new visual look from previous Windows releases. The OS is made to operate seamlessly across desktop and tablet devices and is intended to work on the same type of hardware compatible with Windows 7. This means users will not have to invest in new equipment, according to Niehaus.

Microsoft has made the deployment of Windows 8 much faster than its predecessors. The install time of Windows 7 on a virtual machine running on a standard workstation is 15 minutes. Windows 8 cuts that down to 10 minutes. That's for a brand new OS install and not for an upgrade.

For comparison sake, Windows 7 expands to 8GB when applied to disk and Windows 8 is about 7.76GB.

For those that are looking to upgrade, going from Windows 7 to Windows 8 on a machine with no data or apps would take 20 minutes. Going from Windows Vista to Windows 7 would be about 30 minutes.

But when it comes to upgrading a machine loaded with data and apps, that's when the difference becomes significant.

Read more at source:
Microsoft shrinks Windows 8 install time | ZDNet

 

[FerchogtX]

He he... that's not a lot of advantange over W7... 700+ MB is nothing in todays computing... Would be surprising if the could cut that to 1 GB over W7 normal install.

Also they must take in mind that x86 is lightweight compared to x64 due to extra libraries need for x86 computing in x64, so 7+ GB aplies for x86, but x64 needs 10+ GB or even 14+ GB.

This sounds to me like a desesperate way of convincing people like us to switch to W8...

 

[beastmaster]

This sounds to me like a desesperate way of convincing people like us to switch to W8...

Not going to happen with me. Will be staying with Windows 7. Very happy with this OS.

 

[andyparks]

Windows 8 will not work on my pc as its not got a touch screen

 

[CB]

In my own personal experience installing from USB drive takes shorter time than from DVD, can't say which part of process contributes to it.
So I think it will take even shorter time required than the above specified time to have it installed from USB, won't it?

 

[Brink]

Windows 8 will not work on my pc as its not got a touch screen

Hello Andy,

Not sure what this has to do with this article, but Windows 8 will install and run perfectly fine on a PC without a touch screen. A touch screen is not required.

 

[Layback Bear]

I do wonder if Microsoft has improved on the speed to remove Windows 8.

 

[Sardonicus]

When I installed Windows 8 Enterprise, the install was faster. Kudos to Microsoft for the improvement.

 

[foe]

I do wonder if Microsoft has improved on the speed to remove Windows 8.

What do you mean? Removing/reformatting a partition is a matter of seconds.

*edit*

I heard a lot of bad experiences. A lot of people told me Windows 8 allows less customizations and security features were said to lock everything away. Sounded like a typical windows 'lets protect the user from himself' deal. Who installed the beta? Is it really that bad, or did these people just grow too familiar with linux?

 

[RandallFlagg]

We have an MSDN account at work, I just installed it on one of my laptops. It's not that different. Picture windows 7 but no typical start menu, it's a full screen menu. Oh and the shutdown is very well hidden.

Windows 7 can be installed from USB to SSD in 13 minutes, that's fast enough to the point where I don't really need it faster.

 

[ickymay]

I have windows 8 on my field service laptop and it loads much quicker to a logon screen which shares the whole environment with my netbook which is handy.

I tend to ingore the apps pretty much and go straight to desktop with one click then its pretty much like a windows 7 environment just a few more things that don't need regular tweaking are hidden, shutdown is two clicks from the right hand menu opened by mousing over the bottom right screen corner.

Every tool I use like Xirrus Wifi inspector and dropbox etc works with no issue and what I really like is I only need four or five third party programs as win8 works straight out of the box.

Its' marginally quicker and using sleep and hibernate i never shut it down plus battery use is more efficient meaning my laptop probably gives me +20% useable out of the battery.

It has also breathed new life into my netbook with the 1gb processor which before was a bit painful to use.

I have just let go of the hangup I had with the apps, and lets face it unless you had a 50" screen it would be hard to do any serious work with a touch screen

 

[dolittle]

I really don't care if 8 will install faster.
I like 7. I will not be updating to 8.
XP is sill a good OS and have two computers running XP.

