Clean Install From Upgrade Vista

snowshine · Nov 16, 2008

Thank you.
You are really wonderful to post such user friendly tutorials & so much trustworthy.
Thanking you

Brink · Nov 16, 2008

You're welcome Snow.

Thank you,
Shawn

snowshine · Nov 17, 2008

Hello Brink,
I intend to do another clean reinstall of my VISTA Home Premium.
1.I would like to tell me if I can down load Apps like Adobe,Flash player,Itune,Real player & McAfee and save it on a DVD disk prior to I start my clean reinstall and can I reinstall the above apps from this DVD disk prior to I connect my self to internet? Will it work?
I own purchase & licence for Acronis True Image Home 11 on line[no DVD]. Can I save this on a DVD and install it during my VISTA clean reinstall?-
If so when should I install it ideally? After the VISTA os installation or the installation of other such as chipset, IMSM,Video,sound,Network adaptor , setpoint for Keyboard&mouse?
Sorry to trouble you
Snow

Brink · Nov 17, 2008

Hello Snow,

Yes, as long as those programs have a installation/setup file that you can save, you can do that. You might also consider saving all of your device driver installation files as well. :geek:

DA1745 · Nov 29, 2008

What a great site & thread. I am currently searching for an answer to my main question elsewhere on your site. But i get easily sidetracked & distracted. So what i'm wondering is: I have a home built system, it's set up with Windows XP pro but i would like to add Vista ultimate (upgrade)-(retail box) as a second (dual boot option). In this thread you did a super job addressing doing a Vista set up as the Primary / sole OS, but is it possible to keep XP as the primary OS and install Vista Ultimate (or premium etc.) as a second boot option?
My primary hard drive is all ready, it's got an empty second partition of 75GB ...or if that won't work I also have another Physical hard drive formatted & ready to go if that is required or better. (I thought about just trying to install it on the second partition as i would with XP except this time using your method, but i thought i better ask if XP will detect Vista and add a boot option). But i'm unclear on how to get the two married up so that when i start the system after the POST screen it will give me a choice of which system i would like to boot (Windows Xp Pro, or Windows Vista Ultimate - or that it would boot XP Pro automatically unless i press something like F12 and then select Vista that would be great as well).

I've dual booted XP with XP before a long time ago but i read some information (unable to find it again) that said my set up would not work??? and that the only way is to Install Vista first & then install XP. Something to do with XP's bootloader not working with Vista been several months so i'm not clear if that was the reason or on the details as you can see?

-Or- To go at it from a different approach, I could simply physically move the hard drives (pull out the one with XP Pro on it temporarily) put in an empty HD in the first SATA position, then use your method to Clean install Vista Ultimate Upgrade on that new hard drive, could i then put the XP Pro hard drive back in the system in the Second SATA position and go into and modify Vista's bootloader (somehow??) to go looking for the second hard drive (the hard drive that has the XP Pro installed). Is that possible to get Vista to recognize an already existing XP Pro like that? That would work out for me as well as long as right after start up it would give me the option of which OS to boot from -OR- let me enter some kind of a menu to select the OS.

====================================================================================================================

On the second install, why do you recommend it be set to "Do not get the latest updates for installation" just curious? I also prefer to hand select the updates (I always install the critical & security updates) but some of the optional updates or device drivers i don't because too often Windows XP would not understand my configuration and by installing the updated drivers would cause problems or even stop components from working correctly (plus the ole' modified computer adage not to arbitrarily upgrade if a driver or program is working just fine & doing everything you need it to or its supposed to)....

Sorry for being long winded but for my understanding/knowledge base, IF i was to check the box to get the latest updates during the second install where i have entered in the product key, would it ONLY get critical/security updates or would it also try & install those "optional" or driver updates etcetera?

Thank you so much... I am searching your site & have about 10 more windows open, trying to find the answer to my primary question, but wanted to put this down on paper (wink) before i get side tracked, and in case i don't find that specific question anwered.

Brink · Nov 29, 2008

Hello DA1745, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Yes, you can install Vista on the second partition or hard drive to have a dual boot with XP and Vista. Afterward installation is finished, you will have 30 seconds to choose a OS at boot, or it will default to loading Vista. To have XP back as the default OS to boot to, you will just need to change the default OS settings in Vista in Method Two (step 4) in this tutorial.

Another issue with dual booting XP and Vista is that XP will wipe out the Vista system restore points whenever you boot into XP. This tutorial will show you how to stop this though.

