I have an Inspiron 1545 laptop running Vista Home Premium SP2.
Two attempts to install Windows 8 Release Preview in to VirtualBox have both resulted in a blue screen quoting error 0xc0000260 which seems to be related to W8. It also stated the system needed to be repaired with the installation disc.
My question is, will the original installation disk for SP1 repair a system that has been updated to SP2?
Or will it be necessary to uninstall Vista and restore from the recovery drive, with all the resultant updating required?
Alternatively, if I were to delete Vista from drive C and install Windows 8 RP directly, without using VirtualBox, would the recovery drive still be there for use after I’ve finished testing W8, i.e. drive C and recovery drive?
This is important, as opinion on W8 is divided, and I don't like the look of the start page, so if will probably need to revert to Vista.
Only testing W8 because My Dimension 2400 desktop running XP is 9 years old and will need replacing soon, so the issue is whether to buy W7 while still available or wait and buy W8 later.
Thank you