I want a fresh install so Im reformatting. What's the order for installing drivers, services packs and other windows updates? Like, do I install my drivers as soon as it loads up into windows or should I update and patch windows first? Friend told me some drivers need .net to be installed. Your help is appreciated!
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Quick question, Reformatting soon!
- Thread starter Pipo
- Start date
1) Install Vista without using your key - seriously. This is the absolute best tip for a new installation that you're going to get. It's not necessary to input your Product Key to install Vista, so don't use it.
At the point in the installation where Vista asks for the Product Key, click the Next button. A warning will pop up about not inputting the key, so click No on that popup, then on the next screen choose the edition of Vista that you legitimately own - this is an important step here since if you choose some other edition (and you can choose any of them), the key you purchased isn't going to work. The Product Key unlocks the version you bought so... Ultimate needs an Ultimate key, Home Premium needs a Home Premium key, etc.
Continue the installation from that point on, and as long as Vista's installer can see your hard drive controller - whether it's an ATA/IDE controller, SATA, RAID, etc - you should be able to keep going. If not, then you're going to have to provide working drivers so that Vista can do anything at all with your hard drive(s). I'm not going into all that here, you should be able to figure out what drivers you need for your hard drive controllers.
2) Once Vista is actually up and running and installed, hopefully you'll have at least the NIC driver working so you can get online and hit Windows Update for all the critical updates, but read over the list before you choose any of the optional ones like hardware drivers that usually show up. The video drivers usually will work just fine, but they won't provide all the proper 3D acceleration features that the manufacturer provided drivers will.
3) Go hunt down the latest drivers available for the hardware you have in your machine, even ATA/IDE/SATA/RAID drivers if you haven't done so already. Look for the absolute latest drivers available for most every piece of hardware you have, really. Install them as required and reboot as required, etc.
Vista comes with a full complement of .NET 2.0 currently, might even have some 3.0 components, I'm not 100% certain, but you shouldn't have any issues there.
The trick is to use the default drivers in the Vista distribution since they're baseline drivers that ensure the system can get up and running. After that situation is met and accomplished, then you go about getting the latest drivers installed to give the additional features or performance enhancements the manufacturer's latest drivers typically can provide.
Hope this helps...
At the point in the installation where Vista asks for the Product Key, click the Next button. A warning will pop up about not inputting the key, so click No on that popup, then on the next screen choose the edition of Vista that you legitimately own - this is an important step here since if you choose some other edition (and you can choose any of them), the key you purchased isn't going to work. The Product Key unlocks the version you bought so... Ultimate needs an Ultimate key, Home Premium needs a Home Premium key, etc.
Continue the installation from that point on, and as long as Vista's installer can see your hard drive controller - whether it's an ATA/IDE controller, SATA, RAID, etc - you should be able to keep going. If not, then you're going to have to provide working drivers so that Vista can do anything at all with your hard drive(s). I'm not going into all that here, you should be able to figure out what drivers you need for your hard drive controllers.
2) Once Vista is actually up and running and installed, hopefully you'll have at least the NIC driver working so you can get online and hit Windows Update for all the critical updates, but read over the list before you choose any of the optional ones like hardware drivers that usually show up. The video drivers usually will work just fine, but they won't provide all the proper 3D acceleration features that the manufacturer provided drivers will.
3) Go hunt down the latest drivers available for the hardware you have in your machine, even ATA/IDE/SATA/RAID drivers if you haven't done so already. Look for the absolute latest drivers available for most every piece of hardware you have, really. Install them as required and reboot as required, etc.
Vista comes with a full complement of .NET 2.0 currently, might even have some 3.0 components, I'm not 100% certain, but you shouldn't have any issues there.
The trick is to use the default drivers in the Vista distribution since they're baseline drivers that ensure the system can get up and running. After that situation is met and accomplished, then you go about getting the latest drivers installed to give the additional features or performance enhancements the manufacturer's latest drivers typically can provide.
Hope this helps...
GJSNeptune
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Wait, are you installing XP or Vista?
My personal method (I'm sure others will disagree or have different ways) for XP has always been:
- Download latest official drivers for hardware, burn to CD or store on separate partition.
- Unplug ethernet cable.
- Install Windows.
- Install chipset drivers.
- Install video card drivers.
- Install audio and LAN drivers.
- Activate Windows (since validation came around).
- Hit up Windows Update.
Assuming you've slipstreamed SP2 into your install disc (Why haven't you!!! Get AutoStreamer!!!), you don't need to unplug the cable anymore. If you're that worried about catching something that fast, just load your ethernet drivers, and then run Windows Update. Once you have the updates installed, then you can go on to the chipset drivers, then the other hardware drivers. Unplugging the ethernet cord isn't going to hurt anything, but as long as you run Windows Update soon after the install has completed, you should be fine
Save yourself a step (and time) and slipstream SP2 into the disc.
