W500 and Windows 8?

[EmailGuy]

I just installed the Consumer Preview. I wanted to keep Windows 7 as well. I have a 64 GB SSD so I figured I could squeeze them both in.

Instead of shrinking my existing partition and installing Windows 8 in a separate partition, I went the route of creating a VHD on my Windows 7 partition. The Windows 8 install was able to see the VHD as a separate partition and starting installing, but when it gets to the point where it reboots it came up with an error about not enough space.

I had 30 GB of free space on my Windows 7 partition and I had created a dynamic VHD with a maximum size of 50 GB. The actual VHD after installing Windows 8 is only 6.5 GB. I do that with VMs on VMWare all the time (make the dynamic disk larger than the actual free space). That doesn't work for a VHD for Windows 8. When it boots Windows 8 it actually expands the VHD to it's maximum size. I had to delete the VHD and use BCDEDIT to change the default boot partition back to the Windows 7 partition to get my system to boot.

I then tried again and made the maximum size of the VHD 28 GB. I now have a Windows 7/Windows 8 dual boot with Windows 8 being a VHD.

I have one unknown device that I believe is the rotation sensor. I'll have to install the driver for that and see if that works.

It didn't automatically recognize the bluetooth device. It had an exclamation point. I just had it automatically update the driver and that worked. I was able to pair a bluetooth mouse and keyboard.

[warnold]

Anyone figure out how to enable the snap to feature on a w500?

It won't work. the 1280 x 800 Iconia resolution is to low. 1366 x xxxx is the minimum you need for side x side App pinning/snapping in Win8.

Cheers.
Sheeds.

It is possible to enable Windows 8 Snap with a registry edit for our W500.

To enable Windows Snap follow the instructions here:
Enable Snap Feature Of Windows 8

Or you can download this tool if you are not comfortable with editing the registry.
Download Informer: Windows 8 Snap Enabler

Hope that helps!

[gammite]

It is possible to enable Windows 8 Snap with a registry edit for our W500.

To enable Windows Snap follow the instructions here:
Enable Snap Feature Of Windows 8

Or you can download this tool if you are not comfortable with editing the registry.
Download Informer: Windows 8 Snap Enabler

Hope that helps!

these "fixes" no longer work for the consumer preview. they work fine for the developer version that was released last fall.

[warnold]

these "fixes" no longer work for the consumer preview. they work fine for the developer version that was released last fall.

oh... i see... i didn't know they disabled the hack on consumer preview... bummer...

[Pikey]

Hello folks!

I'm a new user with the Acer W500 running Win 8 and have a question concerning the 'PowerUser Task Menu' that is detailed here ...

Windows 8 Guide: The Win+X Menu, aka The Power User Menu | Windows7hacker

This seems impossible to get to with normal tablet gestures , it's OK with the keyboard shortcut of course .. Win + X .. and very easy with a mouse!

[superbomb17]

it must work
F12 boot menu might be disabled by default
i have tried many times and it works only this way:
when "loading windows" screen, keep pressed the power button until it turns off. After that, press short power and windows keys at the same time, the cursor should appear and stay longer than usual and you can use F2 to go to BIOS.

Acer Support - Answers, E-Mail, Chat - How do I enter the BIOS on the Iconia Tab W500?

I don't understand what you mean here - could you rephrase what you're saying? I tried:
Held power button, device powered off as soon as window loading appeared, then released power button for just a second and held both power and windows button, this has no effect.
Can you please explain what I'm doing wrong?

[Pikey]

Hello folks! ...

This seems impossible to get to with normal tablet gestures , it's OK with the keyboard shortcut of course .. Win + X .. and very easy with a mouse!

In case anyone else was wondering , it seems it's not implemented yet!

according to this chart anyway ... Windows 8 Cheat Sheet: Get Started Easily! - Dr. Doris Chen's Blog - Site Home - MSDN Blogs

[vap3]

so does screen auto rotate work with w500 win 8 cp?

[EmailGuy]

so does screen auto rotate work with w500 win 8 cp?

It works on mine.

I installed the 32 bit version of Windows 8 CP. I don't recommend the 64 bit version because there are some driver issues. You won't get any benefit out of the 64 bit version anyway since the W500 only has 2 GB of RAM.

You have to install the rotation block utility from Windows 7 to make it work.

[superbomb17]

I don't understand what you mean here - could you rephrase what you're saying? I tried:
Held power button, device powered off as soon as window loading appeared, then released power button for just a second and held both power and windows button, this has no effect.
Can you please explain what I'm doing wrong?

Anyone got any ideas?