Windows 8 ISOs don't have ei.cfg anymore?

By devHead
in Microsoft (Windows)

 Share

Recommended Posts

Grand Master

devHead

Posted
Posted

I noticed that the ISO for Windows 8 Pro RTM doesn't have the familiar ei.cfg file that Windows 7 SKUs had. In Windows 7, you could edit or remove this file and then you would be able to install whichever SKU version you wished. But I can't find any such file in the Windows 8 RTM ISO. Anyone else found this to be the case also?

Grand Master

devHead

Posted
  • Author
Posted

So, you're thinking the official releases tomorrow on Technet and MSDN will have it? I guess I was figuring that the leaked builds are exactly what are coming out officially.

Grand Master

Brandon H Supervisor

Posted
  • Supervisor
Posted

So, you're thinking the official releases tomorrow on Technet and MSDN will have it? I guess I was figuring that the leaked builds are exactly what are coming out officially.

you should never assume, especially with the groups the leaked them
Veteran

Darrian

Posted
Posted

So, you're thinking the official releases tomorrow on Technet and MSDN will have it? I guess I was figuring that the leaked builds are exactly what are coming out officially.

They are the same files, but if I remember correctly they weren't in ISO form and they had to turn the install files into a bootable ISO. CRC checks are unlikely to match the official ISOs, and it wouldn't shock me at all if they aren't 100% identical otherwise because they may have had to hack it a bit. I think they messed with the EULA as well.
Rookie

takeahike

Posted
Posted

Yes I noticed that too and was concerned as to how one would go about "unlocking" all SKUs like in Windows 7 where simply removing the ei.cfg would do it. So looking over another all-in-one download that did unlock several SKUs I noticed that a ei.cfg was created that essentially did the same thing. I've tried it and it works to unlock the SKUs. Just create the file with notepad and add it to the \sources directory (where it was in win 7) and you will get the result below. The ei.cfg file I used is shown below. You can also make an all-in-one disk that this attached graphic is from by following easy instructions here (this is for win 7 but it adapts easily and works the same for win8 (I've tested!): http://www.techpower...ad.php?t=145356 By the way, using this ei.cfg file also had the effect of giving the menu instead of having to enter a key. You can therefore install without a key--it does ask for a key at the end (instead of the beginning) of the install but, also, using this file gives you a "skip" option at that point! Of course you'll need something eventually to activate.

ei.cfg file:

[Channel]

volume

[VL]

1

post-199435-0-52481000-1344986286.jpg

  • Japlabot, JayZJay and dafin0
  • Like 3
Proficient

dafin0

Posted
Posted

Yes I noticed that too and was concerned as to how one would go about "unlocking" all SKUs like in Windows 7 where simply removing the ei.cfg would do it. So looking over another all-in-one download that did unlock several SKUs I noticed that a ei.cfg that was created that essentially did the same thing. I've tried it and it works to unlock the SKUs. Just create the file with notepad and add it to the \sources directory (where it was in win 7) and you will get the result below. The ei.cfg file I used is shown below. You can also make an all-in-one disk that this attached graphic is from by following easy instructions here (this is for win 7 but it adapts easily and works the same for win8 (I've tested!): http://www.techpower...ad.php?t=145356 By the way, using this ei.cfg file also had the effect of giving the menu instead of having to enter a key. You can therefore install without a key--it does ask for a key at the end (instead of the beginning) of the install but, also, using this file gives you a "skip" option at that point! Of course you'll need something eventually to activate.

ei.cfg file:

[Channel]

volume

[VL]

1

thanks for that!, very useful

Grand Master

devHead

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Brilliant! Thank you! Of course, I'll be installing just the Pro version, since I really don't see the need for the additional stuff that comes with the Ultimate version. Unless, of course, Ultimate has features that I would find useful.

Grand Master

xendrome

Posted
Posted

Brilliant! Thank you! Of course, I'll be installing just the Pro version, since I really don't see the need for the additional stuff that comes with the Ultimate version. Unless, of course, Ultimate has features that I would find useful.