I always prefer to do the "Do not get the latest updates for installation" option during installation myself. It make installation go quicker, and I prefer to select my own updates as well.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

DA1745 · Dec 4, 2008

Brink (Shawn) I can't thank you enough. I found your tutorial very confidence inspiring!!! I clean installed Vista ultimate upgrade on to a separate HD (not over but besides XP :D so if there's a HD failure i'm still up & running with the alternate OS.
I had a minor hiccup on the second install of some driver/device wasn't properly detected although it was the first time through (i'm on another system so can't list it until i boot that back up). It's something related to PCI, forgot the exact name but it was something i've never seen before. I might wipe out Vista & give it a second try just to see if that's the charm. If i have to go hunting for the driver that's not a big deal but it's bothering me that it found it the first time & won't the second.

I'm working on the Restore disk issue you mentioned (wow how do things like this happen at Microsoft???) --- They make both of these dang it???

I spent a lot of time reading further reviews & information but none were as detailed and went so far.
I think it's crazy that Microsoft mentioned NOTHING on the box about requiring this upgrade i purchased be upgraded within XP or further that it would be requiring and incorporating my XP installation as part of the bargain. Its one thing if they make that WIDELY known like a warning label on a cigarette box but I saw nothing about it until i opened the box (could no longer return it to the store) and read that in the booklet. But i did begin work on a third OS (Unbuntu 8.10). I'm not going to be buying Windows 7 or any more copies of Vista, i'm tired of being punished and paying them for headaches! If it weren't for people like you i would have given up long ago.

Brink · Dec 4, 2008

You're welcome DA1745.

If you get the name of the PCI device, post back with it. It would be a good idea though to have all of your Vista drivers saved to a DVD or something before installing Vista in case you needed them during or after installation.

Hope it goes smoothly.

zBobG · Dec 7, 2008

Retail Vista SP1 Upgrade DVD

I have bought the retail Vista Home Premium SP1 Upgrade disk. I have gotten the x64 disk from MS for this product.

Note that this DVD is the SP1 version and is different from the original Vista distribution DVDs.

I am running XP 32bit, I want to install the Vista x64 version. I do not have an x64 version of XP.

I have read the tutorial "Clean install from Upgrade Vista", but I think it may only be applicable to the original Vista DVD distribution disks and not applicable to the newer SP1 disks.

This is the UPGRADE disk and it says it MUST BE installed from a running copy of Windows. Unfortunately when run in XP 32bit it also says Vista x64 cannot be installed from a 32bit Windows. Interestingly you don't find this out until you've purchased the product. I'm supposed to know to ask about this before I buy it?

I have not tried booting from the DVD.

I have read that the Vista SP1 Upgrade WILL NOT install from the DVD (either 32bit or 64bit). Is this true? I'll try it anyway.

I have read that the Vista SP1 Upgrade (MS) wants you to forfeit your previous Windows license, meaning that you cannot (at least MS doesn't want you to) run your previous version of Windows if you install the Vista Upgrade version. This is somewhat of a change in MS license policy since Vista was originally released. Does this mean that if I install this Vista Upgrade, even with a clean install if possible, will it wipe out my XP installation? I would like to keep my XP in a dual boot setup.

I'm mostly concerned that the Vista Upgrade install may wipe out my XP install. Yes I know what you'll say: "Back up your files." That's easy for you to say and hard for me to do.

I have XP 32bit on C:/ and I have an empty partition (M:/) on a different harddrive prepared for the Vista clean install.

I have considered obtaining an "unofficial" version of an older Vista install DVD (or even a current "full" install version) and installing without a key (in trial mode) then upgrading from there.

I have also considered unplugging all the harddrives except the empty one before attempting a Vista install to avoid loosing my XP installation. If I can get Vista installed is it possible to enable the Vista dualboot after plugging my other drives back in?

I'm thinking there may be a problem with Vista seeing its install drive as C:/ when with the XP drive (and others) plugged back in it is M:/ (no longer the boot drive). When Vista is installed where does the boot loader get installed? If there is a C:/ drive, and Vista is installed to M:/, does the boot loader get installed to the (XP) C:/ (the actual hardware boot drive)?

If Vista is installed to the (current M:/ drive) by unplugging all the other drives then that drive becomes the boot drive. Is it then possible to enable dualboot with XP while keeping the drive that Vista is on as the boot drive? Obviously the XP installation would not have been visible to Vista during its install.

I am a software developer and I'm very familiar with XP so don't be afraid of being technical in any responses.

DA1745 · Dec 8, 2008

Re: Retail Vista SP1 Upgrade DVD

Answers inline:

zBobG said:
...I have read the tutorial "Clean install from Upgrade Vista", but I think it may only be applicable to the original Vista DVD distribution disks and not applicable to the newer SP1 disks.

