How To Perform A Clean Vista Install Using A Vista Upgrade Product Key

#46 Raffy1228

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Posted 13 May 2009 - 03:14 AM

ahmmmm....if i hadn't activated my vista os within 30 days......what would happen??? :huh:

#47 cosmo_wanda

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Posted 13 May 2009 - 03:28 AM

Why install Vista when you get better with XP or Win 7 ?

Vista is bad, bad, bad release by microsoft i think..

#48 usedcomputers

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Posted 16 May 2009 - 09:01 AM

plz the key does not work would send authenticated one again i would be grateful to you!

Grinler, on Jan 31 2007, 02:48 PM, said:

As many of you are now finding out, in order to upgrade your copy of XP to Vista, you need to have XP currently installed on the computer and the setup program must be run from withing XP. No longer can you boot off of the setup DVD and just insert the media of older versions that you are upgrading from. What this means is that there is no true way of doing a clean install from a formatted hard drive as when you enter the Vista product key it will tell you the setup must be run from within the previous operating system. Another issue that occurs is that you will invalidate the XP product key that you are upgrading from.

Paul Thurott has discovered from internal Microsoft documents another method that you can use to perform a full install. To do this follow the steps below:

Boot your computer form the Windows Vista Upgrade DVD. When you get to the setup screen, start a new setup of Vista.
When prompted to enter your product key, Do not enter it. Instead click on the Next button and continue with the setup. This will install Vista as a 30-day trial.
When prompted select the edition of Vista which you had purchased. So if you purchase Home Premium, select Home Premium. This is important, so do not pick a version that you did not purchase as it will affect later steps.
Once the setup has completed and you are back at your new Vista desktop, run the setup program from the Vista DVD again from within the new Vista 30-day trial.
Go through the setup, but this time when it asks for your product key, enter in the product key that came with your upgrade.
When asked whether to perform an Upgrade or a Custom (advanced) install, choose the Custom (advanced) option to perform a clean install of Vista. Yes, you are performing a second installation of Vista.
Once setup has completed for the second time you will be able to activate Windows Vista as normal. You are now left with a fresh clean install of Vista and your original Vista install has been renamed C:\Windows.old. You can now delete the Windows.old folder as it is not necessary to be on your computer.

Why does this work? It works because Microsoft let the Vista 30-day trial act as a valid upgrade path for Vista and because you can install the trial to a empty drive. This keeps the process as clean as possible for those who do not own a Full install version of Vista.

#49 Turtlee

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Posted 27 September 2009 - 12:35 PM

cosmo_wanda, on May 13 2009, 03:28 AM, said:

Why install Vista when you get better with XP or Win 7 ?

Vista is bad, bad, bad release by microsoft i think..

I agree it's not that great of a release, but it's better than my old Windows Millennium :huh:

#50 Chanteress

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Posted 15 October 2009 - 04:00 PM

In April 2007 I bought my HP Pavilion S7715.uk PC (Vista Home Basic). At that time HP were giving a free upgrade to buyers, all I had to do was pay Post & Package. Some how HP or me got things twisted and I ended up with two copys.
As this was my introduction to owning a computer I made an unnumberable amount of mistakes. This was slowly overcome by just reading this excellent site which I found about 1 year later.
As anyone will know, a new PC has lots of trash on it plus freebies that dont work fully or are hopeless at doing there job. Roxio takes almost for ever to put a film onto a DVD as does the built in DVD Maker from M/S.
Now back to 'topic'. I used one of the upgrade copys to upgrade Basic to Premium a few times and eventually exceeded my 'auto' activating quota and had to use the phone method. During this very short period Vista became as popular as Adolph Hitler so I bought XP Professional which I used to learn how to do things. Once I had found the programs to do what I needed, I had a brainwave, when I installed XP it contained NO trash so I decided to do a clean install with the one opened copy of the Upgrade disc and everything worked perfectly but still had to use phone method of activation ( if I remember correctly XP was on my PC ) when I did it. The last program I found was the 'daddy' of them all, AcronisTrueImage 10. When I found the way it worked I opened copy Nos2 upgraded disc and did as suggested in post#1. When all updates were installed plus antivirus and Ccleaner I made an image with Acronis which I can now use to fix my next mistakes.
All running well to date.

#51 Giselle1960

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Posted 27 October 2009 - 03:37 PM

Hello to everyone,

I am having a problem with my dell inspiron 530s intel core2 to make a long story short, my computer kept stalling so (stupid me) I thought by wiping out everything on my computer and install fresh copy of vista home prem, then upgrade to vista ultimate. Nope I did a dirty install, how can I make this install a clean one. Please Help...... :huh:

#52 boopme

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Posted 27 October 2009 - 04:03 PM

Probably easiest if I just let you read this. It's a good one.

Reinstall Windows Vista

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#53 BlueGazoo

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Posted 16 July 2010 - 11:48 AM

Does this still work in 2010?

I have Windows XP Media Center Edition currently installed. Computer is completely messed up and just want to do a format and reinstall.

(I received a free Vista Install CD from Microsoft more than a year ago - through Dell Computers)

#54 BlueGazoo

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Posted 17 July 2010 - 05:34 PM

I did not need to do this. I was able to do a full new install right from the CD. I had the "MS Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 to Windows Vista Home Premium Edition Express Upgrade".

#55 raj karki

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Posted 04 September 2011 - 01:51 PM

Update for Microsoft .NET Framework 4 on Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 x86 (KB2468871)

this framework try to download and install may time but i cant install