Hi Marty,
I think the Windows "Easy Install" uses the floppy drive to hold the unattended installation configuration files. At least it did with earlier Windows versions, and I would imagine it's the same for Windows 8. What happens if you try the Easy Install without deleting the floppy drive? (It should say that it has an image file named "autoinst.flp" attached if it's being used for Easy Install.)
Cheers,
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Darius