Vista retail, clean install?

harsaphes

harsaphes

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Aug 29, 2005
Messages
5,330
So i bought Vista Ultimate, retail, when i go to install over XP I cant seem to figure out how to do a "clean" install , like I'm used to in XP, where your previous version is wiped out. Can you please point me in the right direction so i can get this done. Thanks!
 
Boot to the CD. You choose either Custom install or Upgrade. If upgrade is darkened (like if you are upgrading from xp 32 to vista 64) you will have to do a fresh install which is Custom. When you see your hard drives, you have to delete the partition in order to 'clear XP'. Keep in mind by doing this you are completely wiping out the hard drive, so make sure the data is backed up. Once you clear the partition, just click the unallocated drive and press next. It will automatically set up the hard drive, you don't even have to manually create partitions anymore. You'll then be able to type in your key or you can choose to not, and manually select your version.

Once you get Vista installed, check the device manager to make sure everything is installed. If it's not, right click, upgrade driver, and check online. Some drivers you can only get this way. Then update the computer with windows update which is in the security tab in the control panel. Also, you may want to reduce the size of System Restore space. There is no slider like in XP so you need to use the command line.

vssadmin resize shadowstorage /on=c: /for=c: /maxsize=20GB

I would suggest about 20GB, if you don't set it, it will use 15% of your drive minimal, with up to 30% if it's available (but releases the extra 15% if your using it) which can be a ton if you have a larger drive.
 
And just a handy tip: if you're a serious about using Photoshop, you might consider using some of that 8GB as a scratch disk using a RAMdisk. If you think using a second hard drive (even a fast one) is pretty sweet for that purpose, lemme tell ya, running a RAMdisk and assigning it for scratch disk duties as well as all system temp variables and even Internet browser caches will skyrocket your system performance, especially with Photoshop work.

bigdogchris makes an assumption that yes, after the clean installation Vista will see your NIC and install a driver for it so you can immediately get online - sadly, this isn't always the case depending on the NIC. More than likely you should be ok (looks like an Intel chipset so probably a standard Intel PRO NIC of some kind, like a PRO/VT100 or the ubiquitous MT1000 these days.

But seriously consider the RAMdisk option for Photoshop and other duties. Your productivity when working with and manipulating large images will be screamingly fast compared to using a fast hard drive...
 
Joe Average said:
bigdogchris makes an assumption that yes, after the clean installation Vista will see your NIC and install a driver for it so you can immediately get online - sadly, this isn't always the case depending on the NIC. More than likely you should be ok (looks like an Intel chipset so probably a standard Intel PRO NIC of some kind, like a PRO/VT100 or the ubiquitous MT1000 these days.
Click to expand...
I've only seen that with wireless Nics. I've used 2 different Nforce boards with Vista, one of which came out well after Vista's release, and it still had drivers for the on board, even for the new one.

OP, If you are on wireless, you will likely have to use wired internet until you get your Wireless NIC installed. Vista does not have a large DB of wireless drivers, so you'll most likely have to use that update online feature, while wired, to grab wireless drivers
 
Yah, it's better than it was in the past. When Vista first came out, I was surprised at how little it had internally as far as NIC drivers were concerned. I had several machines, some with Broadcom gigabit NICs (very common hardware), some with some 10/100 Intel stuff (the VT100 I mentioned), and a few Realteks that were fairly popular and sure enough, Vista didn't have default drivers for 'em - Windows Update did, however, so it then became a chore to get online with those boxes and get the drivers updated. :)

I ended up using a USB wireless adapter with an Atheros chipset and XP drivers installed in Vista to get online using a wireless router I have to get the necessary updates. Go figure... :)

But as SP1 is out, the driver database is far greater now, so it's not that much of an issue anymore except for the most truly fringe products.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top