Installing Windows 8 onto a new PC

Just creating the USB recovery required 16 GB usb.

Am I missing something here?

Edit:

8 GB is necessary according to last post on this thread

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/surfwinrt-surfupdate/unable-to-reset-or-refresh-surface-rt/728480bf-e160-4111-9043-28d9ac09e18d?page=2

For a PC I will be building I am planning to install windows via a bootable USP flash drive, and question is how much storage does the flash drive need to have?

4 GBs is the recommended about space you need to have available on the thumb drive.

See instructions for creating a bootable copy on a USB thumb drive:

When performing the upgrade process the The Windows 8 upgrade assistant determines your existing architecture, downloads the same architecture and installs. So, if you are running a 32 bit version of Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7 or even Windows 8, it will install the 32 bit version of Windows 8. If you want to migrate to the 64 bit version of Windows 8, you will have to first download the installation files for Windows 8 64 bit on a computer running a 64 bit version of Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8. (This DOES NOT work with Windows XP).

Lets take a look at doing that. The first thing you need to find out if you are running a 64 bit version of Windows.

Windows Vista/7

Click Start > Right click Computer


Click Properties


Look under System > System type:

Windows 8

Press Windows key + X on your keyboard


Click System


Look under System > System type:

There you will see if the installed operating system is 64 bit. Once you have determined that you have a 64 bit version of Windows installed, you will need to download and create a bootable of the installation. To do this go to the following link **HERE**

” href=”http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows-8/upgrade-product-key-only”>

Click the link Install Windows 8


When the download is complete, launch the Windows8-UpgradeAssistant file.


The start of Windows 8 Setup.


After completing the transaction, wait while Windows setup downloads.


The time setup takes to complete will depend on the speed of your Internet Connection. You can always Pause the download and resume it at a later time.

How to resume the download:


Simply double click the Download Windows icon on your desktop.

If something happens and you are unable to resume, simply go to the **Install Windows**site and start downloading again.

Click Install Windows to start the download again.


After Windows Upgrade Assistant completes the download, it will verify the integrity of the download. Checking for corruption or missing files.


Wait while Windows 8 prepares to start the installation.


Here we arrive at a very important part of the Windows 8 setup experience. You can choose to Install Now or create a backup disc (which I recommend you do) or postpone the installation by selecting ‘Install later from your desktop’.

If you choose the last option, even when you restart your system, you can simply double click the Install Windows icon located on your desktop to resume the installation.


If you remember from Part 1, if the download was interrupted or paused, the icon on your desktop was labeled Download Windows. This indicated the Download was not completed.

Install by creating media

This I think is one of the most important steps, a lot of persons do not have fast Internet Connections, or they are using metered Internet Connections which prohibits them from downloading large files using their ISP over a period of time. Windows 8 is a 2 GB download which is still significantly large for some Internet Connections.


Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant presents a couple options for backup media.

USB flash drive

If you have a thumb drive with 3 GBs of available space, you can use that to create a bootable copy. Thumb drives are very cheap these days, so pick up a couple and create one as your first backup option. This is especially recommended for persons using Ultrabooks which do not include optical drives (DVD) or Netbooks. There are some desktop systems that do not include one.

ISO file

An ISO file is a digital or virtual replica of a physical disc. In order to use an ISO you must burn it to a optical disc. In the case of Windows 8, a blank DVD. If you are using Windows 7, you can create the .ISO and burn it using the built in Disc Image utility. If you are running Windows XP or Windows Vista, you can using a third party burning tool such as ImgBurn or Roxio/Nero.

Hi,

Your computer must meet the following minimum requirements:

• 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster processor
• 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
• 20 GB available hard disk space
• 1366 × 768 screen resolution
• Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM driver
• Internet access (fees may apply)
• Microsoft account (LiveID) required for some features
• Some features such as touch and Client Hyper-V may require advanced or Windows 8 certified hardware

Windows 8 FAQ

If you bought Windows 8.1 or Windows 8, you can download and install Windows from this page using just your product key. You'll have the option to install Windows now, later, or using media with an ISO file.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/upgrade-product-key-only

Hope this helps.

More than 4gb, for sure, but not much more.. 8gb would be ok  if it is a generic Microsoft installation ..