How do you install Windows 8 on a new computer from scratch like an expert? Step by step guide

Esta versión del sistema operativo de Windows se ha convertido en una de las más utilizadas hoy en día, especialmente porque aún existen muchos usuarios de Microsoft que no se han decidido a dar el salto a Windows 10, siendo esta la última versión lanzada al mercado por esta compañía. Además, después de anunciarse el retiro de Windows 7 del soporte de Microsoft, son más los usuarios que quieren instalar esta versión en sus ordenadores.

Hay que mencionar que Windows 8 está disponible tanto para los ordenadores de mesa y portátiles, el mismo cuenta con una gran cantidad de herramientas y funciones que te ofrecerán prácticamente todo lo que necesitas de un SO. De la misma manera, hay que mencionar que este tiene un gran parecido a W10 en muchas funciones.

En el caso que quieras comenzar a instalar esta versión de Windows en tu ordenador y no sepas cómo hacerlo, aquí te vamos a enseñar cómo llevar todo este proceso a cabo de una forma muy sencilla y rápida. De igual manera, te enseñaremos cuales son los pros y contras que puedes conseguir con Windows 8, para ello sigue detalladamente todo lo que te enseñaremos a continuación en el post.

Pros y contras de Windows 8 ¿Por qué elegir este sistema operativo?

Before installing an unknown operating system on a computer it is very important to be able to know everything about it, this will allow you to know if it is worth installing or not . In general, when choosing an OS for a computer, one always looks for the one that is most complete and that offers the best options.

That is why here we are going to show you what are the pros and cons of W8 and why you should choose it as your operating system:

What are the advantages that Windows 8 offers?

• This Microsoft operating system has a new start menu that is very well worked, it only shows the applications that the user wants to have visible , so it allows to remove all those that do not use, helping to reduce visual stress.
• It offers Skydrive, this being one of the most striking applications , it allows users to have a virtual space and access it from any other device that has an Internet connection , Skydrive  works in a similar way to iCloud in Apple.
• When you create your account you can do it only with your Hotmail email, this will allow you to synchronize the applications of your mail, calendar , among others.
• It is a very personalized OS , where it has very attractive applications.
• Provides access from your home menu to email and instant messaging applications.
• Win 8 is very fast when you turn on the computer, if you come from using W7 you will surely notice the difference from the beginning .
• It has a very efficient operation , making it ideal for those teams with few hardware features.
• It has its own antivirus and malware program, so it offers you very good security .
• It has compatibility with next-generation external devices.
• It has an integration with social networks , so the user can receive notifications from the social networks associated with their Microsoft account.
• It is highly customizable , so its users can customize its design however they want.

What are the downsides of Windows 8?

• This operating system is mainly focused on tablets and not for computers, unless it has a touch screen, if the equipment does not have touch, your experience will not be very complete.
• Its Internet Explorer application, as it is not beta, has a disadvantage and that is that it does not allow the installation of Adobe Flash Player , so its users will not be able to see some videos and games.
• During its launch and first months all its applications were free, all this was changing as time passed where they began to be charged.
• This OS requires having an Internet connection to be able to carry out any type of task on it, when working offline there are usually many alerts that can be tedious .
• If the user is used to using free software due to its customization features , in the case of Win 8 this will not be possible.
• In previous versions such as Vista, XP and W7, they offered compatibility with the applications of previous versions , in this case Win 8 does not allow it due to its characteristics.

Knowing what benefits it offers and what cons you have , it can be said that the Windows 8 operating system has excellent functions and features that will surely help you get the most out of it . However, according to everything mentioned above, you can consider how good or not this version can be for you .

What are the minimum and recommended requirements that your PC must have to install Windows 8?

Before starting the Windows 8 installation procedure on your computer , it is very important that you know what are the minimum requirements that it needs and what recommendations your PC should have so that it can be installed. Keep in mind that depending on the conditions that this OS demands and if your PC can offer them , its operation will depend . Therefore, being able to know all this is extremely important before starting the installation of it.

So that you can be completely clear if your computer is capable of supporting Windows 8, here we are going to show you what are the minimum, recommended and additional requirements that you must take into account for this:

Minimum requirements

In order to carry out this process, your computer must meet these minimum requirements that are required by Microsoft in order to install Windows 8:

• Hard disk space: Must be 16GB (32-bit) or 20GB (64-bit) minimum.
• Processor: The processor must be 1 gigahertz (GHz) or higher, it must also support PAE, SSE2, NX.
• Graphics card: It is important that you have a Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics disk, with a WDDM driver.

Recommended Requirements

The recommended requirements are those that your PC should have so that it can function optimally on it .

