BleepingComputer.com: How Should I Install Vista

I just got my TechNet copy with all the goodies included. Lot's of good stuff in there!

What I'm most interested in is "How should I install Vista?"

While I'm an accomplished beta tester - I have no experience with Beta OS's

Should I dual boot Vista and XP?

Should I just switch over to Vista and relegate XP to my virtual machine?

Should I do a clean install, or is there an upgrade option available.

Will the Upgrade option hose my system like it does when upgrading from 98 to XP?

Any other advice for a n00b install?

Thanks!

Althought I'm not an expert on the subject, I have run Vista on a few machines and come away with some criticism.

You should prolly find a machine that's running at least an AMD 2800+ or an Intel Celeron 3xx or Pentium 5xx series with at least 512mb (1gb recommended) and a current video card such as and ATI X200 or higher, Nvidia 6600 or better Recommended for best graphics. Now this being said, you can run it on LESS, but Don't.

Vista is power hungry, and wants to be the very best although that's debateable.

Now I would use a removeable/Hot Swappable drive for the installation of Vista because it may write KEYS to you XP partition depending on what build you have.

PS WOW and WOW64 do not seem stable. Therefore, i would not load too many non microsoft programs at this point b/c they may crash your system. A good reason for Running Vista at this point is o gain a Technical understanding of the OS, Not as a practical choice for an end user.

DISCLAIMER: The Hardware recommended here is NO Reflection of actual minimum or maximum requirements. I stated these items with the understanding that vista will be graphically intense and offer more backround processes to better operate. This is based on MS's Goal for Vista which they state loosley on their web site. NONE OF THIS (In my Reply) to be taken for FACT.

Good Luck using Vista

I run Vista as a secendary OS on my slave drive, my system is under the requirements states above (Yes I know there just reccamendations not actual requirements) and for some reason it seems to run faster then windows XP, although alot less stably.

I'm running:
Intel Celeron D 2.53 ghz
GeForce4 MX4000 128M PCI
1 gig of ram
120 gigs of space (1x 40 gig 1x 80 gig)

Windows XP Professional is installed on the Master Drive (40 gig)
Windows Vista is installed on the slave drive (80 gig)

Yes there is an upgrade option with windows Vista. Although i'm not sure if it even works seeing as I just installed it as a secendary.

One freaky thing I noticed, I have a 10/100 integrated ethernet port, and on Vista it comes up as Gigabit LAN and runs several houndred K/s faster on downloads...go figure.

I hope this was informative.