In-Depth with the Windows 8 Consumer Preview
by Andrew Cunningham, Ryan Smith, Kristian Vättö & Jarred Walton on March 9, 2012 10:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Microsoft
- Operating Systems
- Windows
- Windows 8
Windows Recovery Environment
The Windows Recovery Environment, or WinRE, has actually been around for awhile. It was first introduced in Windows Vista as a basic boot environment from which users could run tools like System Restore, Startup Repair, and the Command Prompt, and it could also restore a complete OS image created by Windows Backup.
This menu remained basically unchanged in Windows 7, but in Windows 8 it picks up Metro styling and also replaces the text-based menu that appears when you press F8 at Windows startup, one of the last bastions of the Windows 9x/NT era to make it into 2012 relatively unchanged.
The new graphical menu presents all of the same options as the old WinRE, as well as access to the new Refresh and Reset functionality—the main difference is that options for booting into Safe Mode are buried in the Advanced Options rather than coming up right when you press F8. When you choose a function like System Restore, the desktop-style tools included in Windows Vista and Windows 7 will pop up and walk you the rest of the way through the process. Most of the troubleshooting options require you to input the name and password for an administrator on the computer, to prevent tampering.
There’s nothing groundbreaking here, but the Metro styling is functional and attractive. See the screenshot gallery below for more.
Secure Boot and UEFI Support
After Metro, this is probably one of Windows 8's more misunderstood features, so let's try to break it down and demystify it: UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is a replacement for the legacy BIOS found in most PCs. UEFI support has been around in the 64-bit versions of Windows since Vista, but it has only recently started to see wider adoption in PCs. In addition to being more modern and flexible than BIOS, UEFI supports a feature called Secure Boot, which can compare signatures in drivers, OS loaders, and other things against security certificates stored in firmware to verify that your computer is using a known safe bootloader rather than a malware bootloader. On both ARM and x64 computers certified for Windows 8, Secure Boot will be enabled by default to prevent these potential exploits. Note that this is an extremely brief overview of the functionality—you can read more on the Building Windows 8 blog if you’re interested.
Now, the problem people have with this new feature is that it can potentially be used to block any non-Windows bootloader from functioning, including those used in operating systems like Linux. By default, this is true, but you’ve got an out: in all x86-based Windows systems that ship with Windows 8, you should be able to add and remove security certificates from UEFI as needed (thus adding certificates that Linux needs to be recognized as a trusted operating system) or disabling secure boot entirely (making the Windows 8 PC act more or less like most Windows 7 PCs do now).
This will be slightly different for Windows on ARM—WOA systems will also support UEFI and thus the Secure Boot feature, but users won’t be allowed to add certificates or disable the feature, and OEMs will be disallowed from shipping updates or tools that unlock the bootloader (as some Android tablet makers have been known to do). You might not like this behavior, but the fact remains that this is how the vast majority of ARM devices work today. Linux advocates act as though Microsoft has taken something away in disallowing third-party OSes on WOA devices, when in fact they’re disabling nothing that hasn’t already been disabled on most competing tablets.
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freedom4556 - Friday, March 9, 2012 - link
Two for me, but it's the default action for my button. With an SSD, why sleep when cold booting is as fast as coming out of hibernation?flexy - Friday, March 9, 2012 - link
For me this sounds like Win 8 is as necessary as a bike is for a fish, assuming that the vast majority of Windows users has not even a remote interest in "touch" nonsense or will ever plan to use a Microsoft driven tablet PC.THOSE who will get a tablet will MUCH LIKELY get an Ipad, as does the rest of the people due to the "hip" and "coolness" factor of Apple.
Again...what is the point of Win8?
Or is it simply born coming from wishful thinking at Microsoft envisioning everyone with a Windows tablet in the future (as compared to the ipad)? Which, in all likelihood will fail, but that's only my opinion.
It's just odd to me that MS obviously targets a niche market by supporting features and options which in reality no one uses.
And "it’s quite usable on a laptop and desktop"...could be just another wording for that it's really a waste to even consider it because it's awful.
Again..how many of us Windows users are "tablet users"? Like 0,01%?
Sabresiberian - Friday, March 9, 2012 - link
"The File menu is usually always present"How can something be "usually", which by definition means there are times when it is not, and "always", which means there are no times when what you are describing is absent?
Sorry to pick on you here about your grammar, but I keep seeing this kind of phrase and it's not just bad grammar, it's a bad way of thinking. (Grammar often reflects the processes of the mind.) It's fuzzy communication with a mixed message.
;)
PopinFRESH007 - Sunday, April 15, 2012 - link
+1!!!One of my co-workers says "averagely on average usually all the time" drives me insane!
Braden99 - Friday, March 9, 2012 - link
I work with applications like Maya, Photoshop etc. and find my productivity has not been effected at all in Windows 8. Most of the complaints about Windows 8 are grossly exaggerated, by users who cannot easily adapt to change. MS needed to do something big to insure relevance into the future, prepare for new hybrid devices, and entice a new generation of users, and for the most part every feature of the old start screen is still present. The desktop still exists, and explorer has more features than ever. Those "power" users would have probably been using the keyboard to activate and search through start menu, and now they still can, with same number of key presses (yes a context switch, but only for a second, or as quick as you can type and press enter).That said I'm hoping for a lot of tweaks that improve the features and direction MS are already going in - That's what I'm focusing on my attention on.
p05esto - Friday, March 9, 2012 - link
$10 says you are a MS plant. Nothing you say jives with the reality of hell that is Win8.TEAMSWITCHER - Friday, March 9, 2012 - link
The only reason for hastily welding the Metro interface onto the Windows desktop is to leverage the massive Windows user base to attract developers to Microsoft's nascent tablet platform. It's a classic Microsoft cowardly move. One they always fall back on when they realize they are getting badly beaten. Fortunately this tactic hasn't worked very often, the last time being the bundling of Internet Explorer to shut out Netscape.Metro is only the tip of Microsoft's tablet iceberg. Microsoft's hardware partners will have a difficult time competing against Apple's venerable iPad. Key components like processors, flash memory, batteries, cameras, and displays are cheaper for Apple due to the economies of scale. Microsofts partners will all be competing against each other as well as Apple and sales will be much lower. Don't believe me - just ask Android Phone makers how much profit they make competing against the iPhone.
futurepastnow - Friday, March 9, 2012 - link
Tablet sales are only a small part of it. Microsoft knows that the bulk will continue to be on x86 computers of various types.The new Windows app store is the real key to understanding Metro. MS sees the success of Apple's app stores and wants a piece of that action. To that end, they need people buying WinRT apps, which means forcing Metro on *everyone*.
jabber - Saturday, March 10, 2012 - link
WIndows 8 Tablet + Zune all over again.Its just too late.
Braden99 - Friday, March 9, 2012 - link
"but there’s still no way to use a different wallpaper for each desktop, something that OS X has supported forever"Actually you can in Windows 8. Go into Personalize>Click Desktop Background>Then you can right click pictures, and say set as monitor 1, or 2