Which virtual machine software is preferable for running Windows 8 Developer Preview? [closed]

Solution 1:

I would say that my favourite has to be VMware Workstation. However, restricting it to just your list:

• VirtualBox
  It works fine with the latest version. Follow this guide for a walk through on how to do it.

• VMware Server
  I can't find anywhere that specifically says no, nor I do have a way to test it, but I highly doubt it can; if it could I wouldn't like to use it. Remember that Windows 8 is heavily graphically accelerated - this is completely against what VMware Server is good at!

• VMware Workstation
  If you upgrade to the latest version (8.0.0 Build 471780) - released today as part of the Workstation 8 release - it can run Windows 8 fine.

• Microsoft Virtual PC
  Currently cannot run Windows 8; HAL error.

Solution 2:

I have successfully installed the Windows 8 Developer Preview in a VirtualBox (4.1.0) Virtual Machine. You cannot, however, install the Guest Additions as it errors with:

This version of Windows is not supported.

You therefore won't get shared folders, mouse pointer integration, etc. The graphics driver seems to be okay, though, and I can get it to 1280x1024 no problem. I've not tried playing videos or any of the included games.

I'd recommend running it with at least 1GB RAM. A clean install on a dynamic 120GB Virtual Hard Disk takes around ~6.3GB.

Solution 3:

From the Windows 8 blog posted 9/16:

Functional:

• Hyper-V in Windows 8 Developer Preview
• Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 R2
• VMware Workstation 8.0 for Windows
• VirtualBox 4.1.2 for Windows

Non-functional:

• Microsoft Virtual PC (all versions)
• Microsoft Virtual Server (all versions)
• Windows 7 XP Mode
• VMWare Workstation 7.x or older

Solution 4:

I installed it with no problems using Hyper-V on Windows Server 2008 R2. I wasn't able to use RemoteFX 3D Video Adapter, however. I gave it 8 GB of RAM and 120 GB hard drive space. The RAM was probably overkill, but I wanted to have fun with it.