Tag Archives: windows 8.1

Install Windows 8.1 on an External USB Windows To Go

Posted on by
12

This video will show you how to Install Windows 8.1 on an External USB Windows To Go.

Hi All,
So I get loads of people on the 123myIT.com website and on the YouTube channel about how can they install Windows on an external drive USB drive so they can just carry that around and use the USB to plug into their Mac or PC hardware.

Well I was able to find a solution for this issue from most people and it is Microsoft’s “Windows to Go”. This allows you to install Windows on an external USB drive to and allows you to run the a copy of Windows basically on any PC or Mac, without having to go ahead and install it locally. Is Windows to go the answer?

Why would you want to do that? Well there are many benefits to this however the main benefits are:
* You can save disk space on the PC or Mac local drive.
* Its very portable, which means you can carry the hard drive and plug it into a friends or work PC.
* Your files stay on the USB so its safer.
* You can also setup the drive to be encrypted, which means if you lose the drive no one will be able to get your data.

Ok so let get into it. What do you need to make this happen.
You will need a few things. The first is you will need to get yourself a copy of Windows Enterprise. This is a special copy of Windows designed to large companies, however I found a place where you can get the Evaluation version.
So to do that watch this video.
Where to Download Windows 8.1 Enterprise Evaluation

The next step is to install that Enterprise copy like you would on a Mac or PC. To help out I made a video on how this is possible to install it on a Mac. Watch the video below.
Install Windows 8.1 Enterprise on a MacBook Air OS X Yosemite

Windows to Go

Once installed you can watch the video above Install Windows 8.1 on an External USB Windows To Go

Of course you will need an external USB drive to install Windows too. I suggest a USB 3 external hard drive with at least 40GB of disk space. You might be able to get away with a smaller drive but I would advise it, because you may want to have some space for App like Mcirosoft Office or some personal data like photos and videos.

Well I hope this helps out guys and good luck!
Matt

Where to Download Windows 8.1 Enterprise Evaluation

Posted on by
4

This video will show you Where to Download Windows 8.1 Enterprise Evaluation.

Hi All,
I have had allot of people on the 123myIT YouTube channel ask me how to install Windows on an external USB drive so that they can just carry the USB around and boot to it from any computer and run Windows without the need to completely install it on their Mac or PC.
Well in truth you cant do it with a the normal consumer grade versions of Windows. So I am talking about Windows 8.1, Windows 8.1 Student or Windows 8.1 Pro. However you can do it with Windows 8.1 Enterprise version which is a version of Windows supplied for large corporate enterprise companies. So you might say well that’s great Matt but how do I get a copy of this. My answer would be that will allot of money you might be able to buy yourself a copy. However I was able to find Where to Download Windows 8.1 Enterprise Evaluation version. This is an Evaluation version of Windows 8.1 Enterprise and I am not sure how long it might last for. But for those that really want to try and install Windows on an external USB drive this might be a cheap solution for you.

You will need a Microsoft account to get a copy, this can be a Hotmail, Outlook or Live account.

The video above will show you where to Download Windows 8.1 Enterprise Evaluation version. Once you have the Windows 8.1 Enterprise Evaluation ISO downloaded you will be able to use this copy to create what Microsoft call Windows to Go USB drive.

download windows 8.1 enterprise

Shortly I will create a video on how to setup Microsoft to Go, until the you can get notifications when this video has been released by subscribing to the 123myIT.com YouTube channel, direct link here.

For more information on Microsoft’s Windows to Go you can find the official page here.

Windows 7, 8, 8.1 Themes FREE

Posted on by
Reply

This video is for users that have purchased Windows from the 123myIT.com Store or Microsoft and will show you how to open and install Windows 7, 8, 8.1 Themes. These themes are FREE to download and install.

Hi All
Tis the season to be jolly! And since everyone has probably started decorating their home with some Christmas decorations, why not do the same with your Windows computer?
I have been using these Windows themes for about a year now and they are pretty awesome, and now I have just downloaded and I am running the Christmas theme. Its pretty cool it will refresh your back ground every now and then with a new high definition back ground and when you get sick of it you can simple go and download a new one.
For a while I was using the Antarctic theme, see the picture below.

Antarctic theme

I have to say it defiantly brightens up your Desktop back ground and lets face it we probably look at our devices allot during the day so why not brighten it up somewhat? Plus they are all FREE to download and use if you have the full version of Windows 7, 8, 8.1.

For Cat and Animal lovers their is a whole swag of different animal themes that you can add. Check out the Cats Everywhere theme picture below.

Cats Everywhere Theme

If you want to download the themes you can find the link under the 123myIT.com Downloads page here.
Of if you want the direct link you can get it here.

Have fun.
Matt

Create USB installation media for Windows 8.1

Posted on by
19

This video is for users that have purchased Windows 8.1 from the 123myIT.com Store or Microsoft and would like to create a USB installation media drive.

