Clean Install From Upgrade Vista

How to Do a Clean Install with a Upgrade Version of Vista​

   Information

This will show you how to do a CLEAN install with a Express or Retail Upgrade version of Vista instead of having to install your previous OS (EX: XP) then Vista. This will prevent compatibility issues between the previous OS and Vista.

   Note

• A OEM Recovery installation DVD can only do a clean install. It is just a clone of the hard drive that will set your computer back like it was from day one. The installation process is basically the same though.
• A Express or Retail Vista can be installed on any one computer at a time for as many times as you like. A OEM Vista may only be able to be installed on the exact same computer as many times as you like. The product key number for the Vista 32 bit version is the same one for it's 64 bit version. You can only have the Product Key activated on one computer and version of 32 bit or 64 bit Vista at a time. See: Microsoft: License Terms for Software Licensed from Microsoft
• Sometimes people have problems installing Vista with more than 2 GB of RAM installed. If you have this problem, then you should install Vista with a maximum of 2GB of RAM installed and add the rest of the RAM after Vista is fully installed.

Some Common Installation Problems:

Windows Help and Support: KB935806 Troubleshooting Stop error messages that may occur when you try to install Windows Vista

AND


Windows Help and Support: KB929777 Error message when you try to install Windows Vista on a computer that uses more than 3 GB of RAM: "STOP 0x0000000A"

   Warning

• If you do not have a legal copy of XP with your corresponding or better Upgrade Vista, then you have violated the EULA and it is considered theft which you may face prosecution for. For the license terms for Vista, see: Microsoft: License Terms for Software Licensed from Microsoft
• You can upgrade from your current edition of Microsoft Windows XP to a corresponding or better edition of Windows Vista by purchasing and installing an upgrade copy of Windows Vista. Go to this link for details on corresponding versions: Windows Vista: Upgrade Paths from Previous Versions

   Tip

MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS FOR VISTANOTE: For more information, see: Microsoft Windows Vista: Recommended System Requirements




Vista Home Basic

• Processor: 1GHz (32 or 64 bit)
• System Memory (RAM): 512MB
• Hard Drive: 20GB with 15GB available for Vista
• Video Card: 32MB Memory and DirectX 9 Support
• DVD-ROM Drive

Vista Home Premium, Business, or Ultimate

• Processor: 1GHz (32 or 64 bit)
• System Memory (RAM): 1GB
• Hard Drive: 40GB with 15GB available for Vista
• Video Card: 128MB Memory, DirectX 9 Support with: WDDM Driver, Pixel Shader 2.0, 32bits per pixel
• DVD-ROM Drive

STEP ONE

FIRST INSTALL

   Warning

Before doing this clean install, you should download and save all of your device drivers to a USB flash drive, another HDD\partition, DVD, or some other media, to have them handy to make setting Vista back up easier after installation.

1. Boot the computer from your Vista Upgrade installation DVD.​

NOTE: Make sure that the CD/DVD drive is selected first in the boot order in the BIOS.​

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2. When prompted, press any key to start Vista from the installation DVD. (See screenshot below)​

NOTE: You will only have about 8 seconds to press this key. If you miss it, you will have to restart the computer.​

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3. Set up your language preferences and click on Next. (See screeshot below).​

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4. Click on Install Now to start the installation. (See screenshot below)​

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5. Select Do not get the latest updates for installation. (See screenshot below)​

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6. Do not type in a product key. (See screenshot below)​

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7. Leave the Automatically activate Windows when I'm online box unchecked.​

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8. Click on Next.​

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9. Click on the No button for the Do you want to enter your product key now? prompt. (See screenshot below)​

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10. Select which version of Vista you have. (See screenshot below)​

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11. Check I have selected the edition of Windows that I purchased and click on Next. (See screenshot below)​

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12. Click on Custom (advanced). (See screenshot below)​

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13. Select the hard drive you want to install Vista on and click on Drive Options (advanced). (See screenshot below)​

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14. Click on Format to format the hard drive. (See screenshot below)​

