14 DAY TRIAL // Early adopters testing the first public pre-Beta Build of Windows 8 can come across a variety of issues, including incompatibility problems.
These glitches are inherent to the testing process, especially since Windows 8 Build 8102, or the Developer Preview of the operating system, is still a Milestone 3 (M3) release.
According to the Redmond company, testers attempting to upgrade to Windows 8 Developer Preview Build 8102 M3 can find that the platform fails to play nice with certain software.
Microsoft did promise a high level of compatibility and support for existing software and hardware, but let’s not forget that Windows 8 has yet to reach the Beta stage, and that there’s still a lot of work to be done.
“Assume that you upgrade Windows to Windows Developer Preview. In this situation, certain applications may not work after the upgrade process is complete,” the company notes.
“Additionally, you may receive the following message in the compatibility report: ‘These will work after you do a few things.’ This message contains no additional guidance about how to resolve the issue.”
It’s important to note that the software giant would rather early adopters clean install Windows 8 and then test it, but the option to upgrade is also available.
Of course, as an integral part of the upgrading process, Windows 8 checks to see whether existing applications installed on the computer will work once its deployment is finalized.
It would be best that users uninstall the programs that Windows 8 flags as potential problems, ahead of starting the upgrade.
“To resolve this issue, reinstall the application after the upgrade process is complete. We recommend that you always update software to the latest applicable version. This practice makes sure that your software version is the most compatible with Windows Developer Preview,” Microsoft notes.
Windows 8 Developer Preview Build 8102 Milestone 3 (M3) is available for download here.