I got the Upgrade Vista Ultimate w/ Sp1 (comes with both 32 & 64bit DVDs) and had no problem installing the 32Bit version with a dual boot with my existing 32bit XP following the directions here & elsewhere.

This is the UPGRADE disk and it says it MUST BE installed from a running copy of Windows. Unfortunately when run in XP 32bit it also says Vista x64 cannot be installed from a 32bit Windows. Interestingly you don't find this out until you've purchased the product. I supposed to know to ask about this before I buy it?

Yup, that's what mine said as well but if you read elsewhere you can get into some "theories" of why Microsoft continued to leave this work-a-round clean boot still in SP1 (they obviously know about it & choose to leave it in). But i was also un-aware of the complete change in upgrading requirements/procedures until i popped open my box. SURPRISE, GRRR!!!
But i can confirm that the work around is still fine & functioning in Vista Upgrades with SP1 included as i did it myself just a few days back. I have not seen ANY indication that 64 bit would be any different.

I have not tried booting from the DVD.
I have read that the Vista SP1 Upgrade WILL NOT install from the DVD (either 32bit or 64bit). Is this true? I'll try it anyway.

Just follow the guide. It's tells u how to work around that.

I have read that the Vista SP1 Upgrade (MS) wants you to forfeit your previous Windows license, meaning that you cannot (at least MS doesn't want you to) run your previous version of Windows if you install the Vista Upgrade version.

Correct that's what they expect you to do if you bought the upgrade versions.

This is somewhat of a change in MS license policy since Vista was originally released.

??? Apparently not for the Upgrade versions...

Does this mean that if I install this Vista Upgrade, even with a clean install if possible, will it wipe out my XP installation? I would like to keep my XP in a dual boot setup.

As long as you don't install from within XP and have it write over your XP installation or when using the method reported in this guide, you select a different drive or different partion (leaving your XP partition alone) it won't. Check with Brink or others to make sure there isn't a problem dual booting XP (32Bit) & Vista (64Bit).

I have considered obtaining an "unofficial" version of an older Vista install DVD (or even a current "full" install version) and installing without a key (in trial mode) then upgrading from there.

That's what this guide has you do with the DVD you already have, so no need to go off getting another one.

I have also considered unplugging all the harddrives except the empty one before attempting a Vista install to avoid loosing my XP installation. If I can get Vista installed is it possible to enable the Vista dualboot after plugging my other drives back in?

(As long as the Vista 64Bit & XP 32Bit thing isn't a problem...then just google this forum & others (he has written many threads about fixing the bootloaders for setting things up that way. However, if there's no compatibility problem with simply installing the Vista 64 as a second OS, it will take over the boot file (at least the 32Bit version did) very nicely with no additional work. Although the other method isn't overly complicated why bother making the extra work?

I can't remember b/c it didn't specifically pertain to the type of set-up i wanted...but there were some issues mentioned with 32Bit & 64Bit but i just can't remember what they amounted to.

zBobG · Dec 8, 2008

Re: Retail Vista SP1 Upgrade DVD

DA1745 said:
...snip...

Thank you so much for your response, that answered most of my questions.

Mostly I didn't want to loose my XP, I've had the same XP installation since 2002, only had to reinstall XP once and that was in 2002, the initial release of XP was no good at all and I waited till the SP1 was released. Since then XP has served me well and I don't want to abandon it now.

I think I can use VistaBootPro or EasyBCD if I need to mess with the boot loader, I think the Vista install does overwrite the XP bootloader on the boot diskdrive, but if all goes well it shouldn't be a problem.

So... Why did you choose not to use the Vista64? I want to run the 64bit version so I can get the most use of the 4Gb ram that I have installed. That is if Vista64 will run at all.

DA1745 · Dec 13, 2008

Re: Retail Vista SP1 Upgrade DVD

zBobG said:
Thank you so much for your response, that answered most of my questions.

Mostly I didn't want to loose my XP, I've had the same XP installation since 2002, only had to reinstall XP once and that was in 2002, the initial release of XP was no good at all and I waited till the SP1 was released. Since then XP has served me well and I don't want to abandon it now.
I think I can use VistaBootPro or EasyBCD if I need to mess with the boot loader, I think the Vista install does overwrite the XP bootloader on the boot diskdrive, but if all goes well it shouldn't be a problem.
So... Why did you choose not to use the Vista64? I want to run the 64bit version so I can get the most use of the 4Gb ram that I have installed. That is if Vista64 will run at all.

