Your Thoughts on the Windows 8.1 Preview

[Andrew Milne]

is there anyone experience this?

View attachment 36493

I have exactly the same problem and would like to know if anyone else has it before I go on and try and install the full blown thing

 

[Alex Dean]

I had the same issue on my RT; apparently it does that if you have English-UK as your language instead of English-US. But my RT installed fine although it keeps telling me its not available on my desktop and laptop.

 

[Muessig]

Yeah, check out my earlier reply in this thread. Also this quote from the download page over at Windows 8.1 Preview - Microsoft Windows right underneath the "Get the update" button:

Note: before you download: If you’re using an English version of Windows, you can only install Windows 8.1 Preview from the Windows Store if your OS base language is English (US).

 

[Rico]

I just got my Surface RT yesterday, and had to wade through four hours of updates to make sure everything was up to date. Took another hour for 8.1, from download time to booting to the 8.1 desktop.

Metro apps do feel more jittery when scrolling but no real issues yet. The new features, like the ability to swipe up on the keyboard to enter numbers, are very welcome. Word suggestions are also quite nice. I did have to use the classic control panel to adjust my magnification level on the desktop; the Metro screen for the same wouldn't let me do it. I'm loving the unified search and search hero in Bing. I searched for a restaurant and got their hours, number, and a mal within a few swipes and taps from the start screen; super fast and way easier than before or with any other desktop OS. Everything seems to work abd flow slightly better than before. I'm loving it so far; just wish my Touch Cover didn't require to much pressure to activate, but I think that's a hardware issue. MS needs a way to adjust this.

 

[stevearsenault]

Has anyone figured out how to integrate SkyDrive picks in the pictures app? All I get now is picks on the device.

The photo app seems bugged, and unfortunately it cannot be reinstalled so we'll have to hang tight until they release a fix. They show up when you use the file picker, so it is clear this is a bug. That being said, it appears they removed the Facebook and Flickr integration, unfortunately.

 

[Nick Archambault1]

To answer some questions. Yes you can update from Windows 8.1 Preview to Windows 8.1 when it comes out. I did the same for Windows 8 release preview.

I think its a great update for being free. Does not change a whole lot but certainly improves the experience with Windows 8. The greatest improvement in my opinion seems to be IE 11.

 

[berty6294]

oh sweeeeettt, Microsoft included a modern style calculator in 8.1. There goes the only app I made for Win8 lol

 

[nokialove]

Really enjoying the update so far.

I'm extremely impressed with IE 11 on my Surface RT. It is considerably faster and more responsive. I also love having the tabs on bottom.

 

[Tafkas373]

Ohh, it sure could be an awesome update. But the preview is unusable on my VaioTap 20, which is ironic because MS uses one in the picture on the preview-site . Screen brightness is messed up at 100%, and everything is dead-slow. I'm trying a rollback this very minute. This sucks.

 

[realwarder]

Really enjoying the update so far.

I'm extremely impressed with IE 11 on my Surface RT. It is considerably faster and more responsive. I also love having the tabs on bottom.

The tabs on the bottom still throw me. But I agree that it appears mostly faster except page back which sometimes stalls. Ran a few benchmarks and it now appears to perform about the same as an iPad 3 from a javascript perspective.

 

[realwarder]

oh sweeeeettt, Microsoft included a modern style calculator in 8.1. There goes the only app I made for Win8 lol

Oddly it doesn't install on my unit. Perhaps after a reboot it will.

 

[Narse77]

Ohh, it sure could be an awesome update. But the preview is unusable on my VaioTap 20, which is ironic because MS uses one in the picture on the preview-site . Screen brightness is messed up at 100%, and everything is dead-slow. I'm trying a rollback this very minute. This sucks.

After the install of 8.1 Windows does a lot of work in the background with indexing etc. It took about 4 hours for my Surface RT to normalize. It's now quite a bit faster than 8 was.

 

[Tafkas373]

It is a preview so I ask the guys who used it to please post back if it is stable, I use my Win8 as my primary device.

No. Really really really very much not stable. It's a preview, and so far a rather bad one for me compared to the Windows 8 previews. But there are updates coming already. Maybe they help. 8.1 is gonna be awesome, but the preview isn't just yet. That's what I can tell you.

 

[Tafkas373]

After the install of 8.1 Windows does a lot of work in the background with indexing etc. It took about 4 hours for my Surface RT to normalize. It's now quite a bit faster than 8 was.

On a Surface you seem to get premium treatment . But sewing what the rollback would mean I decided to try and fix it first anyway. Does anyone happen to know how to reinstall the reader? Store tells me I have it, but I uninstalled after numerous crashes. My screen is now lying flat on my desk, shooting all its light at the ceiling and quite viewable from where I'm sitting. I expect Intel to fix this. See how I'm stupidly hopeful again? Maybe 8.1 might even arrive on Atoms next year!!

 

[dayoungtx]

Anyone else having problems with the download link. When I try to follow it I get a message saying " Something went wrong and we can't sign you in right now" but I am actually already signed into to my Microsoft account... not sure why, but I can't get to the download page...

 

[jmerrey]

The photo app seems bugged, and unfortunately it cannot be reinstalled so we'll have to hang tight until they release a fix. They show up when you use the file picker, so it is clear this is a bug. That being said, it appears they removed the Facebook and Flickr integration, unfortunately.

You can get other folders to show up in the pictures app, for example pictures from you SD card, by right clicking the folder and selecting "include in library" and then the appropriate folder. I attempted that with my skydrive pictures folders, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to work.

 

[aximtreo]

1. Everything will be there, if you decide to upgrade from 8 pro to 8.1 preview.
2. Yes, you are able to upgrade from 8.1 preview to the final rtm 8.1, but you will lose all the programs you installed(desktop and modern ones). The upgrade is free, you can find that on the 8.1 preview page.

By losing your programs and have to re-install... Do you mean all pre and post update programs or just those installed after the 8.1 upgrade?

 

[realwarder]

I dislike it when people say things feel faster, but my RT does feel faster with this update on it. More today than yesterday.

 

[realwarder]

By losing your programs and have to re-install... Do you mean all pre and post update programs or just those installed after the 8.1 upgrade?

If history is a guide, you will loose all programs. For App Store programs, it is trivial to reinstall from the store. For desktop apps, have your installers handy.

 

[stephen_az]

Is it true that you can't update from 8.1 preview to full blown 8.1 after it comes?
Some people says you can't some people says you can, it's just confusing and i can't find an official source who will convince me.

You have not been able to upgrade from a preview or beta version of a Microsoft OS directly to the release version in years. This will almost certainly be no different.