Installing Windows 8 is not always easy

I think Microsoft is missing a useful tool for would-be Windows 8 users.

The tool I am thinking about is a compatibility checker for PC hardware. I have an old PC and I am considering Windows 8 for it. My big question is: Will Windows 8 run on it?

I would prefer an answer to that question before committing to the purchase of Windows 8.

The Microsoft web site is very good about listing the requirements for running Windows 8. They specify a processor speed, memory, and disk space. Those are easy (for me) to verify. Microsoft also mandates that the graphics card be a "Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device". That requirement is not so easy to verify.

The PC in question is a vintage Dell Optiplex GX-280 desktop PC. I'm pretty sure that it predates DirectX 9.

Given the difficulties in verifying hardware, I would think that a utility would be available. Something small and simple, that would run and say "yes" or "no". Yet I find no such utility.

Now, there are utilities that you can run on existing Windows systems and these utilities check the hardware and your current applications. They assume, however, that you are already running a version of Windows.

Did I mention that my PC is *not* running Windows? Did I mention that my PC is running a variant of Ubuntu Linux?

That means that I cannot run the Microsoft-supplied, Windows-only, compatibility checker utility.

From what I can see, my only option is to attempt to install Windows 8, use the activation code (it's the first thing that the install program requires), and hope that Windows finds my system acceptable. That's a risk (in money and time) I would rather not take.

This approach is very different from most Linux distros, which allow one to run Linux in "live" mode from the CD (and not touching your hard drive) to verify compatibility.

I don't know that Microsoft needs a "run off the CD" mode for Windows. The option to verify hardware would be nice -- perhaps as the first step of the install, and before the activation code. Such an option would let me confirm my installation before committing.

If not part of the install program, perhaps a stand-alone utility that runs under Linux. (Perhaps even an open source utility!) Something one could build with gcc and run from the command line. It doesn't have to be fancy -- since anyone using it would be a Linux user with sysadmin experience. (If you're installing a new operating system, you're a sysadmin.)

Perhaps Microsoft considered this capability, and decided against it. Such capability does add to the complexity of the setup disk. As a practical matter, most PCs will be running Windows, and configurations such as mine are a very small minority. I could easily see Microsoft choosing to invest the effort in other directions.

Yet I cannot help but think that in today's market Windows must compete against Mac OS and Linux. Tools to assist people converting from non-Windows to Windows might be a good idea.