NOTE: If you have more than one partition on this hard drive and want to get rid of it to make one big drive, then click Delete for each partition. Now click on New and adjust the partition size to what you want, then click on Format.​

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15. Click on Next when it is done formating the hard drive.​

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16. Follow any instructions left until Vista is finished installing and has rebooted to the final welcome screen on the Vista desktop.​

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STEP TWO

SECOND INSTALL

17. When this first install is done, run the Vista Upgrade installation again from within the First Install (STEP ONE) of Vista this time.​

WARNING: Do not boot from the Vista DVD this time. Leave the Vista installation DVD in the CD/DVD drive.​

A) Click on Computer in the Start menu.​

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B) Click on the DVD drive to open a window with the DVD files.​

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C) Click on Setup to start the 2nd install.​

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D) Repeat steps 4 and 5 above.​

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18. This time, type in your product key for Vista and click Next. (See screenshot below step 8)​

NOTE: If you are upgrading from Vista to another version of Vista, then type in the product key for the new version.​

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19. Leave the Automatically activate Windows when I'm online box unchecked. (See screenshot below step 8)​

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20. Check the I accept the license terms box. (See screenshot below step 21)​

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21. Click on Next.​

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22. This time, click on the Upgrade option. (See screenshot below)​

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23. To setup Vista, see the STEP TWO section here: How to Do a Clean Install with a Full Version of Vista​

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24. Remove the Vista installation DVD.​

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25. Run Disk Cleanup.​

A) Check Files discarded by Windows upgrade. (See screenshot below)​

NOTE: These will be the leftover upgrade files, C:\$INPLACE.~TR and C:\$WINDOWS.~Q, that did not get copied over.​

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B) Click on OK to delete it.​

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26. Update your WEI score.​

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27. Now all you need to do is to activate Vista.​

A) Right click Computer (Start Menu) and click Properties, or open the Control Panel (Classic View) and click on the System icon.​

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B) Scroll down a bit and click: Activate Windows Now. (See screenshot below)​

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NOTE: Now you have a clean install of the Upgrade version with no remnants of XP, or previous OS, to mess you up later.


That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Perform a Repair Installation for Vista
• How to Activate Vista Normally and by Phone Activation
• How to Reset a User Account Password in Vista
• How to Do a Clean Install with a Full Version of Vista
• How to Extend Vista Trial Period for Up to 120 Days
• How to Get Out of Reduced Functionality Mode in Vista
• How to Create a Vista SP1 Slipstream Installation DVD
• How to Create a Bootable USB Flash Thumb Drive to Install Vista
• How to Setup a Dual Boot Installation with Windows Vista and XP
• How to Setup a Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and Vista
• How to Do a Custom Installation of Vista

 

[Brink]

Hello Mara, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Q1) Yes, you can select the C: partition to install Vista onto with harming your D: Recovery partition.

Q2) It depends if your new Ultimate Vista version is a 32 bit or 64 bit Vista. If it is a 64 bit Vista Ultimate version, then you will need to download and save the 64 bit versions of the device's drivers from the device manufacturer's or OEM website. If it is a 32 bit Ultimate version, then you should still be able to use the drivers from the Asus DVD.

Most DVD drives use firmware instead of drivers that are on a chip in the DVD itself, so it should be fine.

Q3) During the first installation of Vista Ultimate you would format your C: partiton, so you will be doing a clean installation instead of a upgrade. When you get to STEP TWO of the tutorial you are just selecting the first install of Vista Ultimate to upgrade to the second install of Vista Ultimate.

A Upgrade version of Vista must be installed from within a operating system. This tutorial is a workaround to allow you to do a fresh clean install with your upgrade Vista Ultimate version instead of upgrading from within Vista Basic to Vista Ultimate and having remnants of Vista Basic still on your hard drive.


Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[MaraMara]

Thanks for the quick response:D!! Its all 32 bit by the way

Just to be sure, during the first installation from the big list of Vista Version, I:
-dont choose Home Basic for the clean installation
-but use immediately Vista Ultimate for the clean installation

so I can upgrade this (not-activated) Ultimate to Ultimate with my Product Key (for Ultimate Upgrade)?
So this way you never install Home Basic, and you don't have that baggage ?

I've read from several people that have been having problems with their Upgrade DVD not being accepted, probably because new pc/laptops are preinstalled with SP1, while Microsoft (still) sells Upgrade DVD's without SP1.
So this is the perfect workaround!

Ill probably try this today, will let know if it works!
Thanks!

 

[Brink]

Mara,

Yep, you would format your old Home Basic version, and select Ultimate for the clean install (STEP ONE), then upgrade to Vista Ultimate (STEP TWO).

 

[Cjsparky]

Hi, I seem to be having a problem with this...at about 78% on the complete upgrade portion of the second install, I get an error telling me a component was unable to be installed, and I must start over....#$%^&!!!! I cant seem to get by this, and Have gone through 6 (12 when you consider the double install) try's...any ideas?

 

[Brink]

Could you post the exact error message? It may help in determining what may be wrong.

 

[Cjsparky]

Thanks for the quick reply Brink... I seem to have remedied my problems...For any of you who may experience problems even when following the instructions here, may want to remove ALL unnecessary hardware for the install...sound cards, USB Bluetooth Mouse, Secondary SATA drives, etc... I finally got it working stripping down to bare minimums and then reinstalling my peripherals after updating. CJ

 

[Brink]

CJ, I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted out and installed. Thank you for posting back your results.

Shawn

 

[bratboy1]

Okay the guide is fairly straight forward but before I embark on my adventure I have a question or 2.

My new computer has a brand new Terabyte HD and I was thinking of partitioning it with a main partition of 100 gigs for vista & then 4 additional partitions of 225 gig each ( or I might just go with 5 200 gig partitions) but the guide only talks about formating the whole drive in step 14. I mainly just want to have seperate the drive so I have a main drive, and then seperate drives for Games, Entertainment (music dvd's etc), Data and Applications, and a drive to use for a networked shared folder/drive.

"14. Click Format to format the hard drive. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: If you have more than one partition on this hard drive and want to get rid of it to make one big drive, then click Delete for each partition. Now click New and adjust the partition size to what you want, then click Format."

How would I do that? I noticed the picture for step 15 shows an option at the bottom that say extend. So should I first format the whole drive and then use the extend option to split up the drive? Am I understanding correctly or is there a better way of doing this?

Sorry if this is a stupid question but figure its best to ask now before I start instead of being confused later:D

Sincere Thx
Jess

 

[Brink]

Hi Jess,

It may be easier to use Disk Mangement in Vista after you have installed it to create the new partitions. However, you are limited to be able to only create 4 partitions, not 5.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[bratboy1]

So if I understood the other guides header I could make a primary partition thats 200 gig for Vista and then then a second partition (extended) that uses up the rest of the drive and create the other 4 sections as logical drives on that partition? Is that correct?

 

[Brink]

Yes, You could do it that way by creating an extended partition for the other 4.

It would be a lot easier to create 4 standard partitions through Disk Management though if you do not mind having only 4 partitions total.

 

[bratboy1]

So if I am understanding the proceedure correctly on a clean install what I would want to do is when I get to the Format Drive step.

1. Create a Partition thats 200 gig and format that

2. Creat a 2nd partition thats 800 gig and format that

3 then select the 2nd partition and click the Extend option to break it up into 4 logical drives?

In the alternative, if I just go with 4 partitions.

on a clean install I would want to format the entire drive. Do the dbl install since I'm using Vista upgrade DVD then in disk mngment

1. Shrink the 1st partition down to say 200 gig.
2. right click on the 800 gigs of unalocated space
3. select "New simple Volume option and set the size to 200 gigs.
4 Lather rinse and repeat till I've used up all the space?

My main concern is I have a shared folder my room mate uses to copy stuff to/from his computer to my XP system and right now its on my G: drive and I was worried about changing its location on my system so he has access.

