Just a quick FYI on installing any of the Windows 8 bits on VMWare Workstation.  I was trying to install both Server and Desktop OS in VMWare tonight and was getting the error: couldn’t read the from unattend.xml.  VMWare Workstation tries to use it’s own unattended install that is mounted to the VM in the form of a floppy disk image when you initially create the VM.  By going into your VM Settings after creating the machine and disconnecting the floppy drive from the VM the error will go away and you can successfully install Windows 8.

My install is still running so I’ll update this post with any other gotchas I encounter…

[Update]: The SVGA Driver in the VMWare tools causes issues.  So, when installing VMWare Tools, select the custom option and make the change NOT to install the SVGA drivers.  Don’t worry, the drivers built into Windows 8 Server work just fine.

[Update 2]: When installing Windows 8 Customer Preview you will be prompted for a product key (still haven’t seen a good explanation of why you need it using physical media (an attached ISO) vs. the Setup program.  But that beside the point.  Here is the key to use: (from Microsoft, it’s the 10th question under Downloading and Installing):

NF32V-Q9P3W-7DR7Y-JGWRW-JFCK8