IT Professionals

Introduction To Installing Vista (Part I)

Posted by on Apr 4, 2007 | 2 Comments

You can perform two different types of installations depending on what you want to achieve and on the existing configuration of your computer. For example, if you do not want to lose any of your customized settings, then you probably will not want to perform a clean installation of Windows. On the other hand, if you want to return your computer to its original pristine condition, you should opt for a clean install of Windows. The two types of Windows installations include:

  • Upgrade
  • Clean Install

Upgrade
If your system is currently running Windows, you can perform an upgrade to Vista. You can upgrade from any of the following operating systems:

  • Windows XP Home to any version of Vista
  • Windows XP Professional to Vista Business or Ultimate editions
  • Windows XP Media Center to Vista Home Premium or Ultimate editions
  • Windows XP Tablet PC to Vista Business or Ultimate editions

Note: If you are running Windows 2000, you must perform a clean install of Vista.

The easiest way to find out if your computer can run Vista is to run the Vista Upgrade Advisor. After scanning your computer, the tool presents a report that identifies any issues and how to resolve before upgrading. It also helps you choose which version of Vista to install.

Clean Installation
The second type of installation that you can perform is a clean install. When you perform a clean install, you start over right from scratch. You have to reinstall your applications and restore your data after the setup of Vista is complete.

The main advantage to performing a clean install is that it cleans up your computer by getting rid of all the old files and programs that you no longer use and it gets rid of problems you may have been experiencing under the old setup. In other words, it returns your computer to pristine condition. Generally, performing a clean install results in a more reliable computer.

Aside from the amount of time that it takes, the main disadvantage to this installation type is that you have to reinstall applications and restore any data.

The next installment of this article will look more closely at performing a clean installation of Vista.

[tags]Windows, Vista, OS, Microsoft, install, installation, Windows upgrade[/tags]

  • marc klink

    It has been widely reported that the only way one should install Vista is with a clean install, which is easily accomplished, even with upgrade versions using a built-in MS trick. Vista can be installed w/o a serial number or activation, and then installed over that previous install.

    Also, it has been my experience that the best reason for a clean install is that MS programs aren’t really good about cleaning up after themselves in either home directories, user areas, or the registry. This is something that I doubt has been fixed with Vista over XP as MS doesn’t think this is a problem. [Remember the horrors of the install of Service Pack 2, which was for the most part, a complete OS upgade.It became much better to slipstream the SP2 files onto an SP1 or original XP disk and then install fresh because of the disaster caused when applying SP2 to an already used XP partition. This was often blamed on not enough free space, but I've had the process go south on a Dell, freshly defragmented, with 57 GB free on a partition of 80GB.]

  • http://www.ubuntu.com Karl Entner

    From what Chris Perillo was mentioning with his video blog on Youtube with teh amount of problems with drivers not being updated. Why not just go with something like Ubuntu Linux. I am running it on at least two machines over here. Requiring a lot less high end software to boot. Plus Beryl works good too with it if your running opengl video cards that are capable of using opengl. And it does not rwquire a high end machine.

    Ubuntu runs on a thinkpad with a 550MHZ celeron 192 megs of ram and a 20 gig hard drive including default software that you can access right away. From what I have seen so far and heard I am not personally interested in getting windows VIsta due to the drivers and the what nots. And since I have been a technician for the last 15 years. And seeing what Microsoft has to offer its not the thing I would choose for anyone of my clients. If they are looking for a good decent upgrade It would go with Ubuntu. With the amount of applicastions that can be used on just alone. with free software that you can go from either the synaptic package manager or the default way. of adding and removing hardware. Its better than what vista has for the moment.

    Regards,

    Karl