I'm looking for some good instructions on how to clean install Windows Vista. I've done XP before, but I want to make sure I do everything properly. So a link to a good website would be much appreciated.

There really isn't anything more to it than poppin' in an install dvd, formatting the OS partition and installing the OS. There are instructions for every step of the way.

You missed the most important one: back up any important data first. :frog:

But yeah, there's nothing in particular to do, just backup, boot off the install media, format the hard drive and install the OS.

Backup? huh... never crossed my mind

cloud storage ftw ^^

*thinks about how many days it would take for him to download the TB+ data under even the best, ideal conditions* :sick:

*realizes that uploading that TB+ of data would be many times longer* :dead:

:rofl:

I guess I should explain.. I only keep my most important data in the cloud (maybe 2GB, give or take a few hundred MBs), the rest of my stuff is sitting on a cooled 1TB external hard drive. The files I'm currently working with (uncompressed video / audio, photoshop files, etc) isn't backed up at all, it's just on my normal HDDs (1.8 TB)

I don't even want to think about how long it would take to upload close to 2.5 TB of data to a cloud server :blink:


EDIT: I'm using a free Dropbox account with 3GB of storage available, if anyone is interested.

Especially if its on a data cap monthly........Comcast's 250GB/month....not fun.

Also I recommend that if you have a spare older drive sitting around the OP should make a drive image once the clean install is installed to save time if its ever needed to be done again. (I use Clonezilla)

Alright. Sounds easy enough then. I wasn't sure if one set of instructions was better than the next. Next question: Would there be any issues if I decided to install Windows XP? Anything I would need to do outside of the normal Install?

There shouldn't be any problems. You could backup your drivers if you want to be 100% safe though :shrug:

Also, if you don't have this yet, I suggest you create a live dvd with some linux distro, it's always a good idea to have one lying around when you're changing operating systems (or creating a dual-boot system)

Aye, this be what I do too (Dropbox as well), but I was just pointing out that you'd probably want to make sure everything is backed up before doing a format, as I'm certain you wouldn't want to lose those currently-being-worked-on projects any more than I would want to lose any of mine. "Backed up" is, IMO, the most important checkbox before doing a format. Nothing is worse than doing a clean install only to realize that you didn't back something up.

Unrelated: This summer, plans are to finally fix my LAN backup, which I've been thoroughly neglecting


Since he is going from Vista to XP, I'd make sure that drivers are all available for his hardware with XP. It's not that common that they aren't on desktops, but sometimes you can't get one for laptops that came with Vista.

myeh I have access to an automatic LAN backup system at my parents house, my dad is a computer consultant / certified geek and he's been drooling over the backup system he created for months now. :rolleyes:

... maybe I'm a little bit jealous, if I could afford it I would probably have one of those systems myself. <_<

I wouldn't worry about drivers unless it uses drivers created by the manufacturer to support some silly gadget, like the annoying media control buttons you find on laptops.

By the way, OP, I'd check whether your hardware supports a 64bit OS. You're going to have to change eventually anyway so why not do it sooner rather than later? The 4GB physical memory limitation is a [censored]

I guess not everyone notices the difference between 4GB and 6GB unless you do a lot of video/audio/image editing, or basically anything that requires you to load ridiculous amounts of data into your RAM

lol there was also this one time when I loaded Morrowind into my RAM just so see if it would improve my framerate

it didn't, fyi. but it did remove all load times (you barely noticed them)

I might be going off topic, but I feel like this is all relevant information ^

Take an old computer, put in a new hard drive, set up a Linux distro of your choice on there (Or specialty OSes like BackupPC and FreeNAS), set up Samba for Windows clients, and then set up a backup schedule.


I've seen many weird things decide not to work when doing OS changes (within the Windows family) on laptops, and, hey! I like those media control buttons! (well, some of them)


Some motherboards don't support more than 4 GB of RAM, silly to upgrade to 64-bit if you are in that boat.

Worst, though, are the OEM PCs that ship with a 64-bit OS, but still don't support more than 4 GB of RAM :shakehead:

I can't even afford a linux distro


no you don't, they are evil. All of them.


Which is why I told him to check whether his hardware could support a 64bit os or not.

Yeah. It is a laptop, and a Dell one to boot. I'm borrowing it from a friend (until I get mine built) and it is acting up. The problems with it are extensive, so I figured a wipe would be easier. I'll stick with Vista. Was just curious as I have an old Dell XP disc and I find XP to be vastly superior to Vista.