yes but ms wants us not to customize that. Infact the new metro ui lacks customization badly.
-no image on start screen.
-limited patterns.
-limited colors.
-cant rename the desktop programs tiles on start!

And you know, it only gets worse from here.

Well, now I'm redownloading the same thing from the BetaArchive FTP server (Windows 8 Release Preview, x64). Apparently, mrpijey seems to have found a non-corrupt version, which I'm downloading from the FTP server now. Taking a bit longer, I think, because the non-corrupt copy is somewhat larger in size (if this copy is intact, that is, and not also corrupted).

If this works, I'll try to install it, but if not, then I'll have to download it directly from Microsoft.

When I installed Windows 8 RP as my main OS the fast boot feature no longer worked for me?? so now I get vista days boottimes??? before on previous Windows 8 betas it would boot up in 10 seconds... now it takes 30 seconds..... when I freshly installed it the boot feature worked... but when I started installing software the boot time took longer... this was not the case with previous ones... is there a fix...

You DO realize that many programs load themselves on startup unless you tell them not to, right? That's probably what's murdering your boot times.

Just use msconfig to disable any unnecessary startup items and services.

He clearly didn't set fast startup....
Control Panel -> Hardware and Sound -> Power Options -> Require a password at wakeup -> Change settings that are currently unavailable -> Tick "Turn on fast Startup"

Well, I finally managed to get the Release Preview installed on my system. As some of you already know, it was a bit of an adventure in itself, however, because it first involved finding a working copy (the copy that was available here earlier was corrupt); mrpijey replaced that one with a copy from MSDN. Then later came the fact that I needed to find a different product key than the one that I had saved on my system, so I was first wondering why my system was simply not accepting the one that I had, only to find, after finally finding and opening the PRODUCT.INF file and seeing a list of product keys for different versions of Windows 8 (variants really), only to find that the one I had wasn't on the list, but as far as the Professional ("Windows 8 Pro") variant was concerned, I had not only found the product key, but I copied it from Notepad, pasted it into Windows 8 Setup, and not only did it work just fine, but eventually, in the end, Setup finally finished!

It was already quite late when I started, and at around the same time that I finally got to the very last stage of Setup (the one with all of the Metro-themed customization screens), it was already after midnight (it was last night that I installed Windows 8 Release Preview, by the way).

1. Windows 8 Setup:
Windows 8 Setup, is, as far as I'm concerned, very well designed, as with Windows Vista/Server 2008 and Windows 7/Server 2008 R2 earlier. While I was a bit nervous during the earlier portions, the last stage was perhaps the easiest, and it was clear to me that Microsoft has tried greatly to simplfy this last stage for its users.

Of course, even as recently as this Release Preview build, there are still references within the various Help screens to the fact that this pre-release software, even though this Windows 8 had already entered Release Candidate stage by this point. However, the documentation for Windows 98 Build 1691 (more than a decade earlier) also still referred to it as pre-release software, even though that was also a Release Candidate build.

Finally, I finished, and then not long after that of course, went to bed (again, it was after midnight!), but, this morning, I finally got a chance to see what has gone on with Windows 8 in this build.

Personally, I don't see a whole lot of difference between this and the Consumer Preview build in terms of functionality; not surprising either really, since at that point earlier, Windows 8 was already basically feature complete anyway. However, I did notice some interesting items:

There are several new Metro apps, such as Travel (which already comes preloaded not only with a massive list of locations, but also several of the actual pages) and Sports (again, preloaded with information). Additionally, the Weather app is also preloaded with information for the city of London, including some very strange weather records for basically all of the months that I selected (no offence to any Londoners here or anything), but anyway, to me, it looks great.

I will say this, though, that I am still wondering what happened with the games Sudoku and Solitaire (Metro version). Are they only available in a different SKU from what I essentially installed (Windows 8 Pro), were they moved to the Windows Store, were they somehow removed from the Windows 8 feature set, or was it something else?

Also, does anyone know of any other differences between this build and the Consumer Preview (both desktop and Metro)?

I'll probably be doing some more exploring later, but to me, it looks like Microsoft was already on the right track with Windows 8 at the time of the Consumer Preview's release back in late February, and that this release was just a way of fixing any last minute problems and checking to see if anything slipped through the cracks before Windows 8's final release, but it is still very much interesting to see this nonetheless, even if the change from the earlier build is not nearly so dramatic.

Side note for you, WinPC: In the Consumer Preview, all of the Windows Live integration was broken. The apps couldn't contact the server to sign in. So that was a significant fix in the Release Preview. I think you're right about it being essentially complete, though. I haven't noticed any real NEW features, just lots of bug fixes and polishing of existing apps.

If I now want to install No. 8 which build should I use?

The Consumer Preview?

And what about time limit/activation then?

I'm planning to upgrade my No. 7 in October.

If you're going to install Windows 8, you should use the Release Preview, NOT the Consumer Preview. The RP expires sometime next year, I'm not quite sure when.

both cp and rp expires in jan 2013 but store doesnt work in cp now

Store never worked in CP in the first place. Also, I just realized that ISO mounting capability wasn't added until the RP, so that's another new feature.

While this is true evading the timebomb is pretty easy to do.

Wasn't ISO mounting capability already in 7850?

Yes, ISO mounting is present as far back as 7850. Maybe I'm wrong, but it's definetly present in some of the leaked M2/M3 builds we have...

How would one go about doing this?

I'm conflicted whether to answer that as having the exact know how goes into the actual licensing of Windows 8.

I think it would be frowned on by the staff here that being said you have to modify the Kernel licensing.

inclusion of features in windows builds is really strange. wmc was removed in wdp and when it reappeared No change!(not even the windows flag was modified)

I've been using the feature in CP, so disagreed...

Fine, let me rephrase. It never worked in MY copy of the CP. Though to be honest, I don't believe it worked in yours either.

I've still got CP on my netbook (haven't been able to upgrade), and I can mount ISOs. I believe I upgraded from TP to CP by mounting the ISO (although that was probably through PowerISO). Maybe it came with updates? But I think ISO mounting was always present in CP.

I was talking about the Store, john11.

It has nothing to do with the RP directly but today the RTM sign-off was done....
some say the RTM is available at MSDN? Does somebody have MSDN?