Windows 8 RTM and the Exchange 2010 EMC

I had an interesting question posed by a client today to which immediately made me think of my own host machine...

 

"Why can't I seem to install the Exchange 2010 SP2 EMC on Windows 8 RTM?"

I have just recently imaged my own PC to the MSIT internal RTM build for my work rig, as well as updating all my home boxes to Win 8 or now Server 2012. 98% of the time I'm in my lab VM's using the EMC directly on the server itself. What if I needed to install the EMC on my laptop for remote admin capabilities? So here is where we stand..

2010 SP2 management tools are not supported on Win8. Use a Win7 VM or RDP to another box.

Now this definitely makes the new Administrative architecture (Exchange Administration Center EAC) of Exchange 2013 seem like a good idea now doesn't it? No console installs, no having to match major or minor versions & it's 4x as fast.

 

More info..

What's new in Exchange 2013

Exchange 2013 Technet data

Exchange Product Group Blog