How to Install Windows 8 on VMware Virtual Machine?

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Most of you already know that an early build (7850 M1) of Windows 8 was leaked last week which was later declared as a legitimate build by many reliable sources. Last night my download of Windows 8 got complete and here is my how-to guide on installing Windows 8 on VMware virtual machine. Before starting, note that this is still a beta release of Windows 8 which is based on Windows 7 kernel, so do not use this as your primary OS otherwise you might lose your precious work due to unexpected bugs and crashes.

Minimum Recommended Requirements:

• 1 GHz or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
• 1 GB RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
• 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)

Steps to Install Microsoft Windows 8 on VMware Virtual Machine:

1. Download leaked build of Windows 8 from here. Once downloaded, you should have an ISO file with name:

6.1.7850.0.winmain_win8m1.100922-1508_x86fre_client-enterprise_en-us.iso

2. Download VMware Player or VMware Workstation for your PC. You can install VMware on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. If your PC's specs are equal or close to the above minimum requirements, you should download VMware Player.
3. Once you have downloaded and installed VMware on your PC, launch VMware program and navigate to File » New » Virtual Machine option.



4. Choose Typical (Recommended) configuration and click on the Next button.



5. Choose Installer disk image file (iso) and click on the Browse button. Select Windows 8 ISO file which you downloaded in step 1. Click on the Next button to continue.



6. Select Microsoft Windows as the guest operating system and choose Windows 7 from the version menu.



7. Leave the Windows product key field blank unless you have one :P Enter your full name and password. Once done, click on the Next button.



8. As soon as you will click on the Next button, you will see VMware warning for installing Windows without a valid product key. Choose Yes to continue to next step.



9. Set virtual machine name as Windows 8 and click on Next button.



10. Choose your maximum disk-size you want to assign to Windows 8 installation. I will choose 20 GB but you can choose any size upto 40 GB (Recommended)



11. Now VMware will show you the summary of virtual machine settings. Click on Finish button to create Windows 8 virtual machine.



12. As soon as you will hit the Finish button, VMware will create and power ON your Windows 8 virtual machine.



13. Now simply follow the on-screen instructions to install Windows 8 on your virtual machine.



14. During installation, your Windows 8 virtual machine might restart automatically.



15. Once installed, its time to explore the new OS :)

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