How do I develop for Windows 8 on my Windows 7 machine. I dont want to install a VM. I checked Visual Studio 11 Developer Preview, but I am not sure if it allows me Metro UI development.
You cannot do Metro style development from Windows 7. If you cannot install Windows 8 either directly or via a VM or dual-boot, you will not be able to develop Metro style apps on that machine.
The simplest thing to do is set up your Windows 7 machine to dual boot into Windows 8. With a dual boot you can still access files on the Windows 7 machine when you're booted to Win 8. There are plenty of how-to's available; here's one: http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-dual-boot-windows-8-with-windows-7/ .
You can also install the dev preview of VS11 on a Windows 7 box to build DLLs the Metro app will use, to experiment with C++ AMP, or just to get a head start on familiarity with the VS UI. Any app you build with that (or VS2010, or VS2008, or whatever) will happily run on the Desktop side of Win8, the same as it did on Win7.
What you can't do is build (never mind test) Win8 Metro apps using a Win7 box only. Yet.
It seems that the Windows 8 Virtual Labs (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/jj206431.aspx) don't need Windows 8 to be installed. Try it out on Windows 7.
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Running VS2012 Pro on Windows 7 Pro, I need to develop a desktop application for a Windows 8 environment (this is NOT a metro-style interface). What I can't figure out is how to reference the Windows 8-specific libraries (for instance, Windows.Media.Capture). I've downloaded and installed the Windows 8 SDK, but when I try to add a reference to a Windows 8 library, nothing is available in either the Framework or Extensions list.
Any ideas? or am I stuck with having to move to Windows 8 on my development system?
Thanks.
You can develop a .NET 3.x or 4.x app on Windows 7 and run it on Windows 8 in desktop mode just fine. You can also create a C++ app that targets Win32 and run it on the Windows 8 desktop just fine. However, you cannot reference any assemblies on Windows 7 that have runtime dependencies on WinRT APIs. Windows.Media.Capture and the classes contained within (such as CameraCaptureUI) are WinRT APIs and cannot be used on Windows 7. Even if you had Windows 8, very very few WinRT APIs can be called from desktop applications. The Windows.Media.Capture APIs can only be used from a Windows Store (formerly Metro) app.
Dev support, design support and more awesome goodness on the way: http://bit.ly/winappsupport
By building my android aplication on phonegap for windows 8 i got a .xap file. Now am not having windows 8 pc or windows 8 phone. I want to test my xap file, so what can i do now? Is that possible to run the xap file on windows 7 if so how ? I tried by installing windows software development kit but i couldnt find any emulator. Is there any other way to run the application on windows 7 desktop ?
No, there's no emulator for Windows 8 on Windows 7.
Your best bet would be virtual machine. Two most popular options are VirtualBox and VMware. You can run virtual PC and install Windows 8 on it (you'd need a Windows 8 installation though).
Microsoft released new virtual images with different Operating Systems and Browsers on modern.ie. On the right side of the page you'll find different virtualization options as well as download links to different images. You can download and use these images without having to worry about buying any license, getting the system installed, etc. (they're time limited, but you can just reset your virtual machine at will).
I don't have Windows 8 on my computer. However, I have the Consumer Preview version of Windows 8 installed. Is there any way to create apps for Windows 8 on the Consumer Preview version? Visual Studio for Windows 8 doesn't install as it gives numerous errors.
To use the final release of Visual Studio 2012 to build Windows Store apps, you will need to use the Windows 8 RTM build.
You wouldn't want to use the Windows 8 Consumer Preview to develop Windows Store apps anyway--there have been substantial changes to the platform, frameworks, and tools between the Consumer Preview and the RTM build.
The short answer is you cannot develop Windows Store apps without Windows 8 RTM or greater.
If you don't wish to install/partition your hard disk following is a neat idea to get windows 8 installation going without having to partition your drive.
How to Create Windows 8 VHD for Boot to VHD using simple, easy to follow steps
Developer downloads for programming Windows Store apps
See, Windows 8 Apps use Windows 8 APIs such as Directories and all .
So to make any any Modern UI app , you need to have Windows 8 Installed with VS 2012
I have created an app(.exe) using Win32 for window's older versions(xp,7).
But now i am having a silly doubt regarding the running environment of the app. Actually i would like to know whether i can run my app(.exe) in Windows 8 or not, which is going to be the latest version (Licensed version) of windows .
I would also like to know whether Windows 8 desktop apps will run on windows8 Phone/Tablet or not.
There are several flavors of Windows in the market and coming to the market in the fall:
Windows 7 - The 'classic' Windows; in the sense that it is a desktop OS with a Start Menu in the lower left. It runs on x86 and x64 based machines and supports Win32 based applications.
Windows 8 - The next version of Windows. It runs on x86 and x64 based machines and supports BOTH Win32 and Windows Store applications. If your application runs on Windows 7 then it should run without changes or issues on Windows 8. Windows 8 will be available on Desktops, Laptops and Tablets.
Windows RT - A version of Windows 8 targeting ARM based machines. It supports ONLY Windows store application. Windows RT will be available in both Laptop and Tablet form factors.
Windows Phone 7 - This is the current Phone platform and runs a customized version of Silverlight. It will only run applications built for Windows Phone 7.
Windows Phone 8 - This is the next version of the Phone platform. It is based on the same kernel as Windows RT. There is however very little information regarding the development model at this time. It will however run both Windows Phone 7 and Windows Phone 8 applications.
Your app(.exe) may be capable of running on Windows 8 in desktop mode. If it runs on Win7 then it should be fine but you'll need to test it. It won't run on WindowsRT devices (the ones which only run the "what-used-to-be-called-metro-style" apps).
Not that some tablet devices will have the ability to run desktop apps but some won't. It's not cut and dried.
Windows 8 apps of any sort will not run directly on Windows Phone (7 or 8).
I want to know can i develop metro style windows 8 HTML5 application without windows8 OS installed ?
I understand working on VS2012 , but Since it is web application i think it doesn't make sense to have the windows 8 OS installed.
Please confirm if it is required, if not tell me how to make it work on windows7 and VS 2012
Visual Studio 2012 requirements doc says that you can use it on Windows 7 SP1. However, you will not be able to develop/debug HTML5 apps developed with it as Windows 8 HTML5 applications are not simple web applications, they run on top of the WinRT runtime which is not available on Windows 7.
So bottom line, to develop/debug HTML5 applications for Windows 8, you need to have VS2012 installed on a Windows 8 machine.
If you are thinking about developing regular HTML5 web application (that will be used from a browser and not as a Windows 8 application, then you should be able to do so using Windows 7 SP1 as the host.
See lets know more about your application.
In W8 Metro Style Apps with HTML5/JavaScript and CSS3 , you can make great apps as you can take an example of Cut The Rope .
Making a website with HTML 5 /JS/CSS3 doesnt need you to select the Windows Store App option as it is only used to create an app that would you later upload to windows store whereas a website would be uploaded on a server