I upgraded to Parallels 7 today and wanted to try the Windows 8 Consumer Preview. I used the built in Parallels process, it downloaded the entire 3.3GB image and then gave me an error saying the disk image may be damaged. The FAQ says this is probably due to a checksum error and to redownload. After redownloading 4 times and continuing to get the same error message (twice I had to pause the download and resume), I took matters into my own hands. Here's how to solve: 1. When you receive the error message, close the error message. Do NOT press cancel or Try Again - Leave the dialog open! 2. Search your hard drive for: "Windows8-ConsumerPreview-64bit-English.iso" - remember its location. 3. In Parallels, go to File -> New and choose from image file (ISO) 4. Navigate to the location of the Windows 8 file you found in step 2. 5. Parallels should let you install now without any issue. The one problem I had was the default serial number was missing during the install process. If you do an internet search, there are several tutorials that list the default serial keys provided for the consumer preview version. After a very frustrating Parallels experience, Windows 8 Consumer Preview is finally installed and running.
Darren, Many thanks for your post. I only had to download it twice! If I'd found your post earlier, I only would have downloaded once. Just to add a note for anyone else reading this thread, I did express installation, no customizing, and seems to have worked.
Finally I gave up trying to install via Parallels after 4 failed attempts and just downloaded it via Microsoft site and it worked first time
