Windows "Blue" (Win 8.1 Preview) Discussion

Question

Since the Win 8.1 release date has been announced, this thread is now closed.
An early development build of Microsoft Windows "Blue" has leaked out onto the web.
http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/24/4141286/windows-blue-screenshots-leak-smaller-live-tiles-options-u...
Since this is not any sort of official public pre-release by Microsoft, basically all bets are off as to what it actually represents in terms of Microsoft's intentions regarding the next WIndows release.
This thread is for any discussion about "Blue", and for the time being it is the ONLY thread for that discussion.
Some basic ground rules for this thread:
No links to code, etc.
Lenovo has no opinion/support for speculative discussion for unannounced products/services.
Historically Lenovo has not released beta drivers (as was the case with Win 8 and Win 7) until there is an official beta released, and even then there is a lag - so no complaining about lack of drivers etc
Once "Blue" get to some level of official pre-release by Microsoft, then the admin/mod team will see about creating a separate forum for that discussion.
Cheers,
Bill
I don't work for Lenovo

Answer 1

This application compatibility test was posted here due to the lack of a board, and due to Windows Blue being almost identical to Windows 8.
Programs listed below are a part of Lenovo System Update and are in some way incompatible with Windows Blue Build 9364 (32bit):
Lenovo System Update 5.02
The Lenovo System Update program will not install correctly; going through the setup will lead to a Terms of Use acceptance page with a nonfunctioning "Next" button.
Lenovo System Update can be forcibly installed using the command line and \s \a \v"\qn" flags. Using System Update to install programs will only work in the same Windows session it was installed in. Attempting to start System Update through the tvsu.exe in later Windows sessions will fail. Starting System Update through tvsukernel.exe will succeed, and so will searching for updates. Installing these updates will fail. Solution is to uninstall System Update and then reinstall through the previously mentioned command line method.
 Intel Rapid Storage AHCI Driver for Windows 32bit
 Intel Management Engine Interface 8.1 and Serial Over Lan (SOL) Driver for Windows 32bit
These two programs are found to cause Windows Blue Build 9364 to fail to boot on bare metal. Solution is any solution that will result in the uninstallation of these two programs, whether it be through booting the non-booting OS through a Virtual Machine and uninstalling it manually, or performing a System Restore.
ThinkVantage Fingerprint Software
This program installs successfully. Upon restarting Windows Blue, a popup will show stating: "An internal error occurred (object: clsid-not-found(CID_VtApiPlus::Interface))." with error code E7210001. The Fingerprint Software window will show, however be empty with the exception of a few nonfunctional buttons. Clicking the nonfunctioning Tutorial button will show a popup with error code FFFFFFFF "Object reference not set to an instance of an object." and crash the application.
Lenovo QuickLaunch
When installing manually, the installer will send a message stating something like "This program was designed to only be run on Windows 8" and exit. It will supposedly install just fine through Lenovo System Update. No further testing was performed due to the program's lack of importance.
Windows Update will continuously list these programs when checking for updates regardless of whether or not they are actually installed:
Lenovo - LCD, Other hardware - ThinkPad Display 1920x1080
Lenovo - Other hardware - Lenovo PM Device
Lenovo - Smartcard Reader - Integrated Smart Card Reader
Circumstances of this test:
ThinkPad W530
i7 3720QM
32GB RAM
Nvidia Quadro K2000M
Windows Blue Build 9364 (32bit) was installed through Client Hyper-V on Windows 8 Pro (64bit) on a 128GB .VHDX.
The VHDX was added to the boot list through commandline and bcdedit.exe and used in an ordinary dual boot configuration. Upon installing the two Intel drivers above, and restarting the computer, the OS will hang for 30+ minutes on the startup screen before running into a BSOD of type DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE. In an unrelated note, the OS will permanently hang while shutting down. Shutdown was only allowed to hang for a maximum of 10 minutes. It is suspected that if it were allowed the full 40 minutes, it would have also run into a DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE BSOD. The shutdown hang is noted to not have been caused by any installed programs. The solution is to reinstall Windows Blue. All other solutions do not have any effect on this issue (disabling fast startup, disabling hiberfile.sys, disabledynamictick yes)
When running the OS from Client Hyper-V, the OS will run as if there are no problems; while Lenovo System Update still fails to install by conventional means, startup and shutdown act as expected of a functional system.
As with the release edition of Windows 8 Pro, Windows Blue experiences problems with the Nvidia Quadro drivers; unplugging the laptop, causing it to switch to battery will cause the Nvidia display driver to crash, and subsequently the Windows session with a BSOD. Solution is probably to update Nvidia drivers. It is noted that the problem has been solved on the primary Windows 8 Pro OS, however further testing has not been performed on Windows Blue.
Incompatible programs were tested through repetitive installing/uninstalling and restarting Windows.