Step by step: How to safely test-drive Win8

**B Gold** · 2012-03-15 15:32

No First Run Wizard, no joy. Also, I had to enable virtualization in real Machine's Bios.

went to settings, deselected all drives except Cd-ROM/DVD, moved floppy down out of the way and promoted
CD to top position (using up arrow) \.

basically used info from here (last msg as of today)

https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=33970

namely:

Re: Re-running 'First Run' Wizard?

Postby BillG » 25. Aug 2010, 02:24
You use exactly the same sequence. First shut down the vm.
From the Settings screen, go to System and change the boot device to the CD/DVD.
From Storage, select the Windows install disk (ISO file or physical drive).
Start the vm.
Press any key to boot from CD/DVD.
___
during install am getting pesky 'you have 24-bit color should select 32-bit' but I have no right mouse click
[whether i use mouse "capture" or "mouse integration"], maybe after install)

__

don't know if i reenable hard drive after install either...sigh

unsure good of WS to recommend VB w/o a functioning First Run Wizard
____

**rocketman** · 2012-03-15 16:01

"...you can conduct your test drives and experiments with almost zero risk to your current setup!"
Well, at least you did say almost zero risk. I installed W8 in Oracle Virtualbox & my experience wasn't all that great. W8 did install in Virtualbox & I was suitably underwhelmed, to say the least. My problem was I noticed that my wireless mouse had become erratic with Virtualbox & my audio's keyboard controls had become inoperative. I'm guessing that since neither problem occurred when using VMware Player, that the possible reason was with Virtualbox allowing your mouse to be active in both sessions (desktop & virtual) at the same time & with Player it isn't. Why it hosed the OSD for the audio I couldn't guess. I uninstalled Virtualbox, reinstalled my mouse software, rolled back my system w/ system restore. Didn't fix the problems. Installed a new OSD & futzed with the mouse settings. The OSD is restored, but the mouse isn't quite back to where it was before installing Virtualbox. I would have preferred using Player, but the version I have from only a week ago didn't support W8. User beware!

**curiousclive** · 2012-03-15 16:12

Tried all of Freds instructions but installed the latest VirtualBox 4.1.10. Completed all the way till went to install the win8 ISO. Got a black box then an error as below.
Virtual box error.JPG.
What is this error and what can be done?

For the moment I have uninstall Virtualbox 4.1.10

**akash17** · 2012-03-15 19:05

Install procedure missing some steps

I've followed your instructions for creating a virtual version of Windows 8 twice to make sure I'd done it exactly as you suggest.

At the point where you say:

Click the Win8 item in VirtualBox Manager to launch your newly created — but empty — VPC.

a single click does nothing. Double clicking starts the machine but does not open the First Run Wizard and after halts the machine because of no OS. There is nothing in the pulldowns that say anything about the wizard.

Any suggestions?

**darrellg** · 2012-03-15 20:25

I would add one last step to Fred's directions. Once the OS is installed, select "Install Guest Additions..." from the device menu. This inserts a virtual CD in the drive that contains drivers for the VBox environment. Installing them improves performance of the VM.

**RobertDianella** · 2012-03-15 21:14

Everything worked fine up until figure 19 when I got the same black screen. After looking at all these posts I finally told the virtual machine to look for the setup disc on my desktop. Then it began the setup and at the very end told me to re-boot and re-insert the installation disc & re-start the upgrade. How in the world can I do that when it's on my desktop?

**davelr** · 2012-03-16 09:04

How to fix no "First Run Wizard"

Thanks for the article Fred. As it turns out there is a small sequencing error that prevents the "First Run Wizard" from appearing. When you tweak the virtual machine using the settings menu PRIOR to installing Win 8, the wizard will not appear. If you start the virtual machine BEFORE the settings tweaks, the First Run Wizard will appear and allow you to install the iso. You can then go back and tweak the settings.

BTW, I did get the 32 bit Win 8 to run on an AMD with virtualization under a 64bit Win 7 host.

**westedman** · 2012-03-16 12:31

I've tried just about every suggestion, that I read yesterday, and I cannot get the First Run Window. So for now I've deleted the Win 8 setup data, but still have the Virtual setup.
Anyone with more suggestions????
I have a setup where I can swap out the C:/ Drive and I admit I have not been able to do a Win 8 installation on a fresh hard drive from the CD. But I will try again.
Happy computing all.

**curiousclive** · 2012-03-16 14:01

I tried burning the downloaded ISO to a DVD and doing a clean install to an extra drive. It completed everything even got to setting up win 8 then restarted and sat there with a black screen with no HDD activity for more than an hour. If it will not install properly as a clean install what use it it?

**shornoff** · 2012-03-16 17:40

Sorry Fred. This is a pile of #@*t

**blumeenie** · 2012-03-17 08:51

I also could not get past step 19. After reading all the above posts ,davelr's suggestion of "How to fix no "First Run Wizard
"Thanks for the article Fred. As it turns out there is a small sequencing error that prevents the "First Run Wizard" from appearing. When you tweak the virtual machine using the settings menu PRIOR to installing Win 8, the wizard will not appear. If you start the virtual machine BEFORE the settings tweaks, the First Run Wizard will appear and allow you to install the iso. You can then go back and tweak the settings."
sounded easiest to do , so I deleted my VM thru control panel, then found it had left some files, so deleted them manually and reinstalled WITHOUT the tweaking. Yay , got past the black screen.
OH OH, now i have progressed to starting install, but get this msg "the computer stared using Windows installation disk. remove the installation disk and restart the computer so that windows starts normally. then insert the installation disk and restart the uprgrade ---and so on an so on .
How do i do that when its an iso file in a folder???
so I tried to stop the installation, only to get a repeating series of restarting to install,which I only managed to stop with ctrl/alt/del.
I give up . For me , freds information left off about where it should have started .

**Impala1ss** · 2012-03-17 13:05

Followed all steps exactly. Try to load new Win8 file, put in Product Key and get a screen which basically says " This computer started using Windows Installation disc - same as poster above. Remove....restart..... Nothing works. Is there a step(s) missing?

**heritage** · 2012-03-17 13:37

All went well until Figure 19. When your Win8 .iso has fully downloaded, click the Win8 item in VirtualBox Manager to launch your newly created — but empty — VPC.
At this point, Win8 says "Saved" (in left corner) but I get a message about "Autocapture" which is not mentioned and "FATAL: no bootable Medium Found"
First time in 12 years Windows Secrets let me down but the first time I tried any thing from Fred Langa. Disappointing

**Anabaptiston** · 2012-03-17 14:17

I had to do the same. At first I tried pablo234's advice, but it didn't work. This did. Thanks.

**wtharp2** · 2012-03-17 16:57

I futzed around enough with it to get the ISO loaded, sort of... But all I can see at that point is the beta/fish, with a black background. I have no indicators Win 8 is doing anything. Anyone know how I can get it to move on, or get feed back that it really is doing something?

Thanks!

Thread: Step by step: How to safely test-drive Win8

Thread Tools

How to mimic missing first Run Wizard

Posting Permissions

Internet Services

Web Development

Digital Marketing

Consumer Tech