On Wednesday, Microsoft officially released the Windows 8 Consumer Preview (which is essentially a fancy term for ‘public beta’). If you’re eager to dabble around with the build in a virtual machine – perhaps due to the lack of a non-production machine, a spare partition, the fear of using it in a production environment, or, well, if you just want to install it in a virtual machine – then you’re in luck.

Whether you’re eager to get the freshly released Windows 8 Consumer Preview installed but don’t have DVDs at hand, or if you’d prefer to not use such an outdated method of installation, we’d recommend that you install by creating a bootable USB stick with the ISO. When the Windows 8 Developer Preview was released, we wrote an extensive guide covering just how to do this by using the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool. So, to go about preparing the bootable USB step, follow the steps in the guide with the Consumer Preview ISO of your choice.

Today is the big day for those of you who have been anticipating some fresh new Windows 8 bits to toy with: Following an official debut right next door to the Mobile World Congress – not specifically at it, it’s a little side event at the Hotel Miramar in Barcelona – Microsoft has just officially released the Windows 8 Consumer Preview.