Windows 8 build 8014

Windows 8 build 8014 is a build of Windows 8, which was uploaded to the BetaArchive FTP server on 29 January 2020. It is not compatible with Metro Unlocker v4 - it can only be unlocked using Redlock. This is the latest available build to use the "Microsoft Pre-Release Windows Operating System" branding on the watermark.

Charms bar accessibility
To enable the right-hand charms bar on a non touchscreen device, open Registry Editor and then navigate to. Once there, create a DWORD value called  and then set its value to 1.

Out-of-box experience
OOBE received a few changes in this build.


 * The language input is implemented from the bottom right of the OOBE pages.
 * Ease of Access gained its final icon.
 * The grayed out (example) writing has been renamed from John-PC to Home-PC.
 * The Make it yours page has been renamed to Personalize.

New features and changes

 * The Genuine Center applet has been added in Control Panel.

Explorer

 * Logging off and shutting down may lead to File Explorer crashing.

Installation

 * If you are going to install this build on VMware, use VMware 8.x or 9.x compatibility. Otherwise, it will refuse to boot with a black screen showing an error code of either 0x0000001E or 0x0000000A.
 * This build cannot be installed in VirtualBox. It will refuse to boot with a black screen showing an error code of either 0x0000001E or 0x0000000A. This bug is persistent until build 8176.

Aero Glass in Home Basic
This build automatically enables Aero Glass transparency even when installing the Home Basic SKUs, which is not supported by default. However, changing the color scheme (visual style) to another one and then back to the default one will disable Aero Glass.

Installing with a USB drive
The USB drive partition should be formatted as NTFS file system, otherwise it won't boot correctly.