--- title: "How To Install Windows 8 Beta on a RHEL 6 Virtual Machine" id: "2825" type: "post" slug: "win8-rhel6" published_at: "2012-06-04T14:48:07+00:00" modified_at: "2014-04-12T20:35:33+00:00" url: "https://johnpoelstra.com/win8-rhel6/" markdown_url: "https://johnpoelstra.com/win8-rhel6.md" excerpt: "If you want to run the Windows 8 Beta on RHEL 6 you need the `virtio-win` package installed. You can get it by subscribing to the “Supplementary” RHN channel. Silly me. I thought I could just download the Windows 8......" taxonomy_category: - "Software & Technology" taxonomy_post_tag: - "Fedora" - "RHEL" --- [Skip to the content](#site-content) [John Poelstra](https://johnpoelstra.com) ### Bringing order to chaos and clarity to confusion - [One Conversation](https://johnpoelstra.com/) - [Podcast](https://johnpoelstra.com/category/podcast/) - [Coaching for Directors](https://johnpoelstra.com/coach/) - [About](https://johnpoelstra.com/about/) Toggle search field - [One Conversation](https://johnpoelstra.com/) - [Podcast](https://johnpoelstra.com/category/podcast/) - [Coaching for Directors](https://johnpoelstra.com/coach/) - [About](https://johnpoelstra.com/about/) # [How To Install Windows 8 Beta on a RHEL 6 Virtual Machine](https://johnpoelstra.com/win8-rhel6/) If you want to run the Windows 8 Beta on RHEL 6 you need the `virtio-win` package installed. You can get it by subscribing to the “Supplementary” RHN channel. Silly me. I thought I could just download the [Windows 8 Beta](http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/download) and install it on a virtual machine with RHEL 6. Instead I kept getting an error message about a missing DVD driver. Since I wasn’t sure if this was a Windows problem or a `virt-manager` problem I [filed bug #809160](https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=809160) . From that I learned about virtio-win. Windows 8 DVD driver error Install `virtio-win` and restart `virt-manager` and everything should work as expected. Note, you must be subscribed to the `supplementary` RHN channel where this package is located. ``` $ su -c 'yum install virtio-win' ``` If you think trying to find the [power off button on Gnome3](https://johnpoelstra.com/gnome-power-management-goes-too-far/) is frustrating, [Windows 8 takes things to new unintuitive heights](http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57389397-75/how-to-uh-turn-windows-8-off/) . I believe that you need similar packages for Fedora, though I am not sure if they are provided by yum or what you have to do. Has anyone installed the Windows 8 Beta on Fedora and if so, did you have to do anything special with `virt-manager` to make it work? #### John Poelstra John Poelstra coaches directors in finance and software. Trained through the Co-Active Training Institute, he has coached for more than 10 years, with over 520 clients and 3,150 sessions, including people at well-known Fortune 100 companies. In over 30 years of professional experience, he spent 25 in technology and finance: software testing, project management and team leadership at Red Hat and Dell/EMC, and finance as a bank auditor at Wells Fargo and a CPA at Grant Thornton. He hosts The John Poelstra Show podcast and is based in Portland, Oregon. [Author archive](https://johnpoelstra.com/author/john-poelstra/) [Author website](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-john-poelstra-show/id1130635146) June 4, 2012 [Software & Technology](https://johnpoelstra.com/category/software/) [Fedora](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/fedora/) , [RHEL](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/rhel/) [Previous post](https://johnpoelstra.com/changing-habits/) [Next post](https://johnpoelstra.com/where-should-i-take-things/) ## 4 Comments ## [Add yours](#respond) 1. Ezequiel Birman[August 18, 2013 at 12:17 pm](https://johnpoelstra.com/win8-rhel6/#comment-2852) [Reply](#comment-2852) I am having the same problem on f18 trying to install win8 64 bit. I’ve tried installing [http://alt.fedoraproject.org/pub/alt/virtio-win/latest/virtio-win-0.1-65.iso](http://alt.fedoraproject.org/pub/alt/virtio-win/latest/virtio-win-0.1-65.iso) . Win8 finds two drivers for AMD: ballon and virtio. But the install process never completes. It keeps asking for a driver. Any ideas? [Reply](#comment-2852) - John Poelstra[August 18, 2013 at 12:57 pm](https://johnpoelstra.com/win8-rhel6/#comment-2853) [Reply](#comment-2853) All I can think is to try the 32bit version Windows 8 instead and see if that behaves any differently. I believe that is the version of the beta I tried to isntall, but it’s so long ago I can’t remember. [Reply](#comment-2853) - Ezequiel Birman[August 27, 2013 at 11:43 pm](https://johnpoelstra.com/win8-rhel6/#comment-2901) [Reply](#comment-2901) Solved. I had to burn the Windows ISO and install from a DVD. [Reply](#comment-2901) 2. aic[June 6, 2012 at 8:14 pm](https://johnpoelstra.com/win8-rhel6/#comment-1730) [Reply](#comment-1730) you can get virtio-win for fedora here [http://alt.fedoraproject.org/pub/alt/virtio-win/](http://alt.fedoraproject.org/pub/alt/virtio-win/) [Reply](#comment-1730) ### Leave a Reply [Cancel reply](/win8-rhel6/#respond) ### John Poelstra [https://johnpoelstra.com/?attachment_id=3756](https://johnpoelstra.com/?attachment_id=3756) ### Work With Me I coach directors in finance and software who want to prioritize, delegate, and lead with clarity. Start with One Conversation, a complimentary 60-minute coaching conversation. 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