# What I know Windows 8 Comsumer Preview Won't Do!



## Amerisphere (Mar 17, 2012)

Many of you may wanted to know if "Windows 8 Consumer Preview" would run on a computer with less than 1 gigabytes of ram. I can now confirm that you cannot. I tried installing Win 8 CP onto a Dell Optiplex GX260 Pentuim 4 with 512MB of ram.
My first attempt was to do a Win 8 CP install right on top of XP Pro, that failed.









Installing Win 8 Cp into a new partition on the same system wouldn't work as well, 
the same result would occur.

My second attempt was to install Win 8 CP on the same system using Oracle VM VirtualBox 4.1.10-76836-Win.exe. (VB) I got the same results. Of course the warning message would be different.








I adjusted the ram settings in the VirtualBox to get the OK button to highlight and proceeded.
I know what you are thinking. Well that isn't going to work either. Not enough ram, no matter how you configure VB!








After clicking OK, I began to start the OS.
The result is below. _Screenshot_ _VirtualBox-Error_










The Dell Optiplex GX260 has a maximum ram capability of 1 GB.
Running Win 8 CP in the Virtual Machine with the maximum ram capability wouldn't work as well.
If Win 8 CP requires at least 1GB -to install- adjusting the ram settings in the VB the outcome would be the same. I believe, if I tried installing Win 8 CP into a system with 2GB of ram I would get better results.
However, that attempt will have to come at a later date.


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## sjb007 (Mar 24, 2007)

The minimum requirements to run Windows Consumer Preview is 1GB. Remember, this is a minimum, I would recommend 2GB for better performance.

More info about minimum specs and other FAQ's for Windows Consumer Preview can be found here - *Windows 8 Consumer Preview: Frequently asked questions*


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