Windows 8....urgh

[Bertie_Dellend]

you have to install the en-us language pack (or whatever its called) i believe as it dosent recognise en-gb as a language

 

Exactly right - install en-us language pack and then re-run installer. It will install ok then.

[Arthur]

Plus it seems to just have fundamental flaws. Like it won't install RSAT for Windows 8

You have to install the en-us language pack (or whatever its called) I believe as it doesn't recognise en-gb as a language

Do people not read the system requirements any more? Microsoft mentions it only supports 'en-US' underneath the download links.

[sted]

Do people not read the system requirements any more? Microsoft mentions it only supports 'en-US' underneath the download links.

 

ya cant read manuals thats just wrong

[sonofsanta]

Do people not read the system requirements any more? Microsoft mentions it only supports 'en-US' underneath the download links.

 

Still, that's a fairly stupid limitation that has never existed before, and even if they couldn't be bothered to get it working with the essentially-identical en-gb, I would have expected the installer to at least pick up on the lack of en-us and download/install the relevant files as part of its installation.

 

If they want to take Apple on (god only knows why), they need to be making things more useable and straightforwards, not going backwards

[tmcd35]

it dosent recognise en-gb as a language

 

Neither do most of the kids around here

[jinnantonnixx]

Still, that's a fairly stupid limitation that has never existed before, and even if they couldn't be bothered to get it working with the essentially-identical en-gb, I would have expected the installer to at least pick up on the lack of en-us and download/install the relevant files as part of its installation.

 

If they want to take Apple on (god only knows why), they need to be making things more useable and straightforwards, not going backwards

 

Quite so. Moreover, the language selection drop-down says 'English'. It doesn't say 'English-UK' or 'English-US'. I hardly think Sheridan can be blamed for missing the small print. And would an error message during installation have hurt anybody?

Edited January 15, 2013 by jinnantonnixx

[sted]

Still, that's a fairly stupid limitation that has never existed before, and even if they couldn't be bothered to get it working with the essentially-identical en-gb, I would have expected the installer to at least pick up on the lack of en-us and download/install the relevant files as part of its installation.

 

If they want to take Apple on (god only knows why), they need to be making things more useable and straightforwards, not going backwards

 

its never been an issue before as there has never been an en-gb version of windows before its always been en-us with a funny keyboard and currency symbols

 

as to usable and straight forward it is an admin tool not something 90% of users will ever have need of

[sonofsanta]

its never been an issue before as there has never been an en-gb version of windows before its always been en-us with a funny keyboard and currency symbols

 

as to usable and straight forward it is an admin tool not something 90% of users will ever have need of

 

I'm not saying admin tools should be Fisher Price Adminstration Kit, but if it's such a stupid design that it stumped @Sheridan, who knows his stuff, then it's probably something that needs addressing. I'd expect any installer that I download and that executes without an error message to result in a working program. Why would anyone think any different? As @jinnantonnixx says, an error message isn't exactly a challenging feature to implement - god knows Windows loves them enough any other time.

[Sheridan]

I've just seen the comments here about the en-us locale - so my UK bought Windows 8 PC cannot run the rsat tools? Without a download that cannot be accessed without a subscription to technet (which I don't have)?

 

Never mind the small print, thats just plain stupid. Only USA admins can use rsat in english without fannying about!

 

Like its been said - I simply downloaded the English download package for RSAT - its a package I'm familiar with so why should I read through the flipping language requirements! I bet not many of you do when downloading something you were specifically looking for!

 

Anyway, without RSAT my evaluation of Win8 is over.

Edited January 15, 2013 by Sheridan

[Arthur]

@Sheridan. Don't give up so easily!

 

so my UK bought Windows 8 PC cannot run the RSAT tools?

It can. All you need to do is this...

 

1. Press Windows Key + R to open the Run box (or go to the Win+X menu and select Run).
    
   
2. Copy-and-paste the command shown below into the box, then click OK.
    
   

   control /name Microsoft.Language

   
    
   

3. If it says Available for download next to English (United States), double-click English (United States) and click Download and install language pack. Windows will start downloading it.
    
   http://i.imgur.com/Xd3eA.png
    
   http://i.imgur.com/Yx0Nu.png
    
   http://i.imgur.com/DfhAg.png
    
   Once the language pack has been installed, Windows will prompt you to restart your computer.
    
   http://i.imgur.com/JAcm4.png
    
    
   
4. If English (United States) isn't listed however, click on the Add a language button, scroll down and double-click English, choose English (United States), click the Add button and then go to Step 3 above to actually install the language pack.
    
   http://i.imgur.com/92uKv.png
    
   http://i.imgur.com/ZcDXT.png
    
   http://i.imgur.com/xH38M.png

[Sheridan]

Thanks for the reply Arthur, but I've already been down that route. Problem is the 'Download and Install Language Pack' option doesn't appear when I add the us English language pack. It appears as if the en-us pack is there, but nothing gets downloaded and rsat still fails to install! It shouldn't be this difficult. When I go back to languages I see both en-us and en-gb languages installed although the us one can't be selected as the active windows language pack.

[gshaw]

Good info from @Arthur but what a stupid design (or lack thereof from MS) that turns a simple installation into a multi step waste of time and effort. Attention to detail, especially for those who have to run the systems every day goes a long way and seems to be sorely lacking from the current releases (Metro app deployment etc)

[Arthur]

the US one can't be selected as the active Windows language pack.