There is no Ultimate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_8_editions

Rookie

takeahike

Posted
Posted

no Ultimate--just "home" called Windows 8 (also called the 'core' version) and Windows 8 Pro. They went from 5 versions back to 2, like in XP. There's also Enterprise and Server 2012, like there was with 7, and a new WinRT that is just for tablets.

Enthusiast

anidais

Posted
Posted

Brilliant! Thank you! Of course, I'll be installing just the Pro version, since I really don't see the need for the additional stuff that comes with the Ultimate version. Unless, of course, Ultimate has features that I would find useful.

There is no Windows 8 Ultimate.

Grand Master

xendrome

Posted
Posted

no Ultimate--just "home" called Windows 8 (also called the 'core' version) and Windows 8 Pro. They went from 5 versions back to 2, like in XP. There's also Enterprise and Server 2012, like there was with 7, and a new WinRT that is just for tablets.

Terrible bad info there. No "home", no "Core".

Windows 8

Windows 8 Pro

WIndows RT (Pre-loaded Tablets)

Windows Enterprise (Volume License)

Grand Master

devHead

Posted
  • Author
Posted

There is no Windows 8 Ultimate.

Ah OK. Well, makes sense. It was best with XP; XP Home and Professional. Especially since with Windows 7 the Ultimate version came only with BitLocker drive encryption and free language pack addons.

Experienced

CG-88

Posted
Posted

There are tonnes of version names floating about that people are inventing so I dont blame you for giving out advice on windows 8 home/ultimate or whatever.

Just windows 8

windows 8 pro

windows 8 NT

windows 8 enterprise.

If im wrong someone shoot me

Grand Master

FloatingFatMan

Posted
Posted

There are tonnes of version names floating about that people are inventing so I dont blame you for giving out advice on windows 8 home/ultimate or whatever.

Just windows 8

windows 8 pro

windows 8 NT

windows 8 enterprise.

If im wrong someone shoot me

BANG!

There are four SKU's for Windows 8, but not quite named as above.

  • Windows 8
  • Windows 8 Pro
  • Windows 8 Enterprise (imo, doesn't count as you can't buy it)
  • Windows RT

Grand Master

FloatingFatMan

Posted
Posted

OH NOOOO.... :( one letter off not getting shot!!

Imagine if my life properly depended on me getting that right and I was one letter wrong.... :s

Yuh huh.. Like, totally!

Sorry dude, but I think I've been hanging around Americans too much... I've gotten trigger happy! :p (that's just a joke, guys!)

Grand Master

Brandon H Supervisor

Posted
  • Supervisor
Posted

OH NOOOO.... :( one letter off not getting shot!!

Imagine if my life properly depended on me getting that right and I was one letter wrong.... :s

Yuh huh.. Like, totally!

Sorry dude, but I think I've been hanging around Americans too much... I've gotten trigger happy! :p (that's just a joke, guys!)

you're both missing a couple :p

Windows 8 N

Windows 8 Pro N

This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Posts

    • Zed 1.7.2 has landed with updated OpenCode models, bug fixes and other improvements

