Installing Vista

Summary

My Vista upgrade (clean install) seems to work well, so far today. Total install time, including patching: right about 2 hours.

Vista Areo isn't worth it unless your video card pushes out 32-bit color ("true" color) at your preferred resolution. I had to back my resolution down from the optimal 1440x900 that my Viewsonic supports. Yikes! That seems strange, and needs some research.

My play-by-play log follows:

Monday, July 9, 2007 5:35 PM

Boot from the Vista DVD (hold down any key right after the BIOS screen loads). Then, wait after the spiffy desktop background loads. Watch the mouse pointer.

Finally, run Wizard, select language & keyboard, Install Now.

Please wait... and wait...

Monday, July 9, 2007 5:42 PM

Finally: enter the product key. Here are some complaints:

• The product key number is printed in a much smaller font than previous versions of MS products, making it even harder to distinguish between “8” and “B,” etc.
• The product key sticker is tacked onto the inside of this fancy plastic box that pivots open. Already, after opening it twice, the sticker is peeling off. I will have to make a backup label. Ridiculous.

For now, I opt to skip automatic activation. Anyway, it’s all for naught -- I have to start the install from my existing installation. Time to reboot...

Monday, July 9, 2007 5:47 PM

Reboot into the existing installation of XP. Click the Install Now button after loading Autorun from the DVD.

Please wait... again, but not nearly as long!

I enter the product key (the on-screen font is a little easier to read) and select my big NTFS partition. The installer announces that my old installation will be transferred to Windows.old. OK, let’s do it!

Monday, July 9, 2007 6:17 PM

Windows Vista has happily rebooted from the hard disk. I select keyboard and language, and then create an account. Then, select options for upgrading, set time zone, and finally, the nifty network zone setting. I choose Home (versus Work or Public).

Windows Vista scans my computer to “check performance,” whatever that means. In one sense, it means “read a whole bunch of ads about how great Vista is.”

Some question:

Did Vista recognize all my hardware, especially:
• Network Interface Card (NIC)
• Sound Card
• Souped up ATI video card.

And others...

First log in.

Monday, July 9, 2007 6:54 PM

I couldn’t configure my NIC with DHCP (Network Discovery, in Windows parlance) so I used manual configuration, which worked just fine. I install updates, and request the driver for my RealTek 97 Audio Driver. Reboot ...

Monday, July 9, 2007 7:36 PM

I installed all of the optional updates, as well, except for the language packs.

It turns out that rebooting and launching the installer from my existing install made the whole thing go a little faster, it seems.