The Start menu will be slightly different, but a very nice introduction for new users on how to use the edge of the screen better to switch apps or use the search settings and charms bar better. Because of this, Parallels will prevent the installation to modify the boot options.
It worked surprising well, I was able to upgrade Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 all inside a Virtual Machine environment. The installation I did was using Parallels (or VMware Fusion) to boot up Mac’s Boot Camp partition inside OS X as a virtual Machine. For me I had just little over 5GB of space on my Windows 8 installation, and the upgrade went smooth without a hiccup. Some report suggest you only require as little as 4GB of available disk space to upgrade from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1. But the good part is, it seems have little restrictions on the available disk space required to perform the upgrade. The entire process of upgrading Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 takes longer than I expected, about half hour, on a 2011 MacBook Air. You can “keep Windows settings, personal files and apps” If you have the key go ahead and enter it, this step might or might not n needed when Windows 8.1 is officially released. You will still be prompt for a Product Key.
Pick “Download and install updates” option to get started. If you have an existing Windows 8 install, Windows 8.1 will automatically upgrade the entire system while keep all the personal settings and documents. The installation of Windows 8.1 is straight forward. Other wise you will be able to use the remote DVD drive for the installation. On your Mac, go to Finder > Remote Disk > find the machine you want to use and click “Ask to use” if you previously have Ask me before allowing others to use my DVD drive option checked, then you will see a prompt on your Windows machine. If you don’t see DVD or CDS Sharing Options under control panel, you can go here and download the installer to enable this feature on Windows. On your Mac if you don’t see the DVD drive but the shared Computer is shown under Remote Disk you can uncheck the last option to allow everyone to use the DVD drive.
“ Ask me before allowing others to use my DVD drive” this option can be optional.
Make sure “ Enable DVD or CD Sharing” is checked. Go to Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > DVD or CD Sharing Options. There are a few things you need to make sure of, first enable DVD or CD Sharing Options feature on Windows.
An alternative will be creating a bootable Windows USB drive. This is one of the methods to install Windows on Mac. We will be using the following technology across Windows and Mac.
The following guide will be a step-by-step on how to install or update your Mac’s Boot Camp Windows to Windows 8.1. If you have Windows 8 previously installed on your Mac, Windows 8.1 will be a free upgrade, but will need to wait till October 18th when Microsoft release the new version of Windows to it’s Windows Store. The exact process might be different depending on what version of Windows you previously installed. If you have a Mac and have Windows installed on a boot camp partition, this is an easy way to upgrade your existing Windows to Windows 8.1. Windows 8.1 will be out to general public on October 18th this year.