Installing the Project 2013 SDK download on Windows 8
The Project 2013 SDK download is updated for the RTM release of Project 2013. In addition to articles, references, and code samples that are updated from the July release of Project 2013 Preview, the SDK also includes a local copy of VBA Help for Project Standard and Project Professional.
You can install the downloaded Project2013SDK.msi file on computers that are running Windows 8, Windows 7 (and a couple of earlier Windows releases), Windows Server 2008 R2, and Windows Server 2012. When you install the SDK on a Windows 7 machine, the SDK contents are accessible from the Start menu. Figure 1 shows, for example, that the Microsoft SDKs folder contains the Project 2013 SDK folder, which contains links to three files. From the hierarchical context of the Start menu, it is clear that the Documentation node is contained in the Project 2013 SDK folder.
Similarly, if you install the SharePoint 2013 SDK download and the Apps for Office and SharePoint SDK download, they each create a folder in Microsoft SDKs, and each SDK has a Documentation node within its folder.
Figure 1. Using the Project 2013 SDK from the Windows 7 Start menu
The problem
Windows 8 does not have a Start menu, it has two related Start screens. After you install the Project 2013 SDK download, and scroll the main Start screen to the links for the installed files, you can see the same three links as in Windows 7. (To see the Welcome Guide on the Start screen, you can search for Welcome.rtf, open it in Internet Explorer, and then pin Welcome Guide to the Start screen.) But, the Start screen in Windows 8 is not arranged in hierarchical folders. In Figure 2, it is not clear what the Documentation link is for.
Figure 2. Using the Documentation link to the Project 2013 SDK, on the Windows 8 Start screen
The problem is worse if you also install the SharePoint 2013 SDK and the Apps for Office and SharePoint 2013 SDK. You would then have three Documentation links and three Welcome Guide links, each of which goes to a different SDK.
If you right-click one of the Start screen icons, the icon shows a check mark, and the Start screen shows options at the bottom (see Figure 2). If you choose All apps at the bottom right of the screen, Windows 8 shows lists of installed apps within top-level groups. For example, the Microsoft SDKs group contains links for all of the Office, Project, and SharePoint SDKs that you install; there are no subfolders to distinguish which links go to which SDK. In Figure 3, only the Project 2013 SDK is installed, and the links have the same names as in Figure 2.
Figure 3. Using the Project 2013 SDK links in the Apps view, in Windows 8
The workaround (for now)
On a machine with Windows 8, you can install one SDK at a time, and then rename the links on the Start screen, before installing another SDK.
To install Office, Project, and SharePoint SDKs on Windows 8
Log on to Windows 8 as an administrator.
Install, for example, the Project 2013 SDK.
On the Start screen, right-click the Documentation icon, and then choose Open file location at the bottom of the screen.
On the Windows Desktop, rename the Documentation link as Project 2013 SDK Documentation, and then choose Continue in the File Access Denied dialog box (see Figure 4).
Figure 4. Renaming the Project 2013 SDK links in the Desktop view
Similarly, rename the VBA Reference link as Project 2013 VBA Reference, and rename the Welcome Guide link as Project 2013 Welcome Guide.
With the mouse pointer in the lower-left corner of the screen, choose the Start pop-up icon, and then scroll to the Project 2013 SDK icons (see Figure 5).
Figure 5. Using the renamed links in the Start view
Install the Apps for Office and SharePoint 2013 SDK, and similarly rename the Start screen links.
Install the SharePoint 2013 SDK, and similarly rename the Start screen links. Figure 6 shows the Microsoft SDKs group with the renamed links in the All apps view.
Figure 6. Using the renamed links for all three SDKs in the All apps view
In future releases, the Office, SharePoint, and Project SDK downloads will be reconfigured so that they install with non-conflicting link names on Windows 8.