The best way to install Windows Vista is to do a clean install. It is not difficult to perform a clean installation. Before you perform the installation I recommend that you check Windows Vista System Requirements list to ensure that your hardware is supported by Vista. If you don't have Windows Vista drivers for all your hardware, it is a good idea to download all the drivers from the hardware manufacturers website and save all the necessary drivers on a CD-R before you start the installation.
Windows Vista DVD is bootable. In order to boot from the DVD you need to set the boot sequence. Look for the boot sequence under your BIOS setup and make sure that the first boot device is set to CD-ROM/DVD-ROM.
Step
1 - Place Windows Vista DVD in your dvd-rom
drive and start your PC. Windows Vista
will start to boot up and you will get
the following progress bar.
Step 2 - The next
screen allows you to setup your language, time and currency format, keyboard or
input method. Choose your required settings and click next to continue.
Step 3 - The next
screen allows you to install or repair Windows Vista. Since we are doing a
fresh install we will click on "install now".
Step 4 -
You can now type the product key that came with your Windows vista.
Step 5 - If you do not
enter the product key you can still proceed with the installation in which case
Windows will ask you which version of Vista you have purchased. Windows Vista
Home Basic, Home Premium, Ultimate, Business etc. Select the version you have
purchased and click next.
Please note, although you can select any version of Windows and
proceed to next stage. It is not good idea to select a different version to the
one you have purchased because you will not be able to activate Windows at a
later stage. Windows Vista can detect which version you have purchased once you
enter your product key.
Step 6 - Tick "I
accept the licence terms" and press next.
Step 7 -
Choose the type of installation you want to perform. You will notice that
upgrade option is disabled as we have booted from the DVD-R. Therefore we can
only select Custom (advanced) option which basically installs a clean copy of
Windows from scratch.
Step 8 - Choose where you would like to install Windows Vista. If you have a
new unpartitioned hard drive you would get your hard drive listed as shown on
the image below. If have have an old hard drive with data or other partitions
it will show up as logical drives. You can select the drive options (advanced)
to format, delete, or create new partitions. Because I am using a single new
hard drive I will select next to continue. Windows will create a partition and
format it using NTFS files system.
Step 9 - Windows starts the installation process
and starts copying all the necessary files to your hard drive as shown on the
image below. It will go through various stages of the setup and will reboot
your system few times. When your PC reboots it attempts to boot from CD as its
the first boot device. Do not press any key during the boot prompt so Windows
Vista will continue with the installation by booting from your hard drive.
Step 10 - After installation copy
process is complete you are presented with the Setup Windows dialogue box as
show below. At this stage you need to choose a user name, password and a
picture for your user account. The account you create here is the Administrator
account which is the main account for your Windows Vista that has all the
privileges. Click next continue.
Step 11 - Now you need to choose your computer name
and desktop background. Click next to continue.
Step 12 - Choose whether your want to Help protect
Windows automatically. Select "Use recommenced settings" to continue.
Step 13 - Review your time and date settings.
Select your time zone, correct the date and time and click next to continue.
Next screen presents you
to select your computers current location. You can choose between home, work,
public location. Choose home to continue. You will finally get a "Thank
you" screen which confirms the end of the interactive installation
process. This is not the end of the setup process. There are still many after
installation configuration to be done. Click next to continue.
Step 14 -
Windows now runs a benchmark type of application which checks the performance
of your system. You will see a status bar at bottom which shows the progress.
Once the process is complete you will be presented with the logon screen.
Step 15 - Finally you have the logon screen. Just
type your password and press enter or click on the arrow to logon to Windows
Vista for the first time.
Step 16 - Soon as you logon you will be presented
with welcome center. You can use the welcome center to configure, customize,
and update Windows vista.
Step 17 - Finally you need to check if all your
hardware has been detected correctly. You can do so by checking your device
manager. To access device manager click Start menu -> Control panel ->
System -> Device manager. You will see all your hardware listed as shown
below. You need to check if you have any yellow exclamation marks next to the
name of the device similar to "USB 10/100 LAN" on image below. This
indicates the driver has not been installed for this device.
At this stage you need
to install Windows Vista drivers by double clicking on "USB 10/100
LAN" or your device. The properties dialog box will appear. Click on
Reinstall Driver. Then you can choose whether you want to install the driver
from the internet (if available) or install manually from a CD or other media
Once you have removed
all the yellow exclamation marks from the device manager your
Windows Vista
configuration would be fully complete.