They are the following:

• If your computer had the version of Windows XP or Vista installed previously, it is not recommended to install Windows 8 or 8.1 directly on it . This is because these operating systems do not support this option in their updates so it will generate an installation error . In this case you would have to do it through a DVD after having completely formatted the machine.
• It is essential that before starting the download and installation you are completely sure that your PC has the minimum requirements for it. this will allow it to support new features and updates that are added to w8.
• The more up-to-date your machine is, the better the Microsoft operating system will work. Nor is it necessary that it be state-of-the- art, but it does have the minimum requirements and a little more.

Additional requirements

Finally we find the additional requirements , as the name says, these are not mandatory, but they can help improve the functioning of the system on the computer, so the user can improve its performance and get the most out of it, since the OS it will be much more efficient .

Therefore, here we show you what these additional requirements are:

• If you are going to use W8, it is recommended that you always have an active Internet connection , since most of its functions are performed from a network connection, such as access to the Windows store to download and run different types of applications .
• It is also recommended that the computer have a minimum screen of 1024 x 768.
• If you want to use the secure boot feature , then you will need firmware that is compatible with UEFI v2.3.1 Errata B and with the Microsoft Windows CA in the UEFI signature database.
• If you want to take advantage of the touch functions that Win8 offers  , then you will need a tablet or monitor that is compatible with this type of technology.
• In order to dock some applications , it will be necessary that you have a minimum resolution of  1366×768  and a network connection.
• In order to make use of all the features of the OS, it will be necessary for the user to have an open Microsoft account .
• As it does not have compatibility with Adobe Flash Player, it will be necessary that you have a graphics card compatible with DirectX 10 or higher , this will allow you to enjoy some games and programs that do not work without it.
• It has free TV content , but it will vary depending on the geographical location of the user. It is important to mention that in some cases this function may involve additional charges .
• If you want to watch DVD discs, it will be necessary to use external playback software.
• For Client Hyper-V system will require 64 – bit services network address translation of the second level together with 2GB of additional RAM.
• If the user wants to take advantage of Windows Media Center both to play and record TV programs on it, then it will be necessary to have a TV synchronizer .

Learn step by step how to create a Windows 8 installation CD / DVD or USB

In order to carry out the installation of Windows 8 on your computer, it is necessary to have an ISO image, it can be created in two different ways , one of which can be through a USB drive, which will allow you to install from it or from a CD / DVD, with either of the two ways you can start creating your ISO image and then start with the Microsoft OS installation. According to this, here we are going to teach you how to create a Windows 8 installation CD / DVD or USB.

To do this, follow each of the methods that we will teach you below:

USB

One of the most common ways to install any version of Windows is from an external drive, in this case a USB.

In order to create a bootable USB flash drive from an ISO image, you need to take into account the following detail:

• The first thing you should have is a pendrive with at least 4 GB of available capacity, it must be completely empty to perform this  procedure  Likewise, if you have information on it when creating the installation USB, it will erase all the information that is contained there.
• This is necessary since when decompressing the ISO file , it will occupy practically 4GB of memory , so having a pendrive with a smaller capacity will not allow this function to be carried out.

Taking all this into account, you only have to start with this procedure from a USB, to do this, follow these steps:

• To start with this procedure you need to download the Windows 8 ISO image , to download it you can do it directly from the official Microsoft website.
• Next , Microsoft’s USB / DVD tool will be used for Windows 7, although it was developed for Windows 7, it is also compatible with Windows 8 ISO files.
• The next thing will be to start the procedure by downloading and installing the Win7 USB / DVD software.
• Once downloaded and installed you must double click on the software icon that appears on the desktop . The first thing you should do is select the W8 ISO file , which you downloaded earlier, for this you must click the “Browse” button and look for the ISO file in the address where you have it stored.

• When you have already selected it, you must click on the “Next” button to continue.
• Now you must select the type of media if DVD or USB , in this case USB is selected since the procedure will be executed from there, for this you must have the bootable USB drive at hand .

• After this you must connect the USB drive to the computer , there you must make a backup of all the data and select the “Refresh” button so you can see your USB drive in the list . Then you must select the button “Start copying” to run the Windows 8 installation files from the USB drive .

• You may get the following message “The selected USB device must be deleted to continue”, if you want to delete all the content of the device click on “Delete USB device”. Here all the data stored there will be deleted as mentioned previously in the post.
• Then you must click on the “Yes” option to continue.

• Here you will find the message of “Files copied succesfully”, in this case you must exit the application and use the USB device to install Windows 8 from there.

CD / DVD

The other way to install Windows is through a CD / DVD, therefore here we are going to teach you how to create a bootable DVD from the ISO file using a third-party tool .

For this, it will be necessary that you follow each of the steps that we will teach you below:

• To start the procedure, it will be necessary to download the ISO file of Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 , in case you have already downloaded it then you must skip this step.
• The next thing will be to download the Passcape ISO Burner software , and there you must extract the zip file so that you can get the ISOBuner.exe file. It should be mentioned that it is portable software so it does not require any installation . After all this, you must click on the ISOBurner.exe file so that you can run the software.
• Now on the home screen, in the section to create DVD you must select the option “Burn ISO image to CD / DVD” and then select the Windows 8 ISO file by clicking on the button next to the ISO image file of origin .