Yeah, i know that feeling. I'd still backup your documents and .exe's that you can't install from disk or redownload etc.
Hopefully you won't need to use the VBP or Easy BCD at all unless you want to make XP your Default OS again.

I tried XP 64 bit initially when i built my gaming PC last year and there were a number of issues i encountered with software conflicts so i just wiped it out and clean installed XP pro SP2. I have 2GB installed and a set of 2 X 512MB sticks set to go in if i needed it (3Gb) but until i installed Vista that was never a need, for me. Nothing i did required it, with Vista and some dual HDTV dual recording cards that may change. Good Luck P.S. if you haven't installed Vista yet you might have issues trying to do so with 4GB rather than 2GB (just for the installation).

bratboy1 · Jan 11, 2009

Not sure but I think if the install is of a Vista disk with SP1 integrated then the memory issue may not be an issue. It was supposedly addresses with SP1:

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

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

STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section. This problem was first corrected in Windows Vista Service Pack 1

APPLIES TO

Windows Vista Home Basic
Windows Vista Home Premium
Windows Vista Ultimate
Windows Vista Business
Windows Vista Enterprise
Windows Vista Starter
Windows Vista Home Basic 64-bit Edition
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit Edition
Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit Edition
Windows Vista Business 64-bit Edition
Windows Vista Enterprise 64-bit Edition

Earnhead · Jan 19, 2009

Hi Shaun, I have a HP desktop that I purchased about 2 years ago that came preinstalled with XP Media Center. They offered a Vista upgrade disc through the mail which I ordered and have had for a while. It is a Windows Vista Home Premium Express Upgrade. Well I bought a new hard drive and followed this tutorial to install vista and it worked great. It changed the boot options to 1.Earlier version of Windows (which takes me to another boot menu with XP MC and recovery console)2.Vista and 3.Recovery console(I guess this is for Vista). Anyways I haven't activated it yet so is it possible to take this hard drive out and put it in a new build or should I activate it and then just put in new build and then follow this tutorial again. Or do I need to uninstall Vista somehow and if I do uninstall will I lose XP. Sorry to be so long winded

SIW2 · Jan 19, 2009

Hi,

As Shawn isn't online just now, Don't activate it if you want to move it to another machine.

When Vista is installed it generates a unique ID based on the components in your machine. When you activate, both that ID and the product key go to M$. Unless you have an unusual license, your copy of Vista is only meant for one machine.

As long as you have not activated Vista, you could move the HD to a new machine , but would need to reinstall Vista on that new machine.

Hope it helps

SIW2

Earnhead · Jan 19, 2009

Thanks for the quick response. So how do I uninstall Vista properly so that I have just the original XP media center to boot. Can I just boot into XP and just reformat that drive that Vista is on. I won't be building the new computer for a few weeks. When I eventually do put this new hard drive in the new build I will probably just replace XP with some version of Linux and use as server, but I want to continue to use XP on it for now. Or do I use one of the recovery consoles that I spoke of in the earlier post to get rid of Vista for now on that 2nd hard drive.

Edit: One last note, I did enter my product key when I installed Vista but I never activated it. Does that make a difference?

SIW2 · Jan 19, 2009

Hi,

There is a slight complication as unless you had marked the 2nd hd as Active before installing Vista, then then Vista's bootmanager is now handling booting both XP and Vista.

Vista's boot files, bootmgr. and BCD are on the XP partition.

I know little about XP but if you go into msconfig do you get something like this ?

If so, set XP as the Default, then delete the Vista entry.

Otherwise, disconnect from the net ( so Vista doesn't activate automatically - which it might if you have entered the product key) then use msconfig in Vista to do it.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/82664-boot-partition-default.html

After that you can reformat the Vista hd.

Hope it helps

SIW2

SIW2 · Jan 19, 2009

Hi,

Just seen that bit about the product key - check under the System window to see if has already activated.

Press the Windows and Pause /Break together and the System window will pop up. It will tell you at the bottom of the window, like this :

SIW2

Earnhead · Jan 19, 2009

SIW2
Unfortunately the computer is in the bedroom and my wife has already gone to sleep so I can't verify. But I did this install of Vista over the weekend and the next day I remember seeing 29 days left to activate so hopefully I will be able to do as you suggested tomorrow.

:D You have been a great help. I just discovered this site this weekend and am amazed at the amount of great information here. I have already spent way to much time tonight just searching around. Thanks again

SIW2 · Jan 19, 2009

You're welcome Earnhead.

Keep us posted as to how it goes.

SIW2:D

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