Install Windows 8.1 on a Netbook with a 1024x600 Display

Windows 8, despite all the flak it has received for forcing it's tiles-based Modern UI on to users, is actually a very good upgrade to Windows 7 - it's faster, lighter and it offers a good set of new features - but it comes with a catch: you need a display resolution of at least 1024x768 to install it. This isn't a problem for most people, but a sizable chunk of the computing crowd own netbooks, most of which come with a 1024x600 display, such as the Asus Eee PC 1005HA.

If you try to run the Windows 8 or 8.1 setup from within Windows XP or Windows 7, it tells you your resolution isn't high enough and doesn't let you proceed. That's a shame, because the lighter Windows 8 is a perfect match for the low-power Atom processor in most netbooks.

Using this guide, you'll be able to upgrade your old netbook to 8 or 8.1!

Steps

  1. Extract the Windows 8.1 ISO file to a location in your root drive. C:\Win81Setup is a good location. Your netbook will be restarted several times during the installation, so it's not a good idea to run the setup from a removable drive.
  2. Use a registry hack to enable higher resolutions. This step makes Windows 7 allow you to increase the resolution beyond the maximum 1024x600. While in Windows 7, open the registry editor. Find all the instances of the key 'Display1_DownScalingSupported' and double click on them to change the value of each one to '1'.
  3. Restart the computer for the registry hack to take effect.
  4. Change to a higher resolution. Right click on the desktop and choose 'Screen resolution'. You should now be able to change your resolution to 1024x768 or even 1152x864. Pick either one and apply.
  5. Start Windows 8.1 setup. Navigate to the Windows 8.1 setup directory and run the setup. You should be able to follow the setup steps without any hitch. It'll probably restart 3-4 times before it's done. Once Windows 8.1 is installed and started, you'll find that your resolution is set to 800x600. The registry hack mentioned above no longer works with Windows 8.1. The good news is that you can go higher, but the bad news is that you can't go higher than the maximum.
  6. Download graphics adapter drivers. Go to the Intel website and download the appropriate Mobile Intel 945 driver for Windows 7 32-bit. You'll want to confirm which graphics adapter your netbook is running, but in any case, the Windows 7 version of it should do the trick.
  7. Install the driver. It might probably change the resolution to 1024x600 instantly or it may require a restart, so restart.
  8. You're done! The downside is that, due to the low resolution, you won't be able to run any Modern UI apps, but you don't need them. Everything else works just fine! Check out the tips section below to enhance your experience with a netbook.

Tips

  • If you used gadgets on Windows 7, you can get the free '8gadgetpack' to bring them all back.
  • The Modern Start Screen is not of much use on non-touch devices and even more so on a netbook, because you won't be running any Modern UI apps. You'll want the good ol' Start Menu back, so look for and install 'Classic Shell 4.0' (or higher). This mimics the Start Menu and even lets you disable that jarring jump from desktop to Modern. It even lets you make Windows boot directly to the desktop! Classic Shell is a free app.
  • Ensure your RAM is topped up. 2GB is the maximum most netbooks can go up to and that's fine.
  • This is slightly advanced a tip, but you'll thank yourself for following it. Your netbook probably comes with a regular hard disk drive (HDD). If you remove that and tuck in a solid-state drive (SSD), performance of Windows 8 will be supercharged. We're talking 30-second boot up times and 13-second hibernation resumes!

Warnings

  • Make a backup. There are fairly advanced steps in this guide that can render your netbook unusable and/or cause loss of some or all data. Use a free tool like AOMEI Backupper or just copy all files to a portable hard drive before you begin.

Things You'll Need

  • Windows 7 installed. If you're running Windows XP, it's a fairly easy task to upgrade to 7, so you might want to do that before you follow the guide.
  • The ISO file for Windows 8 or 8.1. You'll want to ensure the Windows 8 installation you're using is 32-bit (x86) and not 64-bit (x64), because most netbooks come with a 32-bit processor. The same goes for the graphics adapter drivers.
  • At least 10GB of free space. You can delete your old Windows 7 folder later to free up some space.

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