Hi All
This is a pretty cool one so I thought I would make a video on it to help people out. If you have purchased a copy of Windows 8.1 software through the 123myIT.com Store or directly through Microsoft, but didn’t buy the DVD or receive the ISO file as a download you will be able to follow this video and create USB installation media for Windows 8.1.
This process uses a tool called “Windows installation Media Creation Tool” and will allow you to download and create a bootable Windows 8.1 USB or ISO file. You can later on burn that ISO file to a DVD if you wish. And 123myIT has a few videos to show you how to burn ISO files to DVDs. See below.
On Windows
How to Burn an ISO to DVD Windows Bootable
Or a Mac.
How to Burn an ISO or DMG file to DVD on a Mac
The draw back to this process is you will need a legit product key to install the software. Also this process can only be done on a Windows computer. That can be a boot camp or VMware Mac or just another other Windows PC.

Windows 8.1 Product Key
If you are looking for the link the Windows installation Media Creation Tool, you can find it on the 123myIT Download page here. Or if you want the direct link to the Windows installation Media Creation Tool page you can click here.

You will need an internet connection to download the software and prepare for it to take some time as the 32bit version of the Windows software is around 3GB in size and the Windows 64bit version is around 4GB in size. If you are copying the files to DVD or USB make sure that that have 4GB or large capacity.

I hope that helps out.
Cheers
Matt

Create a bootable Windows 8.1 USB on a Mac running OSX Yosemite

Posted on by
34

This video will show you how to Create a bootable Windows 8.1 USB on a Mac running OSX Yosemite.

Hi All
Allot of 123myIT users have decided to take the plunge and upgrade their Mac OS X to Yosemite and I thought it might be a good idea to do a short video on how to create a bootable Windows 8.1 USB on a Mac running OSX Yosemite.
This video is mainly for people that want to be able to create a USB installer disk drive, so that they can install Windows on any computer whether it be a Mac or another brand. This method can also be used at a later date to reinstall Windows on the same Mac that you create the USB drive on.
So in the example in the video I created the USB on a early 2014 MacBook Air. In this process it also downloaded the Windows support software for this Mac hardware. This means it will run the boot camp installer after Windows gets installed. See the picture below.

Boot Camp Installer

So the If you want to check out the list of Windows support software or boot camp drives for your Mac a great place to start is the 123myIT boot camp drivers page here.

Bootable Windows 8.1 USB on a Mac running OSX Yosemite

In the photo above you can see a picture or the Yosemite desktop as the Windows files are being copied to the USB drive.
If you want more info on Apple Boot Camp you can find the official link here.
If you want to find out more about OS X Yosemite you can go to the official Apple page here.
Want to buy Windows 8.1? Check out the 123myIT.com Store page here.

Install Windows 8.1 on a Mac running OS X Yosemite

Posted on by
163

This video will show you how to Install Windows 8.1 on a Mac running OS X Yosemite. For this guide you will need the Windows 8.1 iSO file and an 8GB or larger USB drive.

Hi All
So the long awaited video of how to Install Windows 8.1 on a Mac running OS X Yosemite is finally here. I have tried to add in as much important tips as I could without making the video too long and I hope it helps those of you that run into some issues with the install.
The main issues people seem to get are:
* Windows iso file permission error. For some reason users get this issue with the Windows iso file is placed on the desktop. Its like Yosemite has permissions that doesn’t allow files on the desktop to be mounted for some reason. Copying the file to the users documents directory should fix this issue.

* GPT partition error. I have already setup a video with some tips on how to solve this GPT partitioning error. So click the link to the video if you are having issues with that. Hopefully those tips will get it working for you.

* Touchpad & Volume buttons don’t work. To solve this issue you will need to download the Windows support software or Boot Camp drivers. To do that click here for a link to download the this software for your model of Mac.

If you have any comments or questions please feel free to ask also if you need a copy of Windows 8.1 you can buy it through the 123myIT store or download the Preview copy from the 123myIT downloads page.

Yosemite OS X

Want to know more about Yosemite? Direct link to Apple here.

Fix GPT Error: Windows cannot be installed to this disk

Posted on by
58

This video & article will show you how to Fix Error: Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is of the GPT partition style.

The old GPT partition style error! Must be close to the most frustrating and annoying errors I have encountered in my time working with Mac.
In this video on how to Fix GPT Error: Windows cannot be installed to this disk error message, I explain a few different ways to try and fix this error. However lets talk about the possible root cause of the error.

Most people myself included get this error when trying to install Windows on a Mac and seems to be caused by the hard drive not being configured for UEFI mode. If your Mac or PC is UEFI-based then to install Windows your hard drive must be set up as UEFI mode or legacy BIOS-compatibility mode.

GPT Error Message

If you want to know more information on this issue then you can the Microsoft reference on this link.
Windows Setup: Installing using the MBR or GPT partition style

For example, if you receive the error message: “Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is not of the GPT partition style”, it’s because your PC is booted in UEFI mode, but your hard drive is not configured for UEFI mode. You’ve got a few options:

1. Reboot the PC in legacy BIOS-compatibility mode. This option lets you keep the existing partition style. For more info, see Boot to UEFI Mode or Legacy BIOS mode.

2. Reformat the drive for UEFI by using the GPT partition style. This option lets you use the PC’s UEFI firmware features.

You can do this yourself by reformatting the drive using the instructions below, or if you need to preserve the data, use a third-party utility to convert the drive to GPT format.

Ok so how do you fix it? Well you can try the options mentioned in the video, however I have found the best way to fix the issue was to backup my data in OS X.

Then do a Clean install of OS X.

And then try the boot camp process again from scratch. This process should sort out your hard drive partition type and resolve the issues with Windows not installing correctly on the disk.