I am hoping someone can help. (Sorry this is a bit long)
I recently bought an Intel DN2820FYKH NUC (latest BIOS 0034)which seems great. I have been trying to install Windows 8 upgrade on it, to enable me to use it as a Home Theatre PC. I bought the heavily discounted version of Windows 8 Upgrade when it came out 18 months or so ago, I tried it out then and hated it after messing with the interface for 30 minutes and struggled to find the basics. So stuck with Windows 7. However, I do like to try to keep up to date with Windows (as I get asked stuff all the time) and know there have been 'improvements', so thought I would give it a try.
I have installed Windows 7 Pro 64 bit on the NUC (after following the advice on the right BIOS settings on the various posts here), however I can't get the Windows 8 64 bit Upgrade to install, it freezes each time, at hardware detection ('Getting Devices Ready 79%) after two or three reboots. I've tried it using a USB install (using the MS USB boot disk creator), a DVD install and also using the Microsoft online upgrade link which downloads the full version direct to Windows 7.
I know Windows 8 will work on the NUC as I have a Win 8.1 Pro volume licence, that installed perfectly via a USB stick, but I understand that MS won't allow Windows Media Center to be installed on the VL version, which is why I have reverted back to my earlier upgrade purchase.
I have left the machine on all night during the install process in the hope it would continue to progress, but it didn't. I suspect it may be because of a specific UEFI BIOS setting. I have been using and installing Windows for over 20 years, so am pretty familiar with the process, but don't have the technical knowledge to understand UEFI or the more complex BIOS settings. Its very frustrating, I have run the MS Windows 8 program that checks your hardware and software pre-install and it found nothing, I have run Chkdsk within Win7 pro to scan the HDD for errors, no problems. If it really is this difficult, then I think peoples interest in Windows will continue to plummet, not only is Win 8 a huge change, but it seems it is nigh on impossible to install. I have searched the web extensively to no avail, I see many have had similar issues, some related to memory, but I know the NUC works with 8.1 Pro.
The only good news is that each time it fails it does manage to successfully restore Windows 7, is Microsoft trying to tell me something?
I really do hate stuff that doesn't work, can anyone help me here?
Thanks
Patrick
UK