Error when installing Windows 8 "The computer restarted unexpectedly or encountered an unexpected error. Windows installation cannot proceed."

If your getting this error then when presented with the message :

1. Press SHIFT+F10
2. In the black command window type : regedit  & enter
3. Find : HKLocal/SYSTEM/SETUP/STATUS
4. Double click on ChildCompletion and change the data from 1 to 3
5. Press OK on the initial error message

Linking back to the post that fixed this for me : http://heresjaken.com/the-computer-restarted-unexpectedly-or-encountered-an-unexpected-error-during-installation-of-windows/

vSphere 5.1 Client Install & Windows 8

Install requires .net 3.5 which Windows 8 doesn't seem to have. Easiest way I found to fix this was open an elevated permissions command prompt and run :

dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFX3 /all /Source:d:\sources\sxs /LimitAccess

/Source: should reflect the Windows 8 DVD path.