I’m setting up a computer that I can use to do some work from home. I’m still running Windows Server 2008 at the office because I’m slow to embrace change on my main development machine. But this new machine is going home and I want to explore what’s new in Windows.

I figured I’d skip Windows 7 and jump right to Windows 8. So we downloaded the Windows 8 Developer Preview. Then I hit a snag. The ISO file is 4.8 gigabytes in size. It requires a dual-layer DVD. We don’t have a drive capable of writing a dual-layer DVD.

At the bottom of the download page there’s a section titled, “How to install the Windows 8 Developer Preview from an ISO image.” In it, they mention the possibility of installing from a USB memory stick.

A quick trip to Fry’s got me an 8 gigabyte USB memory stick for less than $10. That’s step 1. The next step is getting a bootable image onto the thing.

Although Windows 7 can mount an ISO device image as a drive, Windows Server 2008 (and Windows Vista) don’t have that capability. However, there are third party tools that can do it. I downloaded and installed Virtual Clone Drive, and then told it to mount the Windows 8 ISO as my drive H. Then I followed these instructions to create a bootable image on the USB memory stick.

Be forewarned: it takes a very long time to copy 4.8 gigabytes to the USB stick. I don’t know quite how long. I started it last night and it was still running when I left for home about 30 minutes later. But it was done when I got in this morning.

With a loaded USB memory stick, all I had to do was tell the other machine’s BIOS to boot from the USB device. I restarted the computer and, like magic, the Windows 8 installer started reading files from the USB port.

I’m looking forward to playing with this new version of Windows. More when I know more . . .