Infamous HAL_INITIALIZATION_FAILED message while installing Windows 2012

Several  weeks ago I decided to install Server 2012 on a development VM. For VM I usually use VMWare.  A while ago I was able to install and configured Windows 2008 R2 using Vmware Player. It worked fine .

Since it worked last time  I decided to re-use the recipe. I grabbed an ISO image of Windows 2012 developer's edition and mounted into a logic drive using 'Virtual Clone'. So I created the VM that would host Windows 2012 and I started it up expecting that it will pick up the mounted drive.



No, VMware Player was not able to detect a valid operating system. I did some research and found on some forums people suggesting to create an installation DVD from the ISO image. Some folks had luck with VMware detecting the operating system installation from bootable physical media.

Cool, I shall try that. I did. There was a joy for few minutes and then the installation crash . It was the eventful evening that I got introduced to the 'blue screen of the sad face'

I did another research and found some pointers. I tried several of them . No Joy.

I found one interesting post of  someone, Daniel Marquard, having the same issue with Windows 8. The solution that works on his  case was an upgrade to the latest ESXi

http://www.technosultants.com/blog/fix-hal_initialization_failed-windows-8-error-in-esxi

I just didn't feel like upgrading my Wmware at all. I heard of VirtualBox so I decided it to give it a go.
VirtualBox was able to detect the installation disk and run windows 2012 installation to completion.

No more 'blue scree of the sad face'.

One thing I found cool with Windows 2012 is the 'Desktop view' . If you press the windows 'Start' key You get
a nice view of the apps

What have been your experience installing Windows 2012? Do you find Windows 2012 easier to use than Windows 2008? More intuitive or not?