 

[Brink]

Bratboy,

Almost, but you can only have 4 partitions total for a hard drive.

1. Format and do a clean install of Vista on entire drive.
2. Use Disk Management to Shrink C: by say 750 GB (768000 MB) for it to remain at 250GB.
3. Rinse and repeat to shrink the 750 GB partition to break it up into say 3 even 250 GB (25600 MB) partitions.


If your share folder does not stay keep the G: drive letter, you should be able to change it back to G: . If another drive is using G: , then just change it to another drive letter first. This tutorial will help show you how to if needed.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/114767-drive-letter-add-change-remove.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[bratboy1]

Does deviding the drive into 4 equal parts sound like the best way or should I consider a diffrent size for the Vista drive and then split the rest into 3 other drives using up whats left? Since I have an HD DVR card I'm planning to use the extra space on C for the "recorded Shows" document folder seems like a good idea If I do it in 4 equal parts then I reckon I could keep Vista and apps on the main one, use one for music & Video files, one for games and such and the last for the Shared folder and misc and backup stuff.

 

[Brink]

It doesn't matter. You can use any size your like for each partition. I just used 250 GB as an example. Vista should have at least 60 GB though. When you shrink a partition, just remember it's 1024 MB per 1 GB.

 

[bratboy1]

Well Im glad I decided to hold off on my friends offer for an OEM Vista home premium SP1 upgrade. I got an email from MS today and as a student they had an offer to get Office Ultimate for 91% off, approx $57 plus $13 for a DVD backup. When I went to the site I was also offered Vista Ultimate SP1 upgrade also for the same price. Their full versions not Academic copies to boot. Plus my new CC had a deal where on my first purchase with it I'd get a $50 credit to my card so I got both including backup DVD's for a total of $100. Figured for $50 each they were both worth it.

Anyway its only available to students but here is a link to the start page where you confirm you qualify for it in case anyone else is interested that was in my "
Microsoft Download Notifications: October 31, 2008" email

http://co1piltwb.partners.extranet....83047&s1=0c81990e-8221-a869-4a58-2bc10cc6ca26
"The ultimate steal: Students save up to 91% off E.R.P. on Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007. (Valid e-mail address at an educational institution required.)"

 

[Brink]

That's a great deal Bratboy. Thank you for sharing the opportunity for other students to take advantage of this deal to.

Shawn

 

[bratboy1]

No problem, like I said tho its only avail to students so to qualify you have to have a school email address that ends with .edu but it does seem like a good deal.

 

[snowshine]

Hi Brink,
I would be obliged if you could give your opinion for the following:
1. Dell provided those of us buying a new computer with XP in early [Jan]2007, with a promotion "VISTA Express upgrade DVD" as and when VISTA OS become availabe. It consists of two DVD disks-a Dell's VISTA express upgrade DVD & a Dell's Windows Vista upgrade assistant DVD. At the time, I first did a clean install of the VISTA OS as you have mentioned-so called "Double installation" of the vista rather than from XP to VISTA. [Very much talked about at the time as Paul Thurrott's technique]
However later I learnt from Dell forum that I could just do a clean single install of the Vista OS using Dell's VISTA Express Upgrade DVD without the need for the double installation. This I did and worked. I am not refering to retail version of the upgrade vista dvd.
My question is now I have had the Vista SP-1 automatically installed through the WU on my mechine. Can I still do a clean install of the Vista OS using my Dell's express VISTA upgrade DVD?
Kind Regards
Snow

 

[Brink]

Hi Snow,

Yes, you will still be able to do a clean install with your Vista DVD. You would just have to reinstall the SP1 and other WUs afterwards again though.

To make it easier, you might download the standalone Vista SP1 (32-bit) installation file and copy it to DVD. This way it would you could install it a lot faster from DVD instead of WU after installing Vista.

Five language version:
Download details: Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Five Language Standalone (KB936330)

All language version:
Download details: Windows Vista Service Pack 1 All Language Standalone (KB936330)

Hope this helps,
Shawn