• Here you must select the “Next” button so that you can choose the CD / DVD burner in case you have two or more. Next you must insert the blank DVD into the optical drive of the computer and click “Burn” so that you can start writing the ISO file to the DVD.
• This procedure usually takes a few minutes, mostly this process takes approximately 20 minutes.
• After the ISO image is already burned on the CD / DVD, then you will have everything ready so that you can start installing Windows 8 on the PC.

Download ISOBurner Windows

Install the Windows 8 operating system step by step like a pro

Fulfilling all the requirements for the installation and already having the ISO image recorded on the CD / DVD or USB, then everything is ready to start the Windows 8 installation procedure on your PC .

Therefore, in order to install W8 from an external USB memory or a CD / DVD you must follow each of these steps:

• The first thing to do is to insert the Windows 8 disk in the DVD or USB drive, if necessary, the boot order must be changed in the BIOS so that they can be installed from these devices . Once the installation process starts, the following window will appear on the screen.

• In this image you must select the language of the installation and click “Next”. There you will see another window where you can start with the installation of Win8, to do this simply click the “Install now” button.

• In the next window, the installation system will ask you to enter the Windows 8 key, this is necessary to continue with the installation process , in this case you must enter it so that you can acquire the new license . Once this is done you must select the “Next” button.

• Now you will see everything related to the license terms , if you agree with all this you must accept it and select “Next” to continue with the procedure.

• Here you will see a new window where Windows will ask you if you want to update Windows 8 from a previous version of the operating system already installed on the computer or if you want to perform a new installation of Win8. In this case we will select from scratch on an empty partition , so the “Custom” option will be chosen .

Create partitions on the disk

At this point the installation program will ask you on which hard disk or disk partition you want to install Windows 8.

Here you will have several options such as the following:

• In the case that you already have a partition created or if you have free space to partition and you don’t want to make partitions , then you can select the disk or partition where Win8 will be installed. Then click “Next” to continue with the installation.
• You can also do the opposite, if you want to create partitions on the hard drive this is the time to do it within installation , for this click on “Drive options (Advanced)”.

• In the next window you must click on “New” so that you can create a new partition in the unpartitioned space of your hard drive , in this case it is 120 GB.

• Here you must select the size in which you want the new partition and click “Apply”. In this case , a 50 GB partition will be created, which is also equivalent to 51200 MB, there will be where the W8 installation is carried out.

• The following window will appear where it will indicate that you could create partitions for Windows and select “OK”.

• After this you will have created the partition of the size specified above, as well as a partition reserved for Windows with a size of 350 MB. If you want to create a new partition on the space that is still unpartitioned, then you must select the unpartitioned space and click “New” so that a new partition can be created and indicate the size of it.

• When all the desired partitions have been made, you must now choose the partition where you want the Microsoft operating system to be installed and select “Next”. In this case it will be installed on the first 50 GB partition created .

Installation process

At this point, the Windows 8 installation process begins , it is divided into several parts where it will ask you to restart the system several times.

With this in mind, now proceed with each of these steps:

• As already mentioned, the system will restart to continue with the installation steps :

• After restarting, a window will appear showing you that the system is preparing to continue with the procedure.

• After this, the first window with the new operating system interface will appear , here it invites you to select a color for the wallpaper and a name for your computer. So, select your favorite color and give your team a name and finally click “Next” to continue.

• When the background color and computer name have already been selected , the installation software offers you to perform a quick configuration of the system , either with the configuration recommended by Microsoft for its users or through a personalized configuration , in this case it is left to your disposal which one to select . The only thing you should know is that it can be changed once Win 8 is installed, so we will select “Use quick settings”.
• In the next window you must enter an email address , if you want to know what this step is for in detail, then you can click at the bottom of the screen on “Don’t you want to log in with a Microsoft account?”.

• Keep in mind that here you can log in in two different ways, either by using a Microsoft account with the option to download applications from the Microsoft Windows Store or by using a local user account with which you can connect to the operating system , This way you will have to create a local account for the computer you use and it will not synchronize with the configuration between your computers as if it would happen with an email from Microsoft.
• When you have already understood the importance of inserting an email in this case, you can choose the option that most interests you, in this case we will select “Local account”.
• After you have selected a “Local Account”, you will be asked for a username and password and a hint of the password in case you forget it and need to recover it . Once these data have been entered, you must click on “Finish”.

• Everything is practically ready, here the configuration will be applied according to everything previously selected.
• At this point, the installation of Windows 8 will have finished , here you will be shown the new Windows start screen.

• To access the traditional Windows desktop you must click on the “Desktop” icon and from there you can begin to carry out each of your activities in Win8.

If you have any questions, leave them in the comments, we will answer you as soon as possible, and it will surely be of great help to more members of the community. Thank you! 😉