The MS Community forum is busy.. 

As usual after the release of a new operating system, there are all types of failures. Why does this happen? Incompatibility, Incompatibility, Incompatibility,.

What constitutes a perfectly running Windows 7 installation does not necessarily constitute a perfectly running Windows 8 installation.

Utilities are generally specific to an OS, whether they are for hard drives, printers, or virus protection and maybe even CPUs. Removing them is not always too straightforward, and some leave bits behind. The software authors would argue that by leaving bits behind, re-installation of a utility doesn’t reset everything back to day 1. Too bad if you want to or need to go back to day 0, eh..

There have been utilities which don’t look for a specific OS at installation, and which appear to install properly, but do they work properly and exactly as originally intended?

OEM installations on a brand new recent Windows 7 machine may well contain software which is not Windows 8 compatible, and it has been most likely installed by the computer manufacturer (not Microsoft) to aid Windows 7 users.

When a Microsoft operating system is called upon to upgrade, it will do it assuming that the computer is in good running order and does not contain non-Microsoft utilities of dubious origin and compatibility status. This is almost certainly why Microsoft elected not to allow upgrades from XP and Vista to include applications and utilities.

As regular readers will know, I encountered upgrade issues to Windows 8 caused by a utility which, had my mind and memory been working in unison, would have foreseen the problem BEFORE it hit.

The second attempt to upgrade to Windows 8 was made on a fairly new, clean Windows 7 installation where I avoided not only PerfectDisk, but also any other dubious 3rd party utility. As a result, the second upgrade attempt could not have gone any better than it did, and I am pleased with the finished product.

Preparation is the key, plus a bit of luck too.maybe.

Make it easier for Windows 8..

Before upgrading, remove or uninstall anything which has caused you grief. If you have Norton, McAfee, AVG or Kaspersky software installed, uninstall it if you can using tools from the software author websites when available, and do NOT re-install them. Uninstall disk utilities, defragmenters etc which monitor the system or run to a schedule, ensuring that schedules are cancelled and that the startup ‘monitors’ are disabled.

Check your disks for integrity. Crashes in Windows XP, Vista and 7 could have left unresolved errors on the disk not bad enough to be an issue until upgrading to another OS.   

Disconnect peripheral devices like webcams, multi-function printers, scanners etc. Unlike monitors, keyboards, mice and basic printers, these items use more complex driver/utility packages which Windows 8 may see as alien.

Do these things and the upgrade will have a much better chance of succeeding..