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Windows 8: HAL_INITIALIZATION FAILED. You PC ran into a problem that it couldn’t handle, and now it needs to restart

This is my first post on Windows 8. After Microsoft announced it’s first Windows 8 Developer preview edition, I downloaded 32-bit version of it and tried on my virtual computer environment. It surprised the moment I started the boot from ISO with a blue screen message, “Your PC ran into a problem that it couldn’t handle, and now it needs to restart. HAL_INITIALIZATION FAILED”. See the below picture. I read few posts in internet about this error and everywhere blame is on Microsoft that this time they gave a nice BSOD message. But I don’t see this as BSOD, it is just a installation error.

Like the message indicates, “HAL INITIALIZATION FAILED”, means my hardware is not compatible with Windows 8 Operating System. Since I am installing it in VMware, I tried all possible combinations in virtual machine settings but in vain.

Finally, I came across the “Building Windows 8” blog which gave me clear background about the error. In this article Microsoft Made it clear that, Windows 8 developer installation is supported on only below platforms.

So, if you are trying to install Windows 8 on a platform which is not in the above list, sorry, you need to upgrade your virtual environment first before you start windows 8 installation.

Hope this helps.. happy learning.

Thanks,

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Jamahl September 19, 2011, 4:02 am

    Parallels 7 & 8 on the Mac are supported. I’m not sure if its been acknowledged by MS yet but I have seen numerous articles about Parallels 8 and I just installed a Parallels 7 VM of Windows 8 Dev preview. VMware Fusion 3.1.3 is not supported and I will be testing VMware Fusion 4 when its released for subscriber updates

  • Eralper September 20, 2011, 5:57 pm

    The VirtualBox works perfect for avoiding this show-stopper.

  • yalleswar September 29, 2011, 2:27 pm

    i am getting DPC watchdog violation error when installing w8 in vmware workstation 8

  • Reelix October 11, 2011, 3:14 pm

    VMWare Player 4.0.0

    Installing the x64 Windows 8 gives a “DPC WATCHDOG VIOLATION” error – Same as yalleswar. Reading around, it seems to only happen with x64 versions of Win8 (I have Win7 x64 installed as my primary OS, so that’s not the issue)

  • aaaaah November 19, 2011, 4:46 pm

    @REELIX YOU ARENT USING THE VM SOFTWARE IN THE LIST…

  • aaaaah November 19, 2011, 4:52 pm

    @REELIX YOU ARENT USING THE VM SOFTWARE IN THE LIST…
    well,i have a problem,which is black screen of death showing error 0x0000000a,using linux version of virtualbox 4.14 and ubuntu 10.04 LTS

  • Windows 8 Installation November 22, 2011, 1:26 pm

    This issue occurs due to Windows Virtual PC that is causing issues with Windows 8 .. You can trying VMWare Virtual Player instead of Microsoft Virtual PC to resolve this problem..

  • Dory December 6, 2011, 2:44 am

    I have loaded virtualbox and it wont load with that at all. just keeps flickering something that says your pc needs to restart and then freezes up. VMWare you have to PAY FOR… so… since this is just to test a beta FREE software any other ideas?

  • L December 28, 2011, 3:13 pm

    majorgeeks.com still has the vmware workstation download for free.

  • L December 28, 2011, 3:41 pm

    my bad. Just found out they no longer have it

  • asdf January 5, 2012, 8:45 pm

    I keep getting the black screen of death on VBox too… I don’t have Intel Visualization on my CPU, could that be the problem? Do you need the visualization technology to run Win 8 in a Virtual Machine?

  • Mario March 1, 2012, 12:05 am

    I just downloaded the Windows 8 Consumer Preview. Tried to run on VMware ESXi 4.0
    and got the same error message.

    • NPeete March 1, 2012, 12:58 am

      I also wanted to install Consumer Preview to Vmware Workstation 8 and got the same error…

      • Sitaram Pamarthi March 1, 2012, 11:36 am

        @NPeete,
        I see that Vmware workstation 8.0.2 released recently(24/1/2012). Have you tried that version?

    • Sitaram Pamarthi March 1, 2012, 11:34 am

      @Mario, I haven’t read any recommendations from VMware ESXi perspective. But what you can try is, if you have a windows computer in same ESXi environment with the same configuration as VM where you are trying to install, then try running “Windows 8 Consumer preview setup” (http://techibee.com/windows-8/windows-8-customer-preview-is-available-for-download/1445). It will analyze and tell you if your VM configuration supports this version or not. I will post here if I get some information about this.

  • Mordalo March 1, 2012, 10:59 pm

    I’ve downloaded both the 32- and 64-bit versions of the ISO, and tried to install both in the latest VMWare Workstation. Both have failed with the same error code.

    I just upgraded to VMWare Workstation 8.02 this morning prior to installation.

  • Reda March 9, 2012, 3:42 pm

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  • pawan prajapat March 19, 2012, 7:12 pm

    please my help
    Windows 8: HAL_INITIALIZATION FAILED.
    give error solution

  • flamingice March 21, 2012, 2:31 pm

    Me too. I can’t Install it in Virtual PC. I also tried all settings. I tried also to put it in Maximum. But this always appearing “HAL_INITIALIZATION FAILED”

  • mohammad April 13, 2012, 11:03 am

    Tannnnnxxxxxx

  • Kiage Edgar May 17, 2012, 11:36 am

    This really helped, i was getting all sorts of issues with Vmware 6, since the upgrade, it all came up and is working perfectly,
    i am grateful.

  • shahrooz May 22, 2012, 11:03 am

    this is very gooood

  • Grace January 20, 2013, 9:11 pm

    Thanks for the info. I just encountered this problem and it really frustrates me. I though there is something wrong with the ISO. I was going to download a new ISO but thankfully found this post. 🙂

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