 

[Windows i7 920]

Windows 8 will not work on my pc as its not got a touch screen

You don't need a touch screen for Windows 8. I'm running the release preview on my desktop that has no touch screen and it works very well. So well... that I have no interest in keeping Windows 7 once it comes out. For one, the boot speed is tremendously faster. Windows 8 also was easier to get adb (Android Debug Bridge) to work with my phone than Windows 7. Overall, it just feels like a much smoother OS to me.

 

[RandallFlagg]

Windows 8 will not work on my pc as its not got a touch screen

You don't need a touch screen for Windows 8. I'm running the release preview on my desktop that has no touch screen and it works very well. So well... that I have no interest in keeping Windows 7 once it comes out. For one, the boot speed is tremendously faster. Windows 8 also was easier to get adb (Android Debug Bridge) to work with my phone than Windows 7. Overall, it just feels like a much smoother OS to me.

Careful if you're running an SSD windows 8 looks to have some type of hibernation featuring reducing boot up times.

Shutdown and turn the PC on
Pull the plug and turn it on, note the ~10 seconds added to boot at least.

 

[Derek10]

I love Windows 8. I love the new copy/move/delete file progress dialog. I love Metro as (for me) is faster and more comfortable than the Start Menu but I would improve the "All apps" section as for me it looks somewhat cluttered (ie, having a way to fold or unfold programs). I love the new Task Manager. I love the boot/shutdown times. I love the improved responsiveness.

What I don't like as for now:

To shutdown or reboot the computer, you have to do more clicks than on Windows 7 and can be difficult to find at first.
I somewhat miss Aero glass.
As I stated, Metro All Apps section is cluttered as it shows too many things on a glance and trying to find a thing can take some time, at least at first, though I generally use the search function for this. (I would like to the programs or folders to fold or unfold). See Attachment
I cannot get the brightness control to work on my netbook

 

[Gornot]

In my own personal experience installing from USB drive takes shorter time than from DVD

+1 to that.

When I was trying out the Release Preview, as well as the leaked RTM build, the install was super fast! Not more than 10-ish minutes compared to 7, which was almost doubled (didn't really time neither, it's just an approximation)

I am still not sure if I want to be using 8. Don't want to get into the discussion about it (yet again), but idk...

Right now I'm using a Release Preview custom theme for Windows 7, everything is squared out, glass is much smoother and subtle, the buttons and sliders look just like in Windows 8... and I find that I enjoy it quite more with the old Start Menu instead of the Start Screen, even though I kind of liked some Modern apps (like weather, calendar and maps) being easily accessible. I used to be in love with the Sidebar and all the gadgets, but now that I've tried Modern apps, gadgets just look ugly and useless to me now in 7...

It's too bad that the RTM version of the Win8 theme has gray window borders if a window is not in focus... That just completely ruins it for me. I would love to have completely white, non transparent window borders, even when the window is not in focus, and the only difference being that where the close button on the top right is not tinted in red, but just white as well...

Someone should modify the 8 RTM theme and port it to 7 properly, I would totally use it. There are a couple on deviantART, but they're not "perfect" in this matter...


In any case, back to topic, yeah, the install time is impressive and the setup seems lighter and easier because of it.

 

[ekfsksk]

This sounds to me like a desesperate way of convincing people like us to switch to W8...

Not going to happen with me. Will be staying with Windows 7. Very happy with this OS.

The best Windows OS yet.

 

[Derek10]

In my own personal experience installing from USB drive takes shorter time than from DVD, can't say which part of process contributes to it.
So I think it will take even shorter time required than the above specified time to have it installed from USB, won't it?

Because an USB drive has almost 0 response time and do not need to spin up and down like a DVD drive.Optical drives are abysmal in fast seek/read. The same logic goes in ReadyBoost feature...

I do wonder if Microsoft has improved on the speed to remove Windows 8.

Yes, because you can go to the partition manager faster than W7.

 

[GeneO]

Microsoft, who cares? You only install it once.

 

[CB]

In my own personal experience installing from USB drive takes shorter time than from DVD, can't say which part of process contributes to it.
So I think it will take even shorter time required than the above specified time to have it installed from USB, won't it?

Because an USB drive has almost 0 response time and do not need to spin up and down like a DVD drive.Optical drives are abysmal in fast seek/read. The same logic goes in ReadyBoost feature...

Yes. But if we try watching more closely when installing via USB we will notice that it will skip the very first step after few second.