I upgraded to Windows 8. How do I get switchable graphics to work?

[Cloud_Strider]

Windows 8 was released just over a month ago and several users have had the urge to upgrade their notebook to Windows 8.  

However, the notebook does not have any Windows 8 software from HP as it is not approved for Windows 8 yet.

This usually results in both video cards being powered on and only the Intel graphics card being used.  Some symptoms of this is the notebook runs hotter than usual and battery life is substantially short due to both cards being powered simultaneously.

This is not an official solution to the above problem, but it has worked for myself and various others.

1.  Install the HP Software Framework as found here.

Credit for finding this link goes out to CherylG.

2.  Next, uninstall all ATI/AMD software through Programs and Features.

3.  Go to www.hp.com and select Support and Drivers at the top.  

4.  Select Software and Driver downloads and enter your product model or product number.

5.  Select the most recent operating system matching your installation of Windows 8's bit architecture.  For example, Windows 7 64bit for Windows 8 64bit.

6.  Download the ATI graphics card driver.

7.  Run the file once it is finished downloading.  

8.  Let the extraction process finish, but cancel the installation when prompted to continue it after the extraction.  Take note of where this is extracted to.  By default, this should be c:\swsetup\<file_name_of_download>.

9.  Here, there should be a setup.exe for installing the ATI driver.  Right-click this and select troubleshoot compatibility.  

10.  Follow the compatibility troulbeshooter and select the suggested fixes.  On one screen, there will be a test program button.  Click this to begin the installation.  

11.  Follow the installation and it should finish successfully.

12.  Once finished, right-click the desktop to verify the configure switchable graphics option is listed.

Once this is finished, switchable graphics should be working properly on most systems.  This results in reduced heat and the battery charge lasting longer.  

[Cloud_Strider · Accepted solution]

While this may not work for everyone, it has worked for a lot of users.

I hope this helps.  

[Cloud_Strider]

UPDATE

If the above steps fail, then select the option that says No, these settings did not work.  When prompted, select the option that states it worked in a previous version of Windows and follow the prompts to select Windows 7 as the compatibility OS.

It is possible that it defaulted to XP SP3 instead of Windows 7.