      By David Uzondu · Posted

      Zed 1.7.2 has landed with updated OpenCode models, bug fixes and other improvements by David Uzondu Zed 1.7.2 recently landed on the stable release channel, bringing a host of AI-related features including automatic context compaction and settings-based skill management, along with other things like better Markdown preview rendering and custom git commands in the graph view. Starting with the AI stuff, the developers introduced "/compact", a command that basically summarizes your conversation history on demand. This tool prevents your active chat window from hitting token limits by compressing older parts of the dialogue into a brief overview. In addition to that, the team relocated skill management to the settings UI, improving how the application communicates errors regarding those skills, and updated the OpenCode model roster to support DeepSeek V4 Flash, MiniMax M3, Qwen 3.7 Plus, and Nemotron 3 Ultra Free. External agent users can also monitor context window cost metrics and delete individual sessions directly from their history. Right-clicking ref labels in the git graph now opens a context menu that runs different actions against selected targets, kind of how VS Code does it. Here are some of the bug fixes this new release brings: The active agent fails to auto-select when creating a new git worktree. A scrollbar unexpectedly appears on wrapped code blocks in the agent chat. Collapse indicators for project headers appear when performing sidebar searches. Bracketed ellipsis title prefixes fail to show the ellipsis icon properly. Project icons render incorrectly in the recent projects picker. Diff hunk controls appear inside non-editable commit view multibuffers. The software update button hangs indefinitely on the downloading stage. Restoring an agent terminal in a remote project triggers a sudden crash. Splitting a pane that contains an active commit view causes a crash. Linux Wayland freezes when trying to read the clipboard from laggy external apps. Zed is a "newish" code editor trying to break the massive stronghold VS Code has on the developer community. Funny enough, the editor was created by former GitHub employees who worked on the Atom text editor (which Microsoft killed in 2022, several years after it bought GitHub). The project officially hit version 1.0 back in April, introducing platform parity for Windows and Linux alongside deep support for DeepSeek-V4-Pro.
    • Microsoft confirms Windows 11 26H2, urges IT admins to prepare for release

      By TheGhostPhantom · Posted

      26H2 absolutely will support ARM Windows just not on devices that came with 26H1. This is evident by the fact I am running 26H2, which on my MacBook Neo and Surface Pro 12 (inch), within a VM.
    • Mp3tag 3.35

      By Copernic · Posted

      Mp3tag 3.35 by Razvan Serea Mp3tag is a powerful and yet easy-to-use tool to edit metadata (ID3, Vorbis Comments and APE) of common audio formats. It can rename files based on the tag information, replace characters or words from tags and filenames, import/export tag information, create playlists and more. The program supports online freedb database lookups for selected files, allowing you to automatically gather proper tag information for select files or CDs. Mp3tag supports the following audio formats: Advanced Audio Coding (aac) Free Lossless Audio Codec (flac) Monkeys Audio (ape) Mpeg Layer 3 (mp3) MPEG-4 (mp4 / m4a / m4b / iTunes compatible) Musepack (mpc) Ogg Vorbis (ogg) OptimFROG (ofr) OptimFROG DualStream (ofs) Speex (spx) Toms Audio Kompressor (tak) True Audio (tta) Windows Media Audio (wma) WavPack (wv) Mp3tag 3.35 changelog: This version introduces a new Files options page, enhanced toolbar customization, support for RF64 WAV files, improved Discogs and MusicBrainz tag sources, and many other improvements and fixes. See the Release Notes for more details. Download: Mp3tag 64-bit | 5.7 MB (Freeware) Download: Mp3tag 32-bit | 5.2 MB Link: Mp3tag Homepage | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • Microsoft confirms Windows 11 26H2, urges IT admins to prepare for release

      By +Good Bot, Bad Bot · Posted

      The FIFA World Cup is not US centric.
    • Microsoft confirms Windows 11 26H2, urges IT admins to prepare for release

      By WrongHead™ · Posted

      It’s amusing how Microsoft is pushing IT admins as if this was a major, game-changing update. In reality, it’s just an enablement package that bumps the build number, which is disappointing compared to the more substantial 22H2 and 24H2 releases. Technically, 25H2, 26H1, and the upcoming 26H2 are essentially the same, differing only in support schedules. They could have included the Windows K2 improvements here, but chose not to. The era of Windows being in the backburner continues, and this 26H2 release feels like an afterthought. Shame, Nadella, shame.

  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      AMV earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      AMV earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Collaborator
      ryansurfer98 went up a rank
      Collaborator
    • One Month Later
      Eurosoft10 earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      Eurosoft10 earned a badge
      Week One Done

  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      523
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      172
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      78
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      72
    5. 5
      Michael Scrip
      71
    Show More

  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!