SOLVED: How to Install Windows 8 on an Acer Iconia Tab W500P or W700P

Installing Windows 8 on an Acer Iconia Tab W500P or W700P  is straight forward but will have a few minor issues.

You have an important choice to make before you start, perfection or performance.  I choose performance.  Let me explain.  If you choose Windows 8 32 Bit, you can get all of the drivers for the Iconia hardware from www.intel.com/support  and from www.acer.com however, the tablet will not run at the speed it is capable of.

I chose Windows 8 64 Bit and after several days of trying have decided to give up on the BOSCH SENSORTEC BMA-150 G FORCE SENSOR.  There appears to be only 32 bit drivers for this device.  I checked dozens of blogs, www.bosch.com,  www.bosch-sensortec.com and www.acer.com .  I have even send Bosch-SensorTec an email to confirm that they do not and will not have a Windows 8 64 bit driver for their BMA 150 G Force Sensor.

Another decision you have to make is Upgrade or Wipe/Load.  I hate upgrades and was happy to get rid of the Acer software clutter so I chose wipe/load fresh install.  If you just want to do an upgrade, connect a USB DVD and upgrade to Windows 8 32 Bit (you CAN’T upgrade to Windows 8 64bit unless you wipe out Windows 7 32Bit)

To install a fresh Windows 8 on your Acer Iconia Tab W500P or W700P:

1. Connect the Iconia to your wall plugged power adaptor (i.e. don’t install while on Battery, this WILL work but will be slower and could fail)
2. Connect a USB DVD Drive
   1. Note that on mine I NEEDED to use a special USB cable with TWO connectors and plug BOTH into the Iconia to get the DVD to be bootable.  This was odd because I only need the standard single connection to use the USB DVD on Windows 7
3. Power up the Iconia Tab
4. Press F12 furiously – see: urtech.ca/2012/11/solved-how-to-access-the-bios-on-an-acer-iconia-tab-w500p-or-w700p/
5. At the boot selection menu, choose your USB DVD
6. Perform the typical Windows install and during the process delete ALL of the existing partitions
7. When you are done the install run Windows Update and that will clear most of the driver issues
8. You can get the UNKNOWN DEVICE (which is a blue tooth receiver from HERE which is from W700P driver page but works on the W500P.)
9. While not strickly necessary you should also update the W500P BIOS from HERE or the W700P BIOS from HERE
10. Again,  While not strickly necessary you should also update the W500P Touch Panel Firmware from HERE (the W700P does not have a  Touch Panel Firmware upgrade)
11. You should also go to Intels Automatically detect and update drivers and software 

Thus far I have had no problems (other than a lack of the G Force Sensor… who cares).  I have even added it to a Domain with no issues.

I hope this helps.