A few weeks back I wrote an article on how to run Windows 8 Developer Preview on ESXi 5, which required a small trick to get working. Today, it looks like Microsoft just released the Windows 8 Consumer Preview and Windows 8 Server. For those looking to give these a try, you can do so by using vSphere 5.

Disclaimer: VMware still does not officially support Windows 8 on vSphere, this is mainly for educational and testing purposes. Do not use this in a production environment

UPDATE (06/02/12): The steps below are the same for the recent release of Windows 8 Release Preview and Windows Server 2008 (Windows 8 Server) RC.

Here are the three easy steps to run Windows 8 on ESXi 5

1. Download and install ESXi500-201112001 (patch02) from VMware patch repository.
2. Create either a Windows 7 or Windows 2008 R2 regular VM (You will need to use e1000 network driver, VMXNET3 does not work)
3. Install Windows 8 Consume Preview or Server using the ISO (tested with 64bit) 

Note: Unlike the Developer Preview, no additional tweaks are needed to install Windows 8 Consumer Preview other than the ESXi 5.0 patch. 

When you first boot up Windows 8, you should see this fish logo. Be patient and give it a few minutes to load:

 Shortly after, you will be prompted to start the installation:

Here is a screenshot of Windows 8 Consumer Preview running on ESXi 5.0:

Here is a screenshot of Windows 8 Server running on ESXi 5.0:

Here is a screenshot of Windows 8 Server w/Hyper-V role enabled running on ESXi 5.0:

To enable Hyper-V role, you will need to perform the following changes:

• Update the guestOS to Windows 8 64bit using the vSphere Client
• Add the following CPUID bits using the vSphere Client
• Add the advanced setting using the vSphere Client hypervisor.cpuid.v0 = FALSE as described by this article as well as mce.enabled = TRUE (this is a new parameter introduced in ESXi 5) which is needed to run Hyper-V3 in Windows 8
• Install Hyper-V role
• Shutdown host
• Remove advanced setting using the vSphere Client
• Host should now boot and you should see the Hyper-V manager interface

Note: You can install VMware Tools on either Windows 8 releases by right clicking on the VM->Guest->Install VMware Tools. If you install VMware Tools on Windows 8 Server, you may need to enable 3D support if you get a black screen after installation as noted in this article.

So if you are itching to try out the new Windows 8 Consumer Preview or Server, you can install it and run it on vSphere 5!

Awhile back I wrote an article about running Windows 8 on vSphere 5, but the trick did not work. There was an issue during the installation that caused a system panic in the OS and prevented Windows 8 to be installed. VMware did not officially support Windows 8 as a guestOS in vSphere 5 as Windows 8 itself was not released, only a developer preview was available.

It looks like VMware has been hard at work to get support for Windows 8 running on the vSphere 5 platform and I recently got a tidbit that the issue was resolved in a recent ESXi 5 patch. Make sure you keep this on the DL .... they maybe watching 🙂

Disclaimer: VMware still does not officially support Windows 8 on vSphere, this is mainly for educational and testing purposes. Do not use this in a production environment

Here are the five easy steps to run Windows 8 on ESXi 5

1. Download and install ESXi500-201112001 (patch02) from VMware patch repository.
2. Create either a Windows 7 or Windows 2008 R2 regular VM (must be either of these guests)
3. Edit your VM and under "Hardware->Video Card" enable 3D graphics support (this is required if you plan on running VMware Tools). You will also need to use e1000 network driver, VMXNET3 does not work
4. Install Windows 8 using ISO
5. Sit back and wait for the installation to complete. 

Here are a few screenshots of Windows 8 running on ESXi 5

So there you have it, you can now run the developer preview of Windows 8 on vSphere 5!

FYI - VMware does have a KB article regarding Windows 8 on vSphere which I hear will be updated very shortly. Be sure to follow it for the full details when it is updated.

If you decide to install VMware Tools (which you should always), after a reboot, you may notice the system just sitting on the splash screen and not allowing you to login. The fix is to enable 3D graphics support. Power down your Windows 8 VM and edit the settings under Hardware->Video Graphics and check the 3D box and then power back on your VM.