Tag Archives: Windows 8

How to turn on client hyper-v in Windows 8

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In Steven Sinofsky’s this blog – Bringing Hyper-V to “Windows 8”. He talks about that Windows 8 will support virtualization on the "client" OS.  This is very helpful for developers as they typically have the need to setup additional test environment on their PC.

How to turn on client hyper-v in Windows 8

First, make sure your system meets the client hyper-v virtualization requirement, you have 64bit windows 8 OS and SLAT available on CPU.

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  1. Control Panel –> Programs
  2. Turn Windows Features On or Off
  3. Check Hyper-V, Click Ok

Note: If your system does not have the required virtualization support, the client Hyper-V feature will be greyed out. To check if your CPU is SLAT-capable, check this How to tell if your CPU Supports SLAT.

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The other cool thing is you can turn hyper-v on even if you are booting from VHD. This behavior is same server Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 R2.

Windows 8 Developer Preview Key

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To install Windows 8 Developer Preview you do not need a product key for activation. However, you would be asked to enter a product key while re-installing Windows 8 Developer Preview Key.

If you need to reinstall Windows Developer Preview or use the Reset functionality, you might be asked to enter this product key:

6RH4V-HNTWC-JQKG8-RFR3R-36498

If you’re running a server version of Windows Developer Preview, you can use this product key:

4Y8N3-H7MMW-C76VJ-YD3XV-MBDKV

The key is provided by Microsoft employee BillFill in msdn forum. You can find the BillFill’s post here

Windows 8 Shortcut Key Combination

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Here is a list of new shortcuts specific to Windows 8. You might it useful when you are in Windows 8 new Metro style UI. For me I found WinKey + C and WInKey + I really helps a LOT

Key Functionality
WinKey + spacebar Switch input language and Keyboard layout
WinKey + O Disable screen orientation
WinKey + Y Temporarily view the desktop
WinKey + Enter Launches Narrator Dialog
WinKey + PageUp Snap Metro style apps to left
WinKey + PageDown Snap Metro style apps to right
WinKey + C Opens Charms bar
WinKey + I Opens Settings charm
WinKey + K Opens Connect charm
WinKey + H Opens Share charm
WinKey + Q Opens Search pane
WinKey + W Opens Settings Search app
WinKey + F Opens File Search app
WinKey + Tab Cycles through Metro style apps
WinKey + Z Opens App Bar

How to install DotNet 2.0 or 3.5 on Windows 8

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Windows 8 Developer Preview includes the 2.0, 3.5 and 4.5 versions of the .NET Framework. However, only 4.5 is available for immediate use after a clean install. The versions 2.0 and 3.5 of the framework are not installed by default. If you open the Add/Remove Windows Features dialog you’ll see the “Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5.1” listed, but disabled.

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To install DotNet 2.0 or 3.5 on Windows 8,

  1. Go to Control Panel – Programs
  2. Turn Windows features on or off
  3. Check ‘Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5.1′
  4. Click OK.

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Delete windows.old

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Windows.old is a folder that contains archive information from previous windows system(XP/VISTA) when you upgrading to VISTA/Win7.  It mainly stores programs and files that are required to run the earlier version of Windows and contains following folders.

  • Windows
  • "Documents and Settings"
  • "Program Files"

You might end up having a windows.old folder taking up 20+ gigs on your system drive.

If you don’t need windows.old folder and want to safely delete this folder, follow the instructions below:

  1. Select Start, then All Programs, then Accessories, then System Tools, and then Disk Cleanup.
  2. If you are using Windows 7 or Windows 8, select Clean up system files. If you are using Windows Vista, select Files from all users on this computer.
  3. Select the Previous Windows installation(s) check box, and click OK.

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IMPORTANT: Be sure to back up all important documents/files from the previous OS before following this article.