How do I disable DirectDraw and Direct3D acceleration on Windows 8?

Its possible I did it .(Successfully tested on Windows 8 RTM)

Steps:

1. Disable Aero(Mostly not necessary but do it for now) Disable aero

2. Download directx 9.0c control panel from here

3. Extract and run "directx.cpl" as administrator.

4. Goto Direct3D and DirectDraw tabs and uncheck "Allow hardware acceleration ".

5. Run dxdiag from Directx tab else from run command and check status

Have you tried the good old registry keys?

Reg Add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DirectDraw /V EmulationOnly /T REG_DWORD /D %_Mode% /F
Reg Add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Direct3D\Drivers /V SoftwareOnly /T REG_DWORD /D %_Mode% /F

These can be automated as outlined in the following post:

http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f10/shortcut-batch-file-code-to-disable-direct-draw-acceleration-437584.html

Also, isn't it still in the compatability wizard as "ForceDirectDrawEmulation"?