Vista - Clean Install with a Full Version of Vista

Thanks for the reply. I powered down and disconnected my printer as suggested but I let it boot up normally to see if windows would start ... and it did! Anywho, everything seems to be working now, woot! Thanks for the help

You're welcome Sticky. I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted.

Hi Brinks!

First of all, thank you for this very helpful tutorial.

I'm currently running: Toshiba Satellite, Vista Home Basic(32bit).
It is extremely slow due to excessive downloadings. I want to perform a clean installation of Vista Ultimate. However, when I insert the Vista Ultimate installation DVD to proceed with the process as instructed, it automatically booted into my current OS, i.e, Home Basic instead of this screen:



I've restarted many times to no avail. Mind you, I had previously(last week) used this DVD to installed this same OS to my sister's laptop successfully, therefore, it is in good working condition. Would you please advise me of how I can get to this first step? What key do I need to press?

Thanks in advance.

You did set your system to boot from cd/dvd first right?

No, I do not know how to do that? Would you tell me how? Please excuse my ignorance.

Thanks.

Hello AbsentMinded, and welcome to Vista Forums.

You would need to boot into you BIOS screen by pressing the key for it while your computer is starting up. Normally you will see what key should be pressed to enter BIOS for a few brief seconds at startup. Next, you will need to look through the option pages for a Boot Priority Order type listing. In this list you would select to have the CD/DVD listed first in the boot order, then usually the hard drive. Afterwards, save and exit the BIOS.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Thank you so much Brink. I did press the F2 or F10 key and abled to get into the BIOS screen as you said. I just did not know what the BIOS was. Anyhow, the page you described was exactly what I encountered on my screen. I followed the steps and BINGO.

Thanks again.

I need to ask one more question please. I want to keep my current OS which is the Home Basic just in case I do not like the Ultimate. I plan on creating another formatted partition(D:\) to install the new Ultimate there and if I like it, I can then transfer all the needed programs/documents over(correct?) and delete the old Home Basic on C:\ drive. Now, this is where I need your expertise. If I decide to proceed with the forementioned plan and make the Vista Ultimate my one and only primary drive, is it possible to change the letter D:\ to C:\ without creating any conflicts within the saved programs/documents? If not, please advise me of the best to accomplish this task?

Thanks.

WOOT! Im got something right for once. Can I have a cookie now hehe

Glad I was able to help some

Since Basic was installed first, there is no easy way of deleting the Basic partition and extending the Ultimate partition back into the deleted Basic partition without having to repair the boot files afterwards.

I can pretty much guarantee that you will prefer Ultimate over Basic. You might consider backing up the files/documents that you do not want to lose, and do a clean install of Ultimate instead. Afterwards, reinstall the programs and copy the file backups back. This way you will not have to go throught the trouble above with getting rid of Basic.

Hope this helps,
Shawn