Have you tried removing the US language pack and adding it again? Are you installing the RTM version of RSAT (which is listed as v1.0 on the download page)?

Edited January 15, 2013 by Arthur

[Arthur]

If you run the PowerShell command below, does it say 'Installed' for both language packs?

 

Get-WindowsPackage -Online | Where-Object { $_.PackageName -like "*LanguagePack*" }

 

http://i.imgur.com/Ts9Tz.png

 

If not, run the following commands...

 

Invoke-WebRequest http://goo.gl/yEYlq -OutFile "$env:userprofile\Desktop\en-US_x64.cab"
Add-WindowsPackage -online -PackagePath "$env:userprofile\Desktop\en-US_x64.cab"

 

^ This assumes you are using the 64-bit version of Windows 8.

Edited January 16, 2013 by Arthur
Spelling

[Sheridan]

When I remove and re-add the US pack I get the mesage 'A Language pack isn't available'

 

When tried the powershell command I get the error 'An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format (NotSpecified: ( [Get-WindowsPackage]'

 

Why on earth would MS restrict the RSAT tools to US only in this way? Surely if support for other locales is already built in then the UK would be part of that!

 

I'm using 64bit Win8 and the latest RTM version of RSAT

Edited January 16, 2013 by Sheridan

[Sheridan]

Windows 8 test machine safely stored away

 

There is not one feature I would say is an improvement or enhancement to Windows 7 - just a ton of problems to deal with when deploying.

[SYNACK]

Microsoft here is having a bunch of free tech day events for W8 management and deployment, I'm registered for one of the Auckland ones half way through Feb.

 

Hopefully they should be able to shed some light on how they expect people to manage it. They had some Server 2012 ones but they booked out in 20 minutes.

[SYNACK]

The whole only 'en-US' thing is just another example of how the US companies don't give an excrement about anyone but the US market, this is why they alienate markets, sure its a pain to customise stuff but purposely breaking it for everyone else, arrogant nationalite fascists. MS is not alone either, all of them do it.

[Sheridan]

The sheer unpleasantness of Windows 8, and the way it is wholly designed for tablet use (I mean, come on - its awful on a laptop or desktop) seems to show that MS are moving away from the corporate/education market. It looks like the death of Windows as the standard OS for schools/colleges etc - maybe not immediately but in 5 years or so. I certainly wouldn't want to use it on a home device either. For once, OSX is looking tempting.

[echrada]

Windows 8 is an excellent OS, if only people would give it a proper try instead of switching it on and say 'no start' button and then urghh.....! Please do not rubbish something you are not prepared to invest a little bit of time in.

 

I am running windows 8 on a PC, a laptop both with no touch and a tablet (Acer W510) and have found it to be fast, responsive and great to use.

[sted]

Windows 8 is an excellent OS, if only people would give it a proper try instead of switching it on and say 'no start' button and then urghh.....! Please do not rubbish something you are not prepared to invest a little bit of time in.

 

I am running windows 8 on a PC, a laptop both with no touch and a tablet (Acer W510) and have found it to be fast, responsive and great to use.

 

As a home user its fine but its just not manageable in a corporate environment

[Roberto]

Windows 8 is an excellent OS, if only people would give it a proper try instead of switching it on and say 'no start' button and then urghh.....! Please do not rubbish something you are not prepared to invest a little bit of time in.

 

I am running windows 8 on a PC, a laptop both with no touch and a tablet (Acer W510) and have found it to be fast, responsive and great to use.

 

And I tried it for a month and then rolled back to Windows 7 as I had a large number of problems with it. Not just the start menu interface but other things too. There are good things in there but for me they were outweighed by the bad.

 

If only people would give other members the benefit of the doubt instead of assuming they all said "no start button and then urghh".

 

The question here isn't whether or not it's good for home use, that's a personal choice at the end of the day. The question here is how well will it behave in a professional educational environment. And I for one have my doubts about it doing well in the environment where I work.

[echrada]

Fair enough!

[Sheridan]

Windows 8 is an excellent OS, if only people would give it a proper try instead of switching it on and say 'no start' button and then urghh.....! Please do not rubbish something you are not prepared to invest a little bit of time in.

 

I am running windows 8 on a PC, a laptop both with no touch and a tablet (Acer W510) and have found it to be fast, responsive and great to use.

 

Nope, Windows 8 is a botch job. Its neither a tablet OS, nor a desktop/laptop OS, its a mash up to try and enter both markets. Microsoft have totally lost their way with this.

 

I have invested enough time in it to realise its a non starter. Please do not assume that I simply switched it on and moaned about a missing start button. I have been using it in the real world, where administration and compatibility are what count, and its a failure whereas Windows 7 at least had the functionality we need.

 

I guess we, like many other places, will be downgrading licenses to run Windows 7 until a proper alternative comes along.

Edited January 28, 2013 by Sheridan

[Domino]

Windows 8 is an excellent OS, if only people would give it a proper try instead of switching it on and say 'no start' button and then urghh.....! Please do not rubbish something you are not prepared to invest a little bit of time in.

 

I am running windows 8 on a PC, a laptop both with no touch and a tablet (Acer W510) and have found it to be fast, responsive and great to use.

 

Gotta agree with the guys above.

 

Been using it as my work desktop since rtm now, and there's no feature that makes it better than 7

 

It's harder to manage, control and use - and as such I can't recommend it to my users.

 

That's not an improvement no matter your how you view it.

 

Obviously IMHO and YMMV, but that's my honest opinion