Windows 8.1 Consumer Preview ruined my life

[sebazvideo]

Yesterday I had the most stupid idea I've had in a long time. I had a spare SATA drive from an old computer and I decided to install a giant virus. This giant virus is called Windows 8.1 Consumer Preview, which closely follows Windows 8 as the worst OS in the history of the universe, in which not only it's unusable, but also that it leaves your computer unbootable into anything that is not this godawful abomination.

The problem is, once I realized that what some people were saying about 8.1 being such an improvement over 8 wasn't true, I wanted to just take away the old drive and go back to my Windows 7 Pro installation. That's when the nightmare began.

First of all, this very poorly conceived attempt at an operating system takes about 30 seconds even to reach the stage where you can choose the OS to boot. But when choosing Windows 7, after a few seconds I get this error:

\Windows\System 32\winload.efi

Status: 0xC0000428

Info: The digital signature for this file could not be verified.

So I figured I would simply boot from the Windows 7 install DVD, choose a startup repair and be done. Boy was I wrong. After doing that unsuccessfully a few times, I went online from another computer to search for a solution. It turns out that several other people had that problem, but I tried every single suggestion I read in several forums and none of them worked. Things like this: http://www.eightforums.com/installa...em32-winload-efi-status-0xc0000428-error.html although many users seem to have the same error code but with the file winload.exe instead. Perhaps this has to do with the fact that I have made my boot drive a GPT.

So I figured at least I would wipe the small drive that I had the antichrist OS installed onto and install Windows 7 temporarily to at least be able to access the files I had in the boot drive. Well, this source of all evil OS corrupts the system so badly that after the Win 7 install disc finishes copying the files and reboots, the next time it still gives me the same 0xc0000428 error. The only way I was able to install Windows 7 was to physically unplug the other 3 drives in my computer and leave only the old small drive, then plug them back in when Win 7 was already installed.

By now I'm resigned to spend all weekend reinstalling Windows 7 and all my programs to go back to where I was, but I would really like to be able to boot into my older Windows 7 installation to finish some work before I do the new install.

So the first I did was to make a serious promise that I will never ever buy Windows 8, and given the way Microsoft has fallen out of touch with their customers, Windows 7 is the last Windows version I will ever have.

But other than that, can anyone think of a way I can boot into my older Windows 7 install? It's on a Seagate Barracuda 3 TB, one GPT partition if it makes a difference.

Thanks,

The guy who hates Windows 8 the most in the whole wide world.

Thread closed by request of OP
-ViRGE

 

[denis280]

D:Your giving me goose bump

 

[sebazvideo]

D:Your giving me goose bump

Everybody should get goose bumps from the mere thought of having Windows 8 installed on their computer.

 

[JEDIYoda]

personally I think you do not know where you speak...I like windows 8! It`s different but in a goods different way!!

 

[bbhaag]

Oh look another Win8 hate thread...color me suprised. This thread reeks of a pebkac error.

 

[sebazvideo]

Oh look another Win8 hate thread...color me suprised. This thread reeks of a pebkac error.

Yeah dude, pebkac error... I have been a computer geek for 20 years now, I've installed all versions of Windows since 3.1 on dozens of computers, and I also built several computers for myself, friends and clients which still work fine to this day, included the one I installed this abomination on, which has ran Windows 7 Professional without a single BSOD in a year and is far stable than any other PC or Mac I have ever used. Yea, I'm such a rookie...

Well, if you're such an experienced user, I assume you can tell me how to get rid of the Microsoft virus and boot into my Windows 7 installation that was working perfectly fine until yesterday. Otherwise you're just trolling.

 

[sandorski]

Been using Win 8 since Aprilish...not 1 issue to report.

 

[Imaginer]

Is your old Windows 7 Professional install a 32 bit system?

Between that and the workings of UEFI and GUID Partition Table Drives, that could be a culprit.

By the way, filling your post with bias instead of detailed technical information sure helps in the diagnosis.

 

[F1shF4t]

Here is a hint OP. If you are going to stuff around with installing a new OS unplug all your existing drives. (It's even a good idea to do so when doing a fresh install with other data drives plugged in) Windows can be completely retarded in where it puts the boot files.

 

[smakme7757]

Yep, always install windows with a single disk (volume) attached.

 

[jumpncrash]

well I was coming i here to tell you you should have unplugged your other drives, but others have beat me to it.

I have no constructive input though, so I will be leaving now

 

[thewhat]

OP, if you had done a system backup and you would be back to your old working system in minutes.


But yeah..

Here is a hint OP. If you are going to stuff around with installing a new OS unplug all your existing drives. (It's even a good idea to do so when doing a fresh install with other data drives plugged in) Windows can be completely retarded in where it puts the boot files.

Windows installation is indeed retarded.
It should at the very least warn you that you're about to overwrite the boot files on another partition.
And if it was any decent it would give you the option to make a completely separate install to another drive (which you would select with your motherboard/BIOS at boot).
Sigh.

 

[Deders]

Did you have to change any Bios settings to install 8?

I recently upgraded a laptop from windows 8 to windows 7 and found that it wouldn't boot anything that wasn't windows 8 due to a new 'security measure' that is implemented in the bios.

