Initial efforts to install Windows 8 Professional 64-bit were not successful for me. I was pleasantly surprised to find my versions of vCenter (5.0.0 623373) and vSphere (5.0.0 623860 or update 1) had Microsoft Windows 8 32-bit and 64-bit in the guest operating system list. However, my install was not completing successfully. After initial reboot, all I was getting was an endless spinning circle (the modern day hourglass).
I didn't actually figure this solution out myself, but found the answer here:
http://tinkertry.com/windows-8-runs-fine-on-esxi-5-0-update-1-build-623860-and-build-768111/
Selecting the guest operating system as Windows 7 64-bit was the fix. The above link mentions a UEFI BIOS but I didn't try that.
I also found information here:
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/microsite.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=2006859&sliceId=2&docTypeID=DT_KB_1_1
indicating that vmxnet3 virtual NIC does not work in Windows 8. Solution? Stick with e1000e or e1000 NICs.
