Installing Vista
With Microsoft’s new flagship desktop operating system, Windows Vista, released in January I thought I’d have a go at installing it to see how it stacks up.
Unlike previous versions of Windows, Microsoft now ship every edition on a single DVD. This gives you the ability to buy the basic copy of Windows Vista and then upgrade to a different edition, should you need or wish.
Booting from the Vista DVD, you’re taken straight into a GUI – the familiar blue text-based installation which has been used since Windows NT was released has gone; in my opinion a great thing for a desktop OS.
Once you’ve chosen your localisation settings you’re presented with a second screen prompting for you to install Windows. From this screen you can also find out a bit more about the install process or repair a previously broken copy of Vista.
Upon clicking the “Install Now…” button, you’re asked to add your product key. This is where one of the most surprising changes (for me, anyway) has happened – Windows no longer requires you to insert a product key at this point. I’m not sure what Microsoft’s rationale is behind this, but this is extremely useful if you don’t have your key to hand.
If you don’t have (or want to type it in just yet) you can click on “Next” and the install routine will ask you if you’re sure. Clicking on “Yes” allows you to choose which edition of Vista you have purchased. This is the version of Vista available to MSDN subscribers so whether or not this feature will be in the retail version I can’t say.
After choosing your edition you’re prompted for either an upgrade install or a custom install. As I’m booting from the DVD, upgrades are disabled; if you wish to upgrade your current system you’ll need to run the setup routine from within your existing installation.
Clicking on “Custom” brings you through to the disk selection screen. Running from within VMware I’ve only got one unpartitioned disk so the choice was very straightforward for me. One thing that did strike me is that now you have no choice between FAT/FAT32 and NTFS – your partition of choice is automatically fast-formatted with the NTFS file system. This makes no difference whatsoever to home users and pretty much every OS out now has some NTFS reading (if not necessarily writing) capabilities.
Once you’ve chosen your destination the install routine automatically copies files across to your disk. Even under VMware, which is notoriously slow for disk access, this process is very quick. Go and make yourself a cup of tea or something in the few minutes it takes.
Once the files are copied across to your PC it’ll reboot and you’ll be presented with a very Mac OS X-style window where you can choose your user name and enter a password. You’ll also get a choice of some very pretty pictures to represent your user.
Installation is now complete! Vista will do a little more configuration, save all your settings and present you with the login screen.
Click on your user name, enter your password and off you go!
What are you trying to make this site Diggable?
Not particularly; if I was going to do that I’d stick a “Digg this” button somewhere. I was just bored and thought I’d post some pretty pictures of Vista…
I am at my wits end.I bought Vista Home Premium in the states and I can’t get my PC to read the cd disc. The green lights flash on the PC for a few minutes then stops.I asked when I bought it if it would work in the UK and was told it will work on ANY PC. Can you please help
Would the fact that I bought it in the states stop it working in the UK ?
Thomas Rae
Hi Thomas,
I don’t think it would make a difference to be honest – my install was done from an ISO downloaded from the MS site in the US, so I’m fairly certain they’re all the same DVD.
The one thing I will ask – are you sure you have a DVD drive? Vista only ships on DVD, not CD.
Other than that, it sounds like a faulty DVD – you should be able to call up Microsoft and get a replacement shipped out to you at no charge, or you can download a trial ISO (if you’re willing to download over 2Gb of data) and burn your own DVD, if you have a DVD writer.
Hope this helps,
Rob