Phelptwan
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I integrated it all with nlite already...so sorry can't help ya.
JK
Whats worked for me for the last 4-5 years has been:
Unplug ethernet
Boot to bios and set to boot from Optical drive
Install windows (f6 for sata drivers, well, used to be)
Install NOD32 (first thing I do on every single computer I put together/reformat)
Install Chipset drivers
Install Lan Drivers
Install any Raid/Sata drivers that might be needed
Install Video Drivers
Install any other device drivers
Setup Printing
Download Firefox, adobe reader, flash, latest java jre (these are actually integrated into my slipstream now)
Install office
JK
Whats worked for me for the last 4-5 years has been:
Unplug ethernet
Boot to bios and set to boot from Optical drive
Install windows (f6 for sata drivers, well, used to be)
Install NOD32 (first thing I do on every single computer I put together/reformat)
Install Chipset drivers
Install Lan Drivers
Install any Raid/Sata drivers that might be needed
Install Video Drivers
Install any other device drivers
Setup Printing
Download Firefox, adobe reader, flash, latest java jre (these are actually integrated into my slipstream now)
Install office
I didn't see anybody mention anything about saving all that hard work by making an image of the whole kit and kaboodle when you're done with it.
I didn't mention it in my post because I made an assumption there that he was going to be installing Vista, so making an image of a keyless install with Vista would be useless for all practical purposes: as they said in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, "The clock is always ticking in San Dimas" meaning once Vista is installed without a key, that "starts the timer" so if someone took that image and tried to restore it say 35 days after the original install, it would choke and die since that's well past the 30 day grace period.
Now, with XP, you don't have that issue sooo... after all that hard work installing the OS, installing the updates, patches, drivers, software, games, etc etc and setting it all up just the way you want, not making a perfect bit-for-bit copy of that final state of completion would be a complete waste of all that time and effort if something goes wrong.
Murphy's Law exists for a reason, yanno...
So, True Image or Ghost, the choice is yours, but do yourself a huge favor and get one or the other. They're absolutely amazing tools for what they do and the time and effort and frustration they can save you just in case Murphy has a field day with your nice new installation.
I didn't mention it in my post because I made an assumption there that he was going to be installing Vista, so making an image of a keyless install with Vista would be useless for all practical purposes: as they said in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, "The clock is always ticking in San Dimas" meaning once Vista is installed without a key, that "starts the timer" so if someone took that image and tried to restore it say 35 days after the original install, it would choke and die since that's well past the 30 day grace period.
Now, with XP, you don't have that issue sooo... after all that hard work installing the OS, installing the updates, patches, drivers, software, games, etc etc and setting it all up just the way you want, not making a perfect bit-for-bit copy of that final state of completion would be a complete waste of all that time and effort if something goes wrong.
Murphy's Law exists for a reason, yanno...
So, True Image or Ghost, the choice is yours, but do yourself a huge favor and get one or the other. They're absolutely amazing tools for what they do and the time and effort and frustration they can save you just in case Murphy has a field day with your nice new installation.
Phelptwan
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So, True Image or Ghost, the choice is yours, but do yourself a huge favor and get one or the other. They're absolutely amazing tools for what they do and the time and effort and frustration they can save you just in case Murphy has a field day with your nice new installation.
I used to be a firm believer in this philosophy as well, but then I started experimenting heavily with slipstreaming programs, updates, drivers, etc. into windows. This way instead of dealing with putting a ghost image from one machine onto a machine with different hardware, just install a fresh (unattended) copy of windows each time.
The whole point of an image is to restore a specific machine with a specific hardware configuration back to a previous state - not to make an installation mobile and transportable. So for that purpose alone imaging is superior. If you're talking about Linux, it doesn't matter; Linux installations are transportable across hardware and fairly easily.
But we're not talking about Linux.
Sure, you can do the unattended slipstreamed with everything and the kitchen sink route, but while your unattended slipstreamed with everything and the kitchen sink custom CD/DVD is still reinstalling, I'm already back up and running in just a few minutes (typically less than 10, sometimes a lot less) as if I'd never stopped in the first place.
There are merits for both routes, I'm just mentioning what I feel would be best for the OP based on what he seemed to be asking for.
But we're not talking about Linux.
Sure, you can do the unattended slipstreamed with everything and the kitchen sink route, but while your unattended slipstreamed with everything and the kitchen sink custom CD/DVD is still reinstalling, I'm already back up and running in just a few minutes (typically less than 10, sometimes a lot less) as if I'd never stopped in the first place.
There are merits for both routes, I'm just mentioning what I feel would be best for the OP based on what he seemed to be asking for.
Phelptwan
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Well i think we both digressed. I assume the OP is doing just one PC and isn't working with dozens...or hundreds. I will concede anything over a certain number (I go with 10), a ghost image works much better. My unattended install takes 45min though, on decent hardware. Maybe one of us should start an Unattended vs. Imaged thread...like to see what we'd learn.