How to install Windows Vista

SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION

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Upgrade to Windows Vista

Recommended minimum hardware requirements for Windows Vista

Operating system requirements to upgrade to Windows Vista

Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor

Upgrade procedure

The Upgrade option is unavailable, and you receive an "Upgrade has been disabled" message

Perform a clean installation of Windows Vista

Method 1: Run the Setup program after you start the computer by using the current operating system

Method 2: Run the Setup program after you start the computer by using the Windows Vista DVD

REFERENCES
SUMMARY
This article describes how to upgrade to Microsoft Windows Vista from an earlier version of Microsoft Windows and how to perform a clean installation of Microsoft Windows Vista. To upgrade to Windows Vista, the operating system that is currently installed on the computer must be supported in the upgrade path to Windows Vista. This article lists the operating system requirements to upgrade to Windows Vista. This article also lists some methods that you can use to troubleshoot scenarios where you receive an "Upgrade has been disabled" message when you try to upgrade to Windows Vista. Additionally, this article describes two methods that you can use to start the Setup program to perform a clean installation of Windows Vista.
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INTRODUCTION
This article contains information about how to upgrade to Windows Vista from an earlier version of Windows and how to perform a clean installation of Windows Vista.
Back to the top

MORE INFORMATION
Upgrade to Windows Vista
Important To make sure that you have the best possible experience when you upgrade to Windows Vista, follow these steps:1. Exit all applications that are open before you upgrade to Windows Vista. This includes browsers and media players.
2. Make sure that you are connected to the Internet when you start the upgrade process.
3. When you are prompted, Get important updates for installation, click Go Online.

Recommended minimum hardware requirements for Windows Vista
To view a list of recommended minimum hardware requirements, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
919183 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919183/) System requirements for Windows Vista
Operating system requirements to upgrade to Windows Vista
To view a list of Windows versions that can be upgraded to Windows Vista editions, see the following Microsoft Web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/upgradepaths.mspx (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/upgradepaths.mspx)
Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor
Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor provides information about hardware and application compatibility issues and makes performance recommendations. To obtain Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/upgradeadvisor.mspx (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/upgradeadvisor.mspx)
Upgrade procedure
To upgrade your computer to Windows Vista, follow these steps:1. Start the computer by using the current operating system. Verify that the Microsoft Windows operating system that is currently installed on the computer is eligible for upgrade to Windows Vista.
2. Insert the Windows Vista DVD in the computer's DVD drive.
3. Use one of the following procedures, as appropriate:• If Windows automatically detects the DVD, the Install now screen appears. Click Install now.
• If Windows does not automatically detect the DVD, follow these steps:a. Click Start, click Run, type Drive:\setup.exe, and then click OK.

Note Drive is the drive letter of the computer's DVD drive.
b. Click Install now.


4. When you reach the Which type of installation to you want? screen, click Upgrade to upgrade the current operating system to Windows Vista.

The Upgrade option is unavailable, and you receive an "Upgrade has been disabled" message
When you try to upgrade to Windows Vista, the Upgrade option is unavailable. Additionally, you receive the following message:
Upgrade has been disabled

This issue may occur if one of the following conditions is true:• The operating system that is currently installed on the computer is not supported in the upgrade path to Windows Vista.
• You did not start the computer by using the current operating system. Instead, you started the computer from the Windows Vista DVD. To resolve this issue, start the computer by using the current operating system, and then run the Setup program from the current operating system.
• The operating system is installed to a partition that uses the FAT32 file system. To resolve this issue, convert the file system on the partition to use the NTFS file system. For more information about how to resolve this issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
307881 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307881/) How to convert a FAT16 volume or a FAT32 volume to an NTFS file system in Windows XP
• The partition on which you want to upgrade to Windows Vista has insufficient free hard disk space. To resolve this issue, free additional space on the hard disk. For more information about how to use the Disk Cleanup tool to free hard disk space, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: