Computer and Software Support


Clean install of Vista

This is from Paul Thurrott's Supersite pasted here to avoid broken links. To see it from his site, click here

Click here for information on different ways to store your personal files on your hard drive. This will make backing up your files easier.  

To boot to the CD you will need to set the BIOS to boot to the CD-ROM first. Click here on information about booting to the BIOS.  

OS install issues - Known issues that can prevent windows from installing (These issues do not always apply but if you have a problem during install, check these out)

***NOTE*** If you have a zip drive, flash card reader, printer, or other non required items, you will need to disconnect it from the system before doing the install of windows. If the zip, flash card reader or printer is connected, the windows installation will make the zip drive, flash card reader, or printer  drive C and assign the hard drive with a different letter. Some programs will not install unless the hard drive is drive C. You can connect the zip drive once windows is loaded. It is good practice to disconnect all unnecessary devices before the install.

***NOTE***If you have a second hard drive, Physically disconnect it until after the reinstall and then install the second hard drive.

If you don't want to have to re-activate windows after the re-install, copy the wpa.dbl file to a disk. After reinstall, copy the file back to the Windows\system32 folder.

  • It is recommended that you disconnect all peripheral devices except the keyboard, mouse, and monitor prior to reinstalling the operating system. Peripheral devices may include printers, scanners, zip drives, external modems, or USB hubs. If you have installed additional expansion cards, such as SCSI adapters or IO cards, it is also recommends that you remove these extra cards prior to reinstalling the operating system in order to avoid possible errors or resource conflicts.
  • If you are using a Windows Vista Upgrade CD to install windows, you will need the CD of a previous version of windows. During the install, it will ask you for the CD to verify you qualify for the upgrade.
  • If you are creating a Raid install (where you use two or more disks as one disk), you will need to consult the manufacturer of the raid that is on your motherboard or pc card for instructions on setting up raid. With raid there is an additional step you have to do at the beginning of windows install. The instructions vary depending on the model of the raid.

You will need

  • Microsoft Windows Vista CD
  • Previous Windows CD (if you are doing an upgrade)
  • Driver disks
  • Additional driver and utility diskettes or CDs
  • Download Delpart.exe (Optional) Click here to download the file.

Delpart.exe and the debug script does the same thing. They both delete the partition. Delpart.exe is quicker and easier to use than the debug script. You can also have the windows CD delete the partition.

NOTICE: The procedures below require a repartitioning and reformatting of the hard drive. This will permanently erase all data on the drive. Please back up any data you wish to preserve before performing these procedures. During the procedure it will ask you for the product key. Have it handy to enter when it requests it. Some installs vary to a certain degree but all of them follow the following steps enough to be able to use this layout for all of them.

For instructions on installing windows, follow these steps

  1. If you have a blank drive or the partition has already been deleted, go to step 4.
  2. You have two options to choose from to delete the partition. You can use Delpart or you can use the windows CD. If you want to use Delpart, go to step 3. If you want to use the windows CD go to step 4
  3. To delete the partition using delpart.exe, click here. (This link will open to a separate window leaving this one open. When you are finished running delpart, you will need to return to this page, and resume at step 4) or you can use the windows feature to delete the partition. If you want to use the windows, skip this step and go to step 4 (I strongly recommend using the Delpart. It does a better job)
  4. Put your windows Installation DVD in the drive
  5. Reboot the computer
  6. The PC will launch into Setup and display a black text-based screen with the message "Windows is loading files..." After that you will see the Vista boot screen and the screen will move into the initial phase of Setup. (Click on the image to see a bigger picture of this)
   
  1. Choose your language, time and currency formats, and keyboard or input method
    1. For most people the default values will already be correct, but make any needed changes and click Next to continue. (Click on the image to see a bigger picture of this)
   
  1. Install or repair Windows Vista
    1. In this phase of Setup, you can choose between installing the OS ("Install now") or repairing a problematic, perhaps non-booting, Vista install ("Repair your computer").
      1. Click "Install now" to continue (Click on the image to see a bigger picture of this)
   
  1. Type your product key for activation ... or don't
    1. After a brief pause, a screen appears in which you can optionally enter your product key and choose to have Windows automatically activate the OS installation (i.e. tie the product key to this hardware configuration). Do not type in your product key and do not let Windows automatically activation the install. (Click on the image to see a bigger picture of this)
   
    1. Here is why
    1. In the event that something goes wrong down the road, you might not want to automatically tie the only product key you received with this particular PC. Instead, you can enter this information later.
    1. Leave the product key field blank and uncheck the item titled "Automatically activate Windows when I'm online."
    1. Click Next to continue
    1. If you do choose to enter your product key, Setup will determine the Vista product edition to install and will not display the next two screens shown here and therefore skip to step 10.
    1. Because you have left the product key field blank, Vista Setup wonders if you're sure about this decision and asks if you would like to correct your choice and go back and enter the product key.
    1. Click No to Continue (Click on the image to see a bigger picture of this)
   
    1. Setup now prompts you to select the Vista version you have purchased.
    1. Choose the version you purchased (your product key is tied to the version you bought)
    1. Check "I have selected the edition of Windows that I purchased) (Click on the image to see a bigger picture of this)
   
    1. Click Next
    1. Be careful, there two versions of Vista Home Basic and Vista Business listed
    1. The versions with N at the end of their name are designed for the European Union only and do not include Windows Media Player 11 so do not choose those.
  1. Agree to the licensing
    1. You must agree to the Windows Vista End User License Agreement (EULA)
    1. Check "I accept the license terms"
    1. Click Continue (Click on the image to see a bigger picture of this)
   
  1. Choose an installation type
    1. You have two options
    1. Upgrade install
    1. Custom (advanced)
    1. Click Custom (advanced) (Click on the image to see a bigger picture of this)
   
  1. Where do you want to install Windows? (Click on the image to see a bigger picture of this)
   
  1. You will see a graphical representation of your PC's hard drive (s). On a new drive you will see the picture like the following but there is a number of useful utilities, hidden under the "Drive options (advanced) option. Here is some of the options
    1. Refresh - This will refresh the graphical view of the partitions and disks available to you during Vista Setup.
    2. Load Driver - If you are using some kind of advanced disk controller and, as a result, some disks are not showing up in Setup, you can use this option to load drivers now, with the hoe that the disks will become available to you. For example, some RAID arrays are not immediately recognizable to Vista Setup.
    3. Click Drive options  (advanced), however, and a number of new options appear
      1. Delete - If you are working with a hard disk that has multiple partitions and would like to delete one or more of them, perhaps to later create a single partition (using New, discussed below), you can use the Delete option. Delete removes the partition and marks the space occupied by that partition as free and empty.
      2. Format - On a hard disk with existing partition(s), you can use the Format command to wipe out any data contained on those partitions and return them to like-new, pristine condition. Note that formatted disks are essentially empty and that Windows Vista Setup does not require you to explicitly format a partition before installation: If you choose an empty partition, Vista Setup will automatically format the disk for you.
      3. New - On a hard disk with no configured partitions (i.e. a "clean" or empty disk), you can click this option to create a new partition. This partition can be sized up to the physical capacity of the underlying drive (and is by default), but you can optionally choose to leave some empty space for later partition creation and formatting. (Windows Vista includes tools for this purpose.) In general, I recommend simply creating a partition that is the same size as the underlying disk, formatting it, and installing Vista.
      4. Extend - If you are working with a hard disk that a partition and some empty hard disk space, and would like to extend that partition so that it  now includes some or all of the empty space, you can use the Extend command. Note that the empty space must be available logically "behind" the currently=selected partition for this command to work. You do not have to take all the available space: Setup will allow you to pick how much you would like to add to the existing partition.
        1. Note: Windows Vista Setup will only create NTFS partitions (Click on the image to see a bigger picture of this)
   
  1. Installing Windows
    1. Setup will start the process of installing the operating system on your PC. This is a multi-step process that does the following steps
    1. Copying Windows files - In this phase, the Vista image (install.wim) file is copied to the PC's hard disk.
    1. Expanding files - Here, the image file is expanded into the core Vista install, a bare bones version of the OS that will work on virtually any PC.
    1. Installing features - This phase passes very quickly because a stock Vista install doesn't have "features "to configure.
    1. Installing updates - Here, Setup attempts to install any service packs or hot-fixes that you have added to the installation media
    1. After this, Setup reboots the PC. You will see the "Windows is loading files" and standard boot screens, and then Setup will move into a text-like screen that says, "Please wait a moment while Windows prepares to start for the first time:.
  2. Completing installation. Here, a basic set of hardware drivers for your particular PC are installed. Once this step completes, the PC reboots again.
  3. Set up Windows
    1. Choose a user name and picture
    1. You will create the following
      1. User name
    1. Password
    1. Not required but security will be less
    1. You will be required to type in the password a second time for verification
    1. Password hint
    1. Picture
    1. Picture is not required, if you do not select one, Windows will select one for you (Click on the image to see a bigger picture of this)
   
    1. Type a computer named and choose a desktop background
    1. Enter a name for your PC
    1. Choose a background wallpaper (Click on the image to see a bigger picture of this)
   
    1. Click Continue
  1. Help protect Windows automatically
    1. Choose whether Windows will automatically protect your PC against electronic attacks.  When you choose "Use recommended settings." the following changes are made to your Vista install
    2. The Windows Automatic Updating service runs in the background and periodically polls the Microsoft Update Web service to determine whether there are any security updates available for your system. When there are, these updates are downloaded and installed automatically.
    3. The Windows Defender anti-spyware solution which is built into Windows Vista is enabled and kept up to date with software updates and spyware definitions. Furthermore, your system is joined to the Microsoft SpyNet service, so that it automatically provides SpyNet with any unique spyware information, allowing you to ano9nymously and silently participate in the worldwide battle against malicious software.
    4. Any software errors or other problems that occur on your PC are transmitted to Microsoft via the Microsoft Error Reporting service, allowing the software giant to examine these problems and then provide you with solutions.
    5. When new drivers become available for your particular hardware configuration, they will be automatically downloaded and installed.
    6. The internet Explorer (IE) 7 Phishing Filter, which helps protect you against Web0based identity theft scams, is enabled, further enhancing the security of Microsoft's latest Web browser.
    7. Optionally, you can also choose between "Install important updates only" where only critical security updates are automatically downloaded and installed, and "Ask me later," where you essentially put off the decision about your PC's security to a later time.
    8. Choose "Use recommended settings" to continue (Click on the image to see a bigger picture of this)
   
  1. Review your time and date settings
    1. Check the settings and set it to match your area
    2. Click Next to continue (Click on the image to see a bigger picture of this)
   
  1. Select your computer's current location. (Click on the image to see a bigger picture of this)
   
  1. The interactive portion of Vista Setup is complete.
  2. Click Start
  3. Please wait while Windows checks your computer's performance. (Click on the image to see a bigger picture of this)
   
  1. Initial logon (Click on the image to see a bigger picture of this)
   
  1. Your now on the desktop (Click on the image to see a bigger picture of this)
   

 

Note: Some systems require the chipset to be loaded. The chipset has to be the first thing installed after windows install or the windows install will get corrupted. Because of the number of different types of systems out there, I have no way of knowing what chipset you have. You will need to consult the manual for your system or contact the computer manufacturer on getting the information on what chipset you have. You can E-mail me information about your system and I will be glad to inform you of the steps to load your chipset. You may also have other drivers that you will need to load.

Information about loading drivers click here

Click here if windows will not install

Click here if you are getting No drive found message