I can't remember which ones off hand but there were 2 settings I needed to change in the bios which would allow me to install 7.

 

[TechVill]

i don't like windows 8! it's not user friendly.

 

[Berryracer]

1) You should've disconnectd any other SSD/HDD in your computer when installing either Win 7 or Win 8 otherwise the bootfiles will be stretched over to other partitions which is very bad

2) for Windows 8, you need to have Secure boot enabled, CMS Disabled, and Fast boot enabled. For Windows 7, secure boot should be off, CMS enabled, fast boot disabled (since you can't have fast boot enabled while CMS is also enabled)

3) you shouldn't have installed 8.1 Preview when RTM is all over the internet

4) you don't know what you're doing, don't blame the OS

5) put a start menu app on Windows 8 and it's exactly like Windows 7 but faster

 

[phillyman36]

First time i installed Windows 8 i HATED IT. Then tried Windows 8.1 with Start8 installed and it wasn't bad. Now running Windows 8 with Start8 waiting for 8.1

 

[Berryracer]

First time i installed Windows 8 i HATED IT. Then tried Windows 8.1 with Start8 installed and it wasn't bad. Now running Windows 8 with Start8 waiting for 8.1

no need to wait bro. it's out since a week and it's RTM (same as final)

 

[phillyman36]

no need to wait bro. it's out since a week and it's RTM (same as final)

I know but i wanted to check with a forum member in pointing me to a legit iso didnt want to pick something on my own and have it not be the real deal lol

 

[Berryracer]

I know but i wanted to check with a forum member in pointing me to a legit iso didnt want to pick something on my own and have it not be the real deal lol

offcourse that is vital to get an untouched ISO

 

[amenx]

OP doesnt have to disconnect other HD's to prevent Win 8.1 from messing with them. He just needs to set the active flag on the Win 7 drive as not active and set the boot drive priority in bios to the drive he wants 8.1 installed on. Apparently he didnt do that so the 8.1 install put the boot files, mbr on the Win7 drive (which in normal circumstances is not a problem). Some boot repair measures (even with Win7/8 DVD) imo are not 100% reliable and things can go wrong, which apparently is what happened with the OP

 

[Mem]

Yeah dude, pebkac error... I have been a computer geek for 20 years now, I've installed all versions of Windows since 3.1 on dozens of computers, and I also built several computers for myself, friends and clients which still work fine to this day, included the one I installed this abomination on, which has ran Windows 7 Professional without a single BSOD in a year and is far stable than any other PC or Mac I have ever used. Yea, I'm such a rookie...

Well, if you're such an experienced user, I assume you can tell me how to get rid of the Microsoft virus and boot into my Windows 7 installation that was working perfectly fine until yesterday. Otherwise you're just trolling.

Try looking up what Win8.1 preview means ,my brother did an update on official Win7 a few months ago and yes it destroyed his PC,does it mean Win7 is crap?...People like to jump to conclusions as soon as they get there first problem,but we all know its easy to blame the OS rather then troubleshoot etc..I could throw in Win8.1 is not even officially out until October and what you were using is more or less beta version(you should know what beta means with 20 years of experience).

Are there risks to installing Windows 8.1 Preview?

Yes. Windows 8.1 Preview and Windows RT 8.1 Preview are stable and have been thoroughly tested, but aren't the finished product. Your PC could crash and you could lose important files. You should back up your data and you shouldn't test the preview on your primary home or business PC. You might also encounter problems like:

• Software that doesn’t install or work correctly, including antivirus or security programs.
• Printers, video cards, or other hardware that doesn’t work.
• Difficulty accessing corporate or home networks.
• Damage to some of your files.

You should carefully balance the risks and rewards of trying out the preview before you install it.

I will say I also have over 20 years of using PCs and operating systems actually more like 30+ years and have seen it all on both Linux and Windows,I have had issues over the decades with some ie Win3.1,XP,7,Ubuntu and Linux Mint to name a few(I still think they are are good operating systems regardless) but I never made pointless threads especially with beta operating systems, just did some detective work and fixed the issues.

My advice with respect get some fresh air then go out and enjoy life, wait for official Win8.1 or 9 rather then this pointless thread.

 

[sebazvideo]

OP, if you had done a system backup and you would be back to your old working system in minutes.

That's good advice, unfortunately I was out of space to do a major backup of my main drive, since my external backup drive is almost full.

Yet, every single past version of Windows shows the boot choices right after POST, so I figured that even if the demonic OS 8 wrote the boot manager I would just set it to always boot Windows 7. But I wasn't expecting that this abomination of an OS would take 25 seconds to even show me the choices, and then that it wouldn't let me boot into Windows 7 at all. I mean, I had plenty of dual boot installations before, many times with betas (and consumer previews are supposed to be one step ahead of betas) and this has never happened before.

 

[Blueychan]

Another sheep on the Windows 8 hate train.

 

[sebazvideo]

no need to wait bro. it's out since a week and it's RTM (same as final)

Well, I wouldn't pay a penny for this piece of crap OS, and if you're suggesting to download a leaked RTM copy, that's illegal, not to mention stupid because then you would have to install hacks to circumvent the genuine software validation. Too much trouble for something that is not worth it.

 

[MontyAC]

I'm using Win 8 since late last year. Been running great.