How to install Windows 8 pro on VMWare Fusion 6?

[Yanis]

I recently downloaded a trial version of VMWare Fusion 6, in order to be able to run Windows on Mac.

I then purchased a student discounted Windows 8 pro upgrade, and downloaded it as a setup.exe.

The question is now - how to I get it onto the virtual machine?

There is no way I can find to download a .iso from Microsoft, I can get a disc, but my Mac does not have a disc drive.

I have tried to convert the .exe into an .iso using disk utility, the command hdiutil makehybrid -o -iso -joliet in the terminal, and using imgburn on a pc. All of those options managed to create a .iso, but when using it for the virtual machine "the operating system could not be found". My pc is too old to run the windows setup on anyway.

Is there another option? Or have I just not configured the virtual machine properly? I used "install from disc or image", then chose "use another disc or disc image", and browsed to the .iso. Will enough memory be allocated automatically, or do I need to create a custom virtual machine? Or did I just mess up the whole .exe -> .iso process?

 

[balamw]

discounted Windows 8 pro upgrade

Upgrade assumes that you already have an activated Windows OS to upgrade from. Your license isn't valid without one.

That said, here are some instructions to let you clean install from upgrade "media".

http://winsupersite.com/article/windows8/clean-install-windows-8-upgrade-media-144648

You could try installing W7 from an ISO you can download from links here: http://www.mydigitallife.info/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-from-digital-river/comment-page-1/ and then try to build media from the EXE as from the link above, but I don't think it will work on un-activated W7.

B

 

[xcodeSyn]

I have tried to convert the .exe into an .iso using disk utility, the command hdiutil makehybrid -o -iso -joliet in the terminal, and using imgburn on a pc. All of those options managed to create a .iso, but when using it for the virtual machine "the operating system could not be found". My pc is too old to run the windows setup on anyway.

Is there another option? ... or do I need to create a custom virtual machine? Or did I just mess up the whole .exe -> .iso process?

I don't believe that you can convert the .exe file to an iso file, the .exe is a program guiding you to download and install Windows 8 as explained here. You need to either have access to a PC for downloading the ISO file following the linked guide, or get an external DVD drive so you can use a DVD installer to install Win 8. This is because there is no legit Windows 8 ISO available from Microsoft other than running the .exe file on a PC. You can still clean install Win 8 using the upgrade ISO, just Google it.

 

[617arg]

I'm in this same situation now. Downloaded a legit Windows 8.1 from Microsoft which I now can't install. Now I'm scrambling to try to find someone to create an .iso from this useless .exe file they provided.

Great costumer experience!

 

[jenzjen]

here's a 8.1 pro ISO, it works and was clean as of my last use about 2 weeks ago

http://getintopc.com/softwares/operating-systems/windows-8-1-download/

 

[617arg]

thanks jenzjen!

I downloaded it and will